Title: wp_abilities_api_categories_init
Published: February 24, 2026

---

# do_action( ‘wp_abilities_api_categories_init’, WP_Ability_Categories_Registry $instance )

## In this article

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

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

Fires when preparing ability categories registry.

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

Ability categories should be registered on this action to ensure they’re available
when needed.

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

 `$instance`[WP_Ability_Categories_Registry](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_ability_categories_registry/)

Ability categories registry object.

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

    ```php
    do_action( 'wp_abilities_api_categories_init', self::$instance );
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/abilities-api/class-wp-ability-categories-registry.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/abilities-api/class-wp-ability-categories-registry.php#L229)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/abilities-api/class-wp-ability-categories-registry.php#L229-L229)

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

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_Ability_Categories_Registry::get_instance()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_ability_categories_registry/get_instance/)`wp-includes/abilities-api/class-wp-ability-categories-registry.php` |

Utility method to retrieve the main instance of the registry class.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [6.9.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/6.9.0/) | Introduced. |

## User Contributed Notes

You must [log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Fhooks%2Fwp_abilities_api_categories_init%2F)
before being able to contribute a note or feedback.