Update a theme
wp_update_themeUpdate an installed theme to the version WordPress offers, with automatic rollback if the site fails a check. Use it to apply a theme update safely, one site at a time.
Instructions
Update an installed theme to the version WordPress offers for it (wp_get_update_status lists the offers); new themes are installed by wp_install_theme. Needs update_themes; refused under DISALLOW_FILE_MODS and when nothing is offered. A kept update answers with updated, stylesheet, role, version_before, version_after, probe, warning and note. It works like WordPress's update button: an active plugin stays active, a theme stays in use, and the previous version is moved aside first. Where the code runs on this site (an active plugin, the active theme or its parent), visitors see the maintenance page (HTTP 503) until the check ends (before WordPress 6.6 only while files are copied), and test requests check the home page, this MCP endpoint, wp-admin/admin-post.php and the dashboard before and after, logged in as this connection's account. A new fatal error, a target that stops answering or an MCP endpoint that loses its own answer puts the previous version back in the same call, and the answer, an error, says what failed where. After a new fatal error or a lost MCP answer, AlphaBridge also asks WordPress's automatic updates to leave that version alone, and the answer says whether and for how long that holds; a new call of this tool tries it again. A fatal error that was there before, or a redirect or wp_die() at the home page or admin-post.php, keeps the update with a warning. Updated without a test, with the warning "not checked": an inactive plugin or theme, a site that cannot reach itself, an update that leaves no time for the test (a large package on a slow host). Not checked: other wp-admin screens, cron, AJAX, code that runs only on some pages or for other users. Only files are put back; what the new version changes in the database stays. No undo point: the previous version comes back only within this call. One update per site (per network on multisite) runs at a time, and none during an activation or a deploy into running code; a second call is refused and changes nothing. A call that timed out can still finish: about a minute later nothing is offered any more if the update was kept, and a new call names its result. AlphaBridge itself is not updated through this tool.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| stylesheet | Yes | Exact directory name of an installed theme as wp_list_themes reports it, e.g. "twentytwentyfour"; anything else is refused. |