Public REST API Access for WordPress Menus

Why it’s new and useful:
Starting with WordPress 6.8, menus are not publicly accessible via the REST API by default for privacy and security. However, many headless WordPress sites, mobile apps, or custom front-ends need to fetch menu data. This snippet enables public REST API access for your menus—no plugin required, just a few lines of code!

1. Add the Snippet to Your Theme’s functions.php or a Custom Plugin

// Make WordPress menus publicly accessible via the REST API (WordPress 6.8+)
add_filter('rest_menu_item_collection_params', function($params) {
    $params['context']['default'] = 'view';
    return $params;
});

add_filter('rest_endpoints', function($endpoints) {
    if (isset($endpoints['/wp/v2/menus'])) {
        foreach ($endpoints['/wp/v2/menus'] as &$endpoint) {
            if (isset($endpoint['permission_callback'])) {
                $endpoint['permission_callback'] = '__return_true';
            }
        }
    }
    return $endpoints;
});

2. What Does This Do?

• Enables public access to your WordPress menus through the REST API endpoint /wp/v2/menus.
• Perfect for headless WordPress, mobile apps, or static site generators that need to fetch menu data without authentication.
• No plugin needed—just a lightweight snippet.

3. How to Use

• Add the snippet above to your theme’s functions.php or a custom functionality plugin.
• Access your menus at:
  https://your-site.com/wp-json/wp/v2/menus