Title: API Reference
Published: February 21, 2025

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# API Reference

## In this article

 * [Core Functions](https://developer.wordpress.org/secure-custom-fields/features/scf-api/?output_format=md#core-functions)
    - [Field Operations](https://developer.wordpress.org/secure-custom-fields/features/scf-api/?output_format=md#field-operations)
    - [Post Type Management](https://developer.wordpress.org/secure-custom-fields/features/scf-api/?output_format=md#post-type-management)
 * [Integration Points](https://developer.wordpress.org/secure-custom-fields/features/scf-api/?output_format=md#integration-points)
 * [Best Practices](https://developer.wordpress.org/secure-custom-fields/features/scf-api/?output_format=md#best-practices)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/secure-custom-fields/features/scf-api/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

The Secure Custom Fields API provides programmatic access to field data and plugin
functionality.

## 󠀁[Core Functions](https://developer.wordpress.org/secure-custom-fields/features/scf-api/?output_format=md#core-functions)󠁿

### 󠀁[Field Operations](https://developer.wordpress.org/secure-custom-fields/features/scf-api/?output_format=md#field-operations)󠁿

 * Get field values
 * Update field data
 * Delete field content
 * Check field existence

### 󠀁[Post Type Management](https://developer.wordpress.org/secure-custom-fields/features/scf-api/?output_format=md#post-type-management)󠁿

 * Register post types
 * Modify post type settings
 * Handle custom capabilities
 * Manage taxonomies

## 󠀁[Integration Points](https://developer.wordpress.org/secure-custom-fields/features/scf-api/?output_format=md#integration-points)󠁿

 1. **WordPress Core**
 2.  * Post type registration
     * Taxonomy integration
     * Capability handling
 3. **Theme Integration**
 4.  * Template functions
     * Conditional tags
     * Layout helpers
 5. **Plugin Compatibility**
 6.  * REST API support
     * Cache integration
     * Query modifications

## 󠀁[Best Practices](https://developer.wordpress.org/secure-custom-fields/features/scf-api/?output_format=md#best-practices)󠁿

 1. Always sanitize input
 2. Validate data types
 3. Use proper escaping
 4. Check capabilities
 5. Follow WordPress coding standards

First published

February 21, 2025

February 21, 2025

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[ Improve it on GitHub: API Reference ](https://github.com/wordpress/secure-custom-fields/edit/trunk/docs/features/scf-api.md)

Changelog

[ See list of changes: API Reference ](https://github.com/wordpress/secure-custom-fields/commits/trunk/docs/features/scf-api.md)

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