WP_User::add_cap( string $cap, bool $grant = true )

Add capability and grant or deny access to capability.

Parameters

$cap

(string) (Required) Capability name.

$grant

(bool) (Optional) Whether to grant capability to user.

Default value: true

More Information

Changing the capabilities of a user is persistent, meaning the added capability will stay in effect until explicitly revoked.

This setting is saved to the database (in table wp_options, field wp_user_roles), so it might be better to run this on theme/plugin activation.

Source

File: wp-includes/class-wp-user.php

public function add_cap( $cap, $grant = true ) {
		$this->caps[ $cap ] = $grant;
		update_user_meta( $this->ID, $this->cap_key, $this->caps );
		$this->get_role_caps();
		$this->update_user_level_from_caps();
	}

Uses

Uses	Description
wp-includes/class-wp-user.php: WP_User::update_user_level_from_caps()	Update the maximum user level for the user.
wp-includes/class-wp-user.php: WP_User::get_role_caps()	Retrieves all of the capabilities of the user’s roles, and merges them with individual user capabilities.
wp-includes/user.php: update_user_meta()	Update user meta field based on user ID.

Changelog

Version	Description
2.0.0	Introduced.

© 2003–2021 WordPress Foundation
Licensed under the GNU GPLv2+ License.
https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/add_cap