WP Wikipedia Fact-Check

A WordPress plugin that adds a Wikipedia-powered research sidebar to the Gutenberg block editor. Look up Wikipedia articles, review credibility cues, and generate draft-aware AI briefings without leaving the editor.

Built on the Wikimedia Enterprise API.

Features

• Editor sidebar panel -- search Wikipedia directly from the block editor.
• Selected-text assist -- highlighted text auto-populates the search field.
• Article summaries -- view titles, abstracts, images, freshness cues, and topic tags.
• Credibility badge -- color-coded indicator based on Wikimedia's revert risk score.
• AI topic suggestions -- scan the current draft and suggest Wikipedia topics worth checking.
• AI research brief -- generate a compact briefing with key facts, angles, and cautions.
• Wikidata links -- jump to the Wikidata entry for any article.
• Multi-language support -- search across 8 Wikipedia languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese).
• Response caching -- lookups and AI results are cached to reduce repeat requests.
• Fact Box block -- insert a compact Wikipedia fact box into posts.
• Tooltip block -- add inline Wikipedia-sourced tooltips to highlighted phrases.
• Connection test -- verify your API credentials from the settings page.

Requirements

• WordPress 6.9+
• PHP 8.1+
• Wikimedia Enterprise API credentials
• For AI features on WordPress 6.9.x: the AI plugin with at least one configured provider (WordPress 7.0+ includes the AI Client in core)

Installation

1. Upload the wp-wikipedia-factcheck folder to wp-content/plugins/.
2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu.
3. Go to Settings > Wikipedia Fact-Check and enter your Wikimedia Enterprise username and password.
4. Click Test Connection to verify your credentials.
5. Open any post in the block editor and look for the Wikipedia Fact-Check sidebar panel.

Usage

1. Open any post or page in the block editor.
2. Click the book icon in the editor toolbar or find Wikipedia Fact-Check in the sidebar panel list.
3. Type a search term, or select text in the editor and it will auto-populate.
4. Click Search to look up the term on Wikipedia.
5. Review the article summary, credibility badge, topic tags, and source links.
6. Click Suggest from draft to let AI propose Wikipedia topics based on the current article content.
7. Click one of the suggested topics to open the Wikipedia match and generate an AI Research Brief.

FAQ

Where do I get Wikimedia Enterprise credentials?

Sign up at enterprise.wikimedia.com. The On-demand API provides authenticated access to Wikipedia article data.

Do I need the AI plugin?

On WordPress 7.0+, the AI Client is built into core -- no extra plugin needed. On WordPress 6.9.x, install the AI plugin and configure at least one provider. The core Wikipedia lookup, credibility badge, and article summaries work without any AI provider.

Which AI providers are supported?

When multiple providers are configured, the plugin prefers OpenAI, then Google, then Anthropic. Any single provider is sufficient.

What does the credibility badge show?

The badge uses Wikimedia's revert risk score -- the probability that the current article revision will be reverted. Scores below 0.15 show green (high credibility), 0.15-0.40 show amber (moderate), and above 0.40 show red (flagged).

Development

Start the dev build with file watching:

npm install
npm start

Production build:

npm run build

Lint JavaScript:

npm run lint:js

How it works

The plugin registers a Gutenberg sidebar panel that communicates with several REST API endpoints:

Wikipedia API calls are made server-side via the WP_Wikipedia_Factcheck_API class, which handles JWT authentication with automatic token refresh (23-hour TTL). Credentials are never exposed to the browser.

AI features are handled by WP_Wikipedia_Factcheck_AI, which supports both the WordPress 7.0+ core AI Client and the AI plugin on WordPress 6.9.x.

When multiple providers are configured, the plugin currently prefers OpenAI first, then Google, then Anthropic.

Credibility scoring

The credibility badge uses Wikimedia's revert risk score -- the probability that the current article revision will be reverted (indicating potential vandalism or low-quality edits):

Project structure

wp-wikipedia-factcheck/
├── wp-wikipedia-factcheck.php   # Main plugin file, hooks, REST routes, settings
├── includes/
│   ├── class-wikimedia-api.php  # Wikimedia Enterprise API client
│   └── class-wikimedia-factcheck-ai.php # AI helpers for suggestions and briefings
├── src/
│   ├── index.js                 # Plugin entry point
│   ├── admin.js                 # Settings page scripts
│   ├── style.scss               # Sidebar and block styles
│   ├── blocks/
│   │   ├── fact-box/block.json  # Fact Box block metadata
│   │   ├── FactBoxEdit.js       # Fact Box editor component
│   │   ├── tooltip/block.json   # Tooltip block metadata
│   │   └── TooltipEdit.js       # Tooltip editor component
│   └── sidebar/
│       ├── FactCheckSidebar.js  # Main sidebar component
│       ├── SearchPanel.js       # Search input and draft-driven suggestions
│       ├── ResultPanel.js       # Article result display
│       └── CredibilityBadge.js  # Revert risk badge
├── uninstall.php                # Data cleanup on plugin deletion
├── readme.txt                   # WordPress.org readme
├── build/                       # Compiled assets (generated, not in git)
└── package.json

Changelog

1.0.16

• Improved sidebar hero alignment.
• Simplified sidebar results UI.
• Fixed AI schema response formats.
• Added AI draft topic suggestions.

1.0.0

• Initial release.

License

GPL-2.0-or-later