example my wordpress list column

WP Explorer — add a column to the list view

Status: Experimental.

WP Explorer's list view (the Icons / List control in a section's search band) paints a sortable table: ID, title, slug, author, dates, comment count and so on for posts, with their own sets for media and users. Your plugin can put its own facts in a column — read straight off the row, which carries the same REST-visible fields the tiles do.

The recipe

Register the meta so it rides the row (show_in_rest), then add the column through the os.my-wordpress.list-columns JS filter.

// PHP — the fact has to reach the browser first.
add_action( 'init', static function () {
	register_post_meta( 'ticket', '_lane', array(
		'type'         => 'string',
		'single'       => true,
		'show_in_rest' => true,
	) );
} );

// Ship the script with the explorer window.
add_filter( 'openstation_app_window_args', static function ( array $args, string $app_id ) {
	if ( 'my-wordpress' === $app_id ) {
		$args['scripts'][] = 'my-plugin-explorer';
	}
	return $args;
}, 10, 2 );

// my-plugin-explorer.js
wp.hooks.addFilter(
	'os.my-wordpress.list-columns',
	'my-plugin/lane',
	( columns, section ) => {
		if ( section.id !== 'cpt-ticket' ) {
			return columns;
		}
		const { html } = wp.os.apps;
		columns.splice( 2, 0, {
			id: 'lane',
			label: 'Lane',
			// Render a badge from the kit; a plain string works too.
			render: ( item ) => {
				const lane = String( item.meta?._lane ?? '' );
				return lane
					? html`<os-badge tone=${ lane === 'blocked' ? 'danger' : 'info' } no-dot>${ lane }</os-badge>`
					: '—';
			},
		} );
		return columns;
	},
);

The column appears after the title, is offered in the column chooser (users can hide it, and their choice is remembered per section), and its cells never break the table: a renderer that throws paints an empty cell.

Making it sortable

A column sorts when the section's server orders include both of its keys. The built-in orders come from the app's sort_options(); a plugin section (one you added through openstation_my_wordpress_app_sections) can be given more through that same filter — every entry is key => [ label, orderby, order ], and orderby is whatever WP_Query accepts, meta_value included:

add_filter( 'openstation_my_wordpress_app_sections', static function ( array $sections ) {
	// …your section…
	return $sections;
} );

Then point the column at the two keys:

sort: { asc: 'lane-asc', desc: 'lane-desc', first: 'asc' },

A header whose keys the section lacks renders as a plain heading — nothing to undo when the order is not available.

Where the rest is

• The filter contract, the row shape and every built-in column id: os.my-wordpress.list-columns.
• Decorating the tile view instead: os.my-wordpress.list-tile.
• The app itself: My WordPress.