Add “Refine from Notes” action to update post content based on editorial feedback

[jeffpaul]

What problem does this address?

Authors and Editors often leave review feedback using the Notes feature, but the work to respond to those comments requires manual edits. This slows down iteration and creates friction in editorial workflows.

What is your proposed solution?

Add a “Refine from Notes” button in the post editor when Notes are present, perhaps within the Notes tray/sidebar as well as in the archive Notes view.

On click:

• Collect active Notes probably filtering to unresolved Notes only.
• Send Notes + current post content to the AI Client.
• Return a proposed revised version of the post content.

Present output as:

• A diff view
• A side-by-side comparison with “Replace content” and “Insert changes selectively” options
• Yolo into it and apply those edits (Revisions can allow for rollbacks here assuming we trigger an autosave after each/all AI update)

Do not auto-publish changes; always require user confirmation.

[zeus2611]

Hi @jeffpaul — I'd love to take this on! I've gone through the codebase, and I'm familiar with the experiment architecture and the React component patterns from #258.

I would plan to start with some initial exploration of the Notes data model to understand how to reliably fetch unresolved notes, then build the REST endpoint and a multi-state React UI (similar to GenerateImageStandalone.tsx), and layer in the diff/comparison view from there.

A few quick questions before I dive in:

1. Is there a preferred approach for the diff UI — something like the npm diff package, or a custom implementation?
2. Should the AI refine the entire post, or only blocks with notes attached?
3. Should this share any backend infrastructure with Add “Suggest Refinements” to create AI review Notes for recommended improvements #251, or stay independent for now?

Happy to discuss approach before diving in. Could you assign this to me?

[dkotter]

I have #260 up in a draft state that solves #251. The PR to resolve this Issue doesn't necessarily have to follow the patterns in #260 but I think that's probably ideal, so I'd suggest we hold on starting this one until that one is either merged or ready for review (and then could be branched off of).

[jeffpaul]

Is there a preferred approach for the diff UI — something like the npm diff package, or a custom implementation?

I would rely on the editing revisions view within the editor (which has gotten / is getting a visual update in WP 7.0).

Should the AI refine the entire post, or only blocks with notes attached?

Ideally limited to the blocks where notes are added, though likely cases where the note references a change that would apply across multiple blocks (e.g. capitalize the P in WordPress ;)

[zeus2611]

Hi @jeffpaul @dkotter — now that #260 is merged, I'd like to take this on following the same experiment/ability pattern.
My approach:

• Backend: New Refine_Notes experiment + ability class (mirroring the Review Notes structure from Add AI assisted content review utilizing WordPress Notes #260), with a system instruction focused on applying refinements from unresolved Notes
• Frontend: PluginPostStatusInfo button + hook that collects blocks with unresolved Notes, sends them to the ability, and applies changes — leveraging the editor revisions view for diff/rollback as suggested
• Shared code: Reuse src/utils/blocks.ts utilities from Add AI assisted content review utilizing WordPress Notes #260 for block traversal and context
• Scope: Focus on blocks with Notes attached, with full unit + E2E tests

Happy to branch off develop and get started — could you assign this to me?