Create new post with meta data using WordPress API

Question

I have a stand alone app done in PHP which creates a new post on my remote WordPress site. Everything works with exception of adding meta data / custom fields to the post at the time when I create it. Looking at the end point for posts I see meta is an object and am trying to pass a key->value array. Example of what I'm posting

$post=array('title' => 'Test Title',
     'content' => 'I like short test posts.',
     'author' => 1,
     'excerpt' => 'This could be longer than the actual post',
     'categories' => array(2,3,4,5),
     'meta' => array('MyMetaKey' => 'MyMetaValue')
     );

Checking the post on the site everything is in there except for the meta data/custom fields. Not sure the post array is correct.

Answer 1

You need to register your meta field first, then you can insert / update it into a post using rest api. https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/register_meta

$object_type = 'post';
$args1 = array(
    'type' => 'string', 
    'description' => 'My Meta Key Description',
    'single' => true,
    'show_in_rest' => true,
    );
register_meta( $object_type, 'MyMetaKey', $args1 );

Hope it helps