Differentiate preview sites from connected WordPress.com remote sites

[sejas]

Related issues

• Fixes STU-1775

How AI was used in this PR

Used an AI coding assistant to find the root cause, implement the fix, and write a regression eval. All changes reviewed manually.

Proposed Changes

Studio Code (the AI agent) was calling a temporary preview site a connected WordPress.com site when telling users what a local site is linked to.

These are two different things:

• Connected WordPress.com site — a real, durable site you push/pull to.
• Preview site — a temporary, expiring share link (*-studio.wp.build).

The agent had no reliable way to tell them apart, so it guessed from the URL/name and got it wrong.

The fix: each listing now tags every entry with a type field (wpcom-remote or preview), and the preview listing adds an isExpired flag. The agent reads the tag instead of guessing, and the tool descriptions no longer call previews "WordPress.com" sites.

User impact: when you ask Studio Code what a site is connected to, preview sites and connected WordPress.com sites are now reported correctly, each under its own category.

A regression eval (scripts/eval/) seeds both kinds of site and asserts the agent keeps them distinct. The human-facing studio preview list output is unchanged.

Testing Instructions

• Run npm run cli:build && node apps/cli/dist/cli/main.mjs code
• Select a local site
• Ask What wpcom sites do I have?
• Ask Publish my site
• Ask Create a preview site
• Confirm responses make sense and target the correct type of site.
• If you have Promptfoo variables configured, run npm run eval -- --filter-pattern "preview sites" and confirm the new eval passes correctly.

Pre-merge Checklist

• Have you checked for TypeScript, React or other console errors?

[wpmobilebot]

📊 Performance Test Results

Comparing 18b3566 vs trunk

app-size

Metric	trunk	18b3566	Diff	Change
App Size (Mac)	1311.91 MB	1311.91 MB	+0.00 MB	⚪ 0.0%

site-editor

Metric	trunk	18b3566	Diff	Change
load	1080 ms	1051 ms	29 ms	⚪ 0.0%

site-startup

Metric	trunk	18b3566	Diff	Change
siteCreation	6474 ms	6466 ms	8 ms	⚪ 0.0%
siteStartup	6980 ms	6995 ms	+15 ms	⚪ 0.0%

---

Results are median values from multiple test runs.

Legend: 🟢 Improvement (faster) | 🔴 Regression (slower) | ⚪ No change (<50ms diff)

[katinthehatsite]

I think it is a good idea to remove the WordPress.com reference from there as this can be quite confusing for the agents. I am wondering if we should mention where the preview sites are hosted or it might not be necessary. What do you think?

[katinthehatsite]

Although, on a second thought, it might not be necessary for an agent to have that information since it does not really impact user's workflow

[katinthehatsite]

Additionally, the synonym disambiguation ("temporary site", "temporal site", "share link") is repeated in both the tool description and the system prompt. Would it make sense to keep the tool description short and defer to the system prompt for synonym mapping?

[sejas]

I preferred to remove the duplication from the system prompt in favor of the tool description.
1e8543a

[sejas]

I confirmed it is still working:

[nightnei]

LGTM and works well 👍

Only one thing - should we add mentioning Pressbale (as Wordpress.com/Pressable), for example, here removed site_connected_remote_sites and in other places where we mention wordpress.com? During my testing, the AI didn't mention Pressable, however, on the screenshots in the "Testing instructions", you had mentioned Pressable, that's why I started wondering - should we mention it directly everywhere, so that the AI always mentions it too in responses?

[sejas]

Thank you both for reviewing the PR, and your suggestions.

During my testing, the AI didn't mention Pressable, however, on the screenshots in the "Testing instructions", you had mentioned Pressable, that's why I started wondering - should we mention it directly everywhere, so that the AI always mentions it too in responses?

That's a good point. I'll create an issue to update skills and docs to take Pressable into consideration.