Network-enforced AI connections

Agreed scope

The plugin discovers API-key-capable AI providers through the WordPress Connectors and AI Client registries. A provider-settings integration maps custom fields and authentication; Azure AI Foundry and Fueled’s Ollama ship with integrations. The network page follows core’s compact connector list and inline Set up/Edit workflow. Server-rendered forms and native disclosure controls remain usable without JavaScript; the small enhancement resets unsaved input on Cancel.

Only users with manage_network_options can configure connections. The boundary is one network. Required-key connections without a key are disabled. Optional-key connections such as local Ollama match the site Connectors page: they are enabled with provider defaults (empty key, default host) until saved settings replace them. Saved settings are validated first; an optional saved key can be cleared explicitly, and Reset returns to defaults. Non-AI connectors remain outside enforcement. Providers without compatible request authentication are reported as unmanaged rather than falsely advertised as protected; the SDK provides no universal disable hook for arbitrary provider implementations.

Azure’s internal status marker remains excluded. Its real provider, endpoint, deployment names, capabilities, and custom api-key authentication are network-managed.

Authority and data flow

1. Core and provider plugins register connectors at initialization.
2. Before providers initialize, the plugin overrides mapped options from network configuration. At initialization priorities 19 and PHP_INT_MAX it binds network authentication, including after providers’ own authentication callbacks.
3. Authentication reads credentials from the current site’s network at request time. This also protects model instances retained across a blog switch.
4. An unconfigured connection causes an explicit authentication exception before a managed authenticated request is sent. Required-key providers additionally require a nonempty key.
5. Cache groups include network, credentials, settings, and candidate validation scope. The provider runtime applies candidate settings temporarily and restores the current configuration and network authentication after validation, including failures. Nested validations are rejected before they can alter that state.

Built-in runtime adapters run before provider-integration apply callbacks, preserving extension callback order and allowing an extension to override a built-in value. The Ollama adapter captures the deployment host when enforcement begins and restores or unsets it when enforcement ends. If a callback fails, the runtime attempts the other callbacks and surfaces a sanitized failure. Validation also attempts cache and authentication cleanup; any cleanup failure prevents the candidate from being saved. A failing integration remains responsible for restoring its own state.

Keys are stored in network_ai_connector_keys; enablement and fields live in network_ai_connector_settings. Neither option is registered in REST. Network administrators never see saved keys in rendered forms; managed site REST settings return empty values. Mapped PHP option reads supply network values so providers can consume them, including provider-specific credential resolvers.

Site settings REST writes naming managed credentials fail with an explicit 403 error, including mixed updates. Standard site option forms exclude managed fields; ordinary updates to these options are suppressed without deleting stored site credentials.

Administration and failure behavior

Site Connectors pages retain non-managed entries and display a network-managed notice naming managed providers. Managed AI entries are removed from the client-side editable list. When the remaining list is empty, the site administrator’s core empty-state prompt is hidden; network administrators retain it.

Core hides legacy admin notices on this route. A small dependency-free script places the native notice inside the asynchronously rendered Connectors page, without duplicating core’s application or changing other connectors. Route-specific styles align the notice and prevent the core permission notice from collapsing in the empty-state layout.

Each network form has a network/provider-bound nonce, capability check, explicit operation, and registered-provider allowlist. New/replacement keys must validate through the AI Client before persistence. Errors reopen the affected provider, retain the previous key, do not redisplay submitted credentials, and do not echo provider exceptions that might contain secrets. Removal is explicit and requires confirmation. Like the site Connectors page, providers whose plugin is missing offer Install (from WordPress.org, through core’s upgrader) and inactive providers offer Activate; both network-activate the connector’s declared plugin file. Activate requires manage_network_plugins; Install also requires install_plugins and allowed file modifications. Without those capabilities a Learn more link to the plugin directory is shown; providers without plugin metadata are Not available.

Core may validate by listing models or making a minimal generation request, depending on the provider. The extensible settings schema in the README is a plugin-owned integration contract, not an upstream provider standard. Unmapped settings and custom provider endpoints cannot be assumed to be protected.

Lifecycle

No automatic import, migration, or deletion of existing site credentials occurs. Existing network keys remain valid without migration. Deactivation restores native behavior on subsequent requests; uninstall deletes both plugin-owned network options.

Verification contract

Verify precedence, no-key refusal, default keyless enablement, optional-key clearing and reset, registry-only providers, Azure headers, deployment and network Ollama hosts, callback order and failure cleanup, nested-validation rejection, candidate restoration, network isolation and blog switching, site REST and option write protection, nonce/capabilities, cache invalidation, and uninstall cleanup without affecting native configuration.

📦 Source: soderlind/network-ai-connector · Edit on GitHub