Title: WP_HTTP_Polling_Sync_Server::handle_request
Published: May 20, 2026

---

# WP_HTTP_Polling_Sync_Server::handle_request( WP_REST_Request $request ): 󠀁[WP_REST_Response](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_response/)󠁿|󠀁[WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/)󠁿

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Handles request: stores sync updates and awareness data, and returns updates the
client is missing.

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$request`[WP_REST_Request](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_request/)
required

The REST request.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 [WP_REST_Response](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_response/)
|[WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/) Response
object or error.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function handle_request( WP_REST_Request $request ) {
    	$rooms    = $request['rooms'];
    	$response = array(
    		'rooms' => array(),
    	);

    	foreach ( $rooms as $room_request ) {
    		$awareness = $room_request['awareness'];
    		$client_id = $room_request['client_id'];
    		$cursor    = $room_request['after'];
    		$room      = $room_request['room'];

    		// Merge awareness state.
    		$merged_awareness = $this->process_awareness_update( $room, $client_id, $awareness );

    		// The lowest client ID is nominated to perform compaction when needed.
    		$is_compactor = false;
    		if ( count( $merged_awareness ) > 0 ) {
    			$is_compactor = min( array_keys( $merged_awareness ) ) === $client_id;
    		}

    		// Process each update according to its type.
    		foreach ( $room_request['updates'] as $update ) {
    			$result = $this->process_sync_update( $room, $client_id, $cursor, $update );
    			if ( is_wp_error( $result ) ) {
    				return $result;
    			}
    		}

    		// Get updates for this client.
    		$room_response              = $this->get_updates( $room, $client_id, $cursor, $is_compactor );
    		$room_response['awareness'] = $merged_awareness;

    		$response['rooms'][] = $room_response;
    	}

    	return new WP_REST_Response( $response, 200 );
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/collaboration/class-wp-http-polling-sync-server.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/collaboration/class-wp-http-polling-sync-server.php#L286)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/collaboration/class-wp-http-polling-sync-server.php#L286-L323)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_HTTP_Polling_Sync_Server::process_awareness_update()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/process_awareness_update/)`wp-includes/collaboration/class-wp-http-polling-sync-server.php` |

Processes and stores an awareness update from a client.

  | 
| [WP_HTTP_Polling_Sync_Server::process_sync_update()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/process_sync_update/)`wp-includes/collaboration/class-wp-http-polling-sync-server.php` |

Processes a sync update based on its type.

  | 
| [WP_HTTP_Polling_Sync_Server::get_updates()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/get_updates/)`wp-includes/collaboration/class-wp-http-polling-sync-server.php` |

Gets sync updates for a specific client from a room after a given cursor.

  | 
| [is_wp_error()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_wp_error/)`wp-includes/load.php` |

Checks whether the given variable is a WordPress Error.

  |

[Show 1 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#)
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## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_http_polling_sync_server/handle_request/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [7.0.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/7.0.0/) | Introduced. |

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