WordPress Classic Editor API Overview

Last updated: March 4, 2026

The WordPress Classic Editor API provides integration with TinyMCE (visual editor) and Quicktags (code editor) for rich text editing throughout WordPress. This is the editor system used before the Block Editor (Gutenberg).

Architecture

The editor system consists of:

_WP_Editors Class – Core class that manages editor instances, configuration, and output
Public Functions – Wrapper functions like wp_editor() for easy integration
TinyMCE Integration – Visual WYSIWYG editor with toolbar customization
Quicktags Integration – HTML code editor with button toolbar

Key Components

TinyMCE (Visual Editor)

TinyMCE is a JavaScript-based WYSIWYG editor. WordPress integrates TinyMCE 4.x with custom plugins:

wordpress – Core WordPress integration plugin
wpautoresize – Auto-resize editor height
wpeditimage – Image editing capabilities
wpemoji – Emoji support
wpgallery – Gallery shortcode handling
wplink – Internal linking dialog
wpdialogs – Dialog system
wptextpattern – Text pattern formatting
wpview – Preview embeds and shortcodes

Quicktags (Code Editor)

Quicktags provides a toolbar for the HTML/Code view with buttons for common HTML tags:

strong, em, link, block, del, ins
img, ul, ol, li, code, more, close

Basic Usage

php

// Simple editor
wp_editor( $content, 'my_editor' );

// With custom settings
wp_editor( $content, 'my_editor', array(
    'textarea_name' => 'my_content',
    'textarea_rows' => 15,
    'media_buttons' => true,
    'teeny'         => false,
    'tinymce'       => true,
    'quicktags'     => true,
) );

Editor Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`wpautop`	bool	`true`	Whether to use `wpautop()` for paragraph handling
`media_buttons`	bool	`true`	Show the Add Media button
`default_editor`	string	`''`	Which editor tab shows on load (`tinymce` or `html`)
`drag_drop_upload`	bool	`false`	Enable drag & drop uploading
`textarea_name`	string	`$editor_id`	Name attribute for the textarea
`textarea_rows`	int	`20`	Number of rows in textarea
`tabindex`	int/string	`''`	Tab index value
`editor_css`	string	`''`	Extra CSS (include `<style>` tags)
`editor_class`	string	`''`	Extra CSS classes for textarea
`teeny`	bool	`false`	Use minimal editor config
`tinymce`	bool/array	`true`	Enable TinyMCE or pass settings
`quicktags`	bool/array	`true`	Enable Quicktags or pass settings

Editor Tabs

The editor provides two tabs when both TinyMCE and Quicktags are enabled:

Visual – TinyMCE WYSIWYG editor
Code – Quicktags HTML editor (formerly "Text")

The default tab is determined by:

The default_editor setting
wp_default_editor() function (checks user preference)

Toolbars

TinyMCE Toolbars

TinyMCE supports up to 4 toolbars. By default:

Toolbar 1: formatselect, bold, italic, bullist, numlist, blockquote, alignleft, aligncenter, alignright, link, wp_more, spellchecker, fullscreen, wp_adv

Toolbar 2 (toggled by wp_adv): strikethrough, hr, forecolor, pastetext, removeformat, charmap, outdent, indent, undo, redo, wp_help

Teeny Mode

The "teeny" mode provides a minimal toolbar: bold, italic, underline, blockquote, strikethrough, bullist, numlist, alignleft, aligncenter, alignright, undo, redo, link, fullscreen

Files

Class: wp-includes/class-wp-editor.php
Functions: wp-includes/general-template.php
TinyMCE: wp-includes/js/tinymce/
Quicktags: wp-includes/js/quicktags.js
Styles: wp-includes/css/editor.css

Security Considerations

User Capability – Media buttons require upload_files capability
Rich Edit – TinyMCE only loads if user_can_richedit() returns true
Browser Support – TinyMCE checks for compatible browsers
ID Restrictions – Editor IDs cannot contain square brackets

Block Editor – Modern editor using blocks (@wordpress/block-editor)
Code Editor – CodeMirror-based editor for code files
Media Modal – Media library integration via wp.media

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