WordPress Live Validation Skill

Overview

This skill loads a real WordPress post in a Playwright headless browser and verifies that what readers see matches what was uploaded. The browser is the source of truth -- REST API success does not guarantee correct rendering.

Browser backend selection: Playwright MCP (default) is used for automated validation and CI/CD. Use Chrome DevTools MCP when the user explicitly asks to "check in my browser" or "debug live", or when the task involves Lighthouse audits or performance profiling.

Reference Loading Table

Instructions

Constraints (Always Applied)

1. Read-Only Observation Only: Never click, type, fill forms, or modify anything on the WordPress site. This is observation-only validation—any write action risks mutating published content.

1. Evidence-Based Reporting: Every check result must reference a concrete artifact (DOM value, network response, screenshot path). "Looks fine" is not acceptable. Report what the browser shows, not assumptions.

1. Non-Blocking Reports: Failed validation produces a report but does not revert the upload or block the pipeline. The user decides how to act on findings.

1. Severity Classification (enforce strictly):

• BLOCKER: Readers see broken content (missing title, broken images, placeholder text, wrong H1)
• WARNING: Degraded quality but functional (missing OG tags, JS errors, responsive overflow)
• INFO: Informational only (rendered values without comparison baseline)
• Never inflate or deflate—alert fatigue and hidden problems are equal harms.

1. Browser Availability: Requires either Playwright MCP or Chrome DevTools MCP. If neither is available, exit in Phase 1 with a skip report. Do not retry.

1. Default Behaviors (ON):

• Run all check categories (content integrity, SEO/social, responsive)
• Test three breakpoints: mobile (375px), tablet (768px), desktop (1440px)
• Save screenshots at each breakpoint as evidence
• Exclude known benign console patterns: ad networks (doubleclick, googlesyndication), analytics (gtag, fbevents), consent managers (cookiebot, onetrust)
• Try content selectors in order: article → .entry-content → .post-content → main

1. Optional Behaviors (OFF unless enabled):

• Draft preview mode (requires authenticated WordPress session)
• Custom content selector override
• Strict mode (treat all WARNINGs as BLOCKERs)
• OG image fetch verification (navigates to og:image URL to check 200 response)

1. Input Requirements:

• WordPress post URL (from wordpress-uploader, direct user input, or {WORDPRESS_SITE}/?p={post_id}&preview=true)
• Optional: expected title (for title match comparison)
• Optional: expected H2 count (for structure comparison)
• Optional: custom content selector

Phase 1: NAVIGATE

Goal: Load the WordPress post and confirm the content area is present.

See references/phase-checks.md "Phase 1: NAVIGATE — Detailed Steps" for the 4-step procedure (verify browser MCP availability, navigate, wait for content area with selector chain, remove cookie/consent banners with the JS snippet).

GATE: Page loaded with HTTP 200 (or 30x redirect to 200), content selector found. If 4xx/5xx or no selector found: capture screenshot, report FAIL with HTTP status, STOP. Do not proceed to Phase 2.

Phase 2: VALIDATE

Verification means execution, not reasoning. Run the command. Do not reason about whether the command would pass. Do not summarize the expected output. Execute the check, paste the exit code, paste the relevant output. A verification phase that produces a verdict without an observed tool result is not a verification — it is a guess with a rigor aesthetic.

Goal: Inspect rendered DOM and network activity for content integrity and SEO completeness. Run all checks without stopping on individual failures.

The 7 checks (with severity, JS extraction snippets, and pass/fail criteria) are documented in references/phase-checks.md "Phase 2: VALIDATE — All 7 Checks":

1. Title Match (BLOCKER)
2. H2 Structure (WARNING)
3. Image Loading (BLOCKER)
4. JavaScript Console Errors (WARNING)
5. OG Tags (WARNING)
6. Meta Description (WARNING)
7. Placeholder/Draft Text (BLOCKER)

GATE: All 7 checks executed, each with severity and evidence. Proceed to Phase 3.

Phase 3: RESPONSIVE CHECK

Goal: Verify rendering at three standard breakpoints. Capture visual evidence.

Test each viewport in sequence:

See references/phase-checks.md "Phase 3: RESPONSIVE CHECK — Detailed Steps" for the per-viewport 4-step procedure (resize, screenshot, overflow check, container visibility check) with the JS snippets.

GATE: Screenshots captured at all three viewports. Overflow and visibility recorded. Proceed to Phase 4.

Phase 4: REPORT

Goal: Produce structured pass/fail report with severity counts and evidence artifacts.

See references/output-format.md for the full report template, status markers ([PASS], [FAIL], [WARN], [INFO], [SKIP]), and result classification rules.

GATE: Report generated with accurate severity counts. Screenshots saved. Result matches blocker tally.

Integration with wordpress-uploader

When invoked after wordpress-uploader, this skill acts as an optional Phase 5: POST-PUBLISH VALIDATION. See references/examples.md for the integration flow and the post_url / post_id / --title inputs the uploader provides.

The validation is non-blocking by default: a FAIL result produces a report for the user but does not revert the upload. The user decides whether to act on findings.

Examples

See references/examples.md for worked examples (post-upload validation, standalone live check, OG tag verification) and the wordpress-uploader integration flow.

Error Handling

See references/error-handling.md for the full error matrix (Playwright MCP not available, page returns 4xx/5xx, content selector not found, network timeout on image checks, cookie banner blocks content).

References

For detailed check specifications and Playwright tool usage:

• Validation Checks: references/validation-checks.md – severity rationale, edge cases, and extended check specifications
• Playwright Tools: references/playwright-tools.md – MCP tool signatures, usage patterns, and common pitfalls
• Phase Check Details: references/phase-checks.md – Phase 1/2/3 step-by-step procedures with JS snippets
• Output Format: references/output-format.md – Phase 4 report template, status markers, result classification
• Examples: references/examples.md – worked examples and wordpress-uploader integration flow
• Error Handling: references/error-handling.md – full error matrix for browser availability, HTTP failures, selector misses, network timeouts, cookie banners

Complementary Skills

• pre-publish-checker – validates source markdown before upload (complementary, not overlapping)
• wordpress-uploader – uploads content to WordPress (upstream integration)
• seo-optimizer – validates SEO properties against source (data consumer of this skill's output)
• endpoint-validator – similar validation pattern for API endpoints