Title: WP_REST_Menus_Controller::create_item
Published: February 3, 2022
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# WP_REST_Menus_Controller::create_item( 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_rest_menus_controller/create_item/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/create_item/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/create_item/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Hooks](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/create_item/?output_format=md#hooks)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/create_item/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/create_item/?output_format=md#changelog)

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

Creates a single term in a taxonomy.

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

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

Full details about the request.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/create_item/?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 on success, or [WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/)
object on failure.

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

    ```php
    public function create_item( $request ) {
    	if ( isset( $request['parent'] ) ) {
    		if ( ! is_taxonomy_hierarchical( $this->taxonomy ) ) {
    			return new WP_Error( 'rest_taxonomy_not_hierarchical', __( 'Cannot set parent term, taxonomy is not hierarchical.' ), array( 'status' => 400 ) );
    		}

    		$parent = wp_get_nav_menu_object( (int) $request['parent'] );

    		if ( ! $parent ) {
    			return new WP_Error( 'rest_term_invalid', __( 'Parent term does not exist.' ), array( 'status' => 400 ) );
    		}
    	}

    	$prepared_term = $this->prepare_item_for_database( $request );

    	$term = wp_update_nav_menu_object( 0, wp_slash( (array) $prepared_term ) );

    	if ( is_wp_error( $term ) ) {
    		/*
    		 * If we're going to inform the client that the term already exists,
    		 * give them the identifier for future use.
    		 */

    		if ( in_array( 'menu_exists', $term->get_error_codes(), true ) ) {
    			$existing_term = get_term_by( 'name', $prepared_term->{'menu-name'}, $this->taxonomy );
    			$term->add_data( $existing_term->term_id, 'menu_exists' );
    			$term->add_data(
    				array(
    					'status'  => 400,
    					'term_id' => $existing_term->term_id,
    				)
    			);
    		} else {
    			$term->add_data( array( 'status' => 400 ) );
    		}

    		return $term;
    	}

    	$term = $this->get_term( $term );

    	/** This action is documented in wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-terms-controller.php */
    	do_action( "rest_insert_{$this->taxonomy}", $term, $request, true );

    	$schema = $this->get_item_schema();
    	if ( ! empty( $schema['properties']['meta'] ) && isset( $request['meta'] ) ) {
    		$meta_update = $this->meta->update_value( $request['meta'], $term->term_id );

    		if ( is_wp_error( $meta_update ) ) {
    			return $meta_update;
    		}
    	}

    	$locations_update = $this->handle_locations( $term->term_id, $request );

    	if ( is_wp_error( $locations_update ) ) {
    		return $locations_update;
    	}

    	$this->handle_auto_add( $term->term_id, $request );

    	$fields_update = $this->update_additional_fields_for_object( $term, $request );

    	if ( is_wp_error( $fields_update ) ) {
    		return $fields_update;
    	}

    	$request->set_param( 'context', 'view' );

    	/** This action is documented in wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-terms-controller.php */
    	do_action( "rest_after_insert_{$this->taxonomy}", $term, $request, true );

    	$response = $this->prepare_item_for_response( $term, $request );
    	$response = rest_ensure_response( $response );

    	$response->set_status( 201 );
    	$response->header( 'Location', rest_url( $this->namespace . '/' . $this->rest_base . '/' . $term->term_id ) );

    	return $response;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php#L204)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php#L204-L283)

## 󠀁[Hooks](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/create_item/?output_format=md#hooks)󠁿

 [do_action( “rest_after_insert_{$this->taxonomy}”, WP_Term $term, WP_REST_Request $request, bool $creating )](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/rest_after_insert_this-taxonomy/)

Fires after a single term is completely created or updated via the REST API.

 [do_action( “rest_insert_{$this->taxonomy}”, WP_Term $term, WP_REST_Request $request, bool $creating )](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/rest_insert_this-taxonomy/)

Fires after a single term is created or updated via the REST API.

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

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_REST_Menus_Controller::prepare_item_for_database()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/prepare_item_for_database/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php` |

Prepares a single term for create or update.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Menus_Controller::get_term()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/get_term/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php` |

Gets the term, if the ID is valid.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Menus_Controller::get_item_schema()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/get_item_schema/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php` |

Retrieves the term’s schema, conforming to JSON Schema.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Menus_Controller::handle_locations()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/handle_locations/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php` |

Updates the menu’s locations from a REST request.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Menus_Controller::handle_auto_add()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/handle_auto_add/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php` |

Updates the menu’s auto add from a REST request.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Menus_Controller::prepare_item_for_response()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/prepare_item_for_response/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php` |

Prepares a single term output for response.

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

Gets all term data from database by term field and data.

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

Determines whether the taxonomy object is hierarchical.

  | 
| [wp_update_nav_menu_object()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_update_nav_menu_object/)`wp-includes/nav-menu.php` |

Saves the properties of a menu or create a new menu with those properties.

  | 
| [wp_get_nav_menu_object()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_nav_menu_object/)`wp-includes/nav-menu.php` |

Returns a navigation menu object.

  | 
| [rest_ensure_response()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/rest_ensure_response/)`wp-includes/rest-api.php` |

Ensures a REST response is a response object (for consistency).

  | 
| [rest_url()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/rest_url/)`wp-includes/rest-api.php` |

Retrieves the URL to a REST endpoint.

  | 
| [__()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/__/)`wp-includes/l10n.php` |

Retrieves the translation of $text.

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

Adds slashes to a string or recursively adds slashes to strings within an array.

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

Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook.

  | 
| [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.

  | 
| [WP_Error::__construct()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/__construct/)`wp-includes/class-wp-error.php` |

Initializes the error.

  |

[Show 12 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/create_item/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/create_item/?output_format=md#)

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/create_item/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [5.9.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/5.9.0/) | Introduced. |

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