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

---

# wp_heartbeat_settings( array $settings ): array

## In this article

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

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

Default settings for heartbeat.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_heartbeat_settings/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

Outputs the nonce used in the heartbeat XHR.

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

 `$settings`arrayrequired

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

 array Heartbeat settings.

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

    ```php
    function wp_heartbeat_settings( $settings ) {
    	if ( ! is_admin() ) {
    		$settings['ajaxurl'] = admin_url( 'admin-ajax.php', 'relative' );
    	}

    	if ( is_user_logged_in() ) {
    		$settings['nonce'] = wp_create_nonce( 'heartbeat-nonce' );
    	}

    	return $settings;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/general-template.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/general-template.php#L5394)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/general-template.php#L5394-L5404)

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

| Uses | Description | 
| [wp_create_nonce()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_create_nonce/)`wp-includes/pluggable.php` |

Creates a cryptographic token tied to a specific action, user, user session, and window of time.

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

Determines whether the current visitor is a logged in user.

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

Determines whether the current request is for an administrative interface page.

  | 
| [admin_url()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/admin_url/)`wp-includes/link-template.php` |

Retrieves the URL to the admin area for the current site.

  |

[Show 2 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_heartbeat_settings/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_heartbeat_settings/?output_format=md#)

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

| Version | Description | 
| [3.6.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/3.6.0/) | Introduced. |

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