Technical documentation for GrowthSupport — a self-hosted support-ticket system for WordPress. This page covers how the plugin works, its shortcode, roles & capabilities, data model, REST API, AJAX actions, hooks, and the AI / MCP abilities layer.

Version: 1.0.0  |  Requires: WordPress 6.0+, PHP 8.0+  |  Text domain: growthsupport

1. Overview — how it works

GrowthSupport adds a lightweight help desk to WordPress using two custom database tables (tickets and replies). Logged-in users open tickets from a front-end portal rendered by a shortcode; agents (administrators) manage and reply to every ticket. The plugin exposes three interfaces on top of the same data layer:

• Front end — the [growthsupport] shortcode + AJAX (for clients and agents in the browser).
• REST API — the growthsupport/v1 namespace (for headless / external integrations).
• AI abilities — WordPress Abilities API tools, optionally exposed over MCP (for assistants and automation).

All three respect the same capability checks, so permissions behave consistently regardless of how a ticket is accessed.

2. Installation & setup

1. Upload and activate the plugin. On activation it creates the database tables and grants capabilities (see below).
2. Create a WordPress page and add the shortcode [growthsupport].
3. Publish the page and link to it from your site (e.g. a “Support” menu item). Clients must be logged in to use it.

3. Shortcode

Render the support portal anywhere with:

[growthsupport]

Behaviour:

• Visitors who are not logged in see a notice asking them to log in.
• Logged-in users without the gs_create_tickets capability see a permission notice.
• Users with access see their ticket list; agents (with gs_manage_tickets) see all tickets.

The portal loads its own assets automatically and talks to the AJAX actions listed in section 7.

4. Roles & capabilities

Two custom capabilities control access. They are granted on activation and removed on deactivation.

To turn any role into an agent, grant it gs_manage_tickets (for example with a role-editor plugin or $role->add_cap()).

5. Data model

Two tables are created (with the site’s table prefix):

Table: {prefix}gs_tickets

Table: {prefix}gs_ticket_replies

6. REST API

Namespace: growthsupport/v1  —  base URL /wp-json/growthsupport/v1.

Authentication: standard WordPress authentication. For same-site requests, send the logged-in cookie plus the X-WP-Nonce header (nonce from wp_create_nonce('wp_rest')). Every route requires the gs_create_tickets capability; listing/among-all behaviour and status changes additionally check gs_manage_tickets. All responses are wrapped in a { "data": ... } envelope.

Examples

Create a ticket:

curl -X POST https://example.com/wp-json/growthsupport/v1/tickets \
  -H "X-WP-Nonce: <nonce>" \
  --cookie "<wp-auth-cookies>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"subject":"Login issue","description":"Cannot reset my password","priority":"high"}'

List open tickets:

GET /wp-json/growthsupport/v1/tickets?status=open

Close a ticket:

curl -X PATCH https://example.com/wp-json/growthsupport/v1/tickets/42/status \
  -H "X-WP-Nonce: <nonce>" --cookie "<wp-auth-cookies>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"status":"closed"}'

7. AJAX actions (front end)

The shortcode UI uses admin-ajax.php. All actions are logged-in only (wp_ajax_*), require the nonce field nonce for action gs_nonce, and check gs_create_tickets.

8. Hooks (actions & filters)

Extend GrowthSupport — for example to send email notifications on new tickets or replies.

Actions

Filters

Example — email the site admin when a ticket is created:

add_action( 'gs_ticket_created', function ( $ticket_id, $user_id ) {
    wp_mail(
        get_option( 'admin_email' ),
        'New support ticket #' . $ticket_id,
        'A new ticket was opened by user ' . $user_id
    );
}, 10, 2 );

9. AI abilities & MCP

GrowthSupport registers tools on the WordPress Abilities API, grouped into two categories:

• growthsupport-tickets — create, read, update, and manage tickets and replies.
• growthsupport-diagnostics — summary statistics across all tickets.

Ticket abilities:

Each ability declares a JSON input/output schema, so assistants receive typed, validated parameters (e.g. priority is limited to urgent|high|normal|low).

Exposing abilities over MCP

Abilities flagged as MCP-public are surfaced as callable MCP tools through the WordPress Abilities MCP adapter, so an AI client can list and manage tickets directly. Two safety defaults apply:

• Every ability is capability-gated — the calling user still needs the required capability.
• growthsupport/delete-ticket is not MCP-public by default (destructive), so it is excluded from the MCP surface unless you opt in.

The required capability and MCP visibility of each ability (or a whole category) can be overridden from the plugin’s Abilities settings, which are stored in the gs_abilities_config option (per-ability overrides take precedence over category defaults, which take precedence over the code defaults shown above).

10. FAQ & troubleshooting

The portal says I must log in.

The shortcode requires an authenticated user. Place it on a page behind login, or send visitors to wp-login.php first.

How do I make someone an agent?

Grant their role the gs_manage_tickets capability. Agents then see and manage every ticket in the portal, REST API, and abilities.

How do I add email notifications?

Hook the actions in section 8 (gs_ticket_created, gs_ticket_reply_posted, gs_ticket_status_changed) and call wp_mail().

The REST API returns 401/403.

Ensure you send the logged-in cookie and a valid X-WP-Nonce header, and that the user has gs_create_tickets (and gs_manage_tickets for cross-user or status operations).

Back to GrowthSupport product page.