Title: WP_User::add_cap
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# WP_User::add_cap( string $cap, bool $grant = true )

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/add_cap/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [More Information](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/add_cap/?output_format=md#more-information)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/add_cap/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/add_cap/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/add_cap/?output_format=md#changelog)

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

Adds capability and grant or deny access to capability.

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

 `$cap`stringrequired

Capability name.

`$grant`booloptional

Whether to grant capability to user.

Default:`true`

## 󠀁[More Information](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/add_cap/?output_format=md#more-information)󠁿

Changing the capabilities of a user is persistent, meaning the added capability 
will stay in effect until explicitly revoked.

This setting is saved to the database (in table wp_options, field wp_user_roles),
so it might be better to run this on theme/plugin activation.

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

    ```php
    public function add_cap( $cap, $grant = true ) {
    	$this->caps[ $cap ] = $grant;
    	update_user_meta( $this->ID, $this->cap_key, $this->caps );
    	$this->get_role_caps();
    	$this->update_user_level_from_caps();
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-wp-user.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-user.php#L718)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-user.php#L718-L723)

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

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_User::update_user_level_from_caps()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/update_user_level_from_caps/)`wp-includes/class-wp-user.php` |

Updates the maximum user level for the user.

  | 
| [WP_User::get_role_caps()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/get_role_caps/)`wp-includes/class-wp-user.php` |

Retrieves all of the capabilities of the user’s roles, and merges them with individual user capabilities.

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

Updates user meta field based on user ID.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [2.0.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.0.0/) | Introduced. |

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