User

Access user data. The user root provider represents the currently logged-in visitor and is available on all pages.

The author variable uses the same provider but resolves to the post's author instead. See the overview for details.

user vs author

user and author expose the same fields listed below. The only difference is which person they point to: user is whoever is viewing the page, author is whoever wrote the post.

All Fields

Field	Arguments	Returns	Description
id	—	int	User ID
slug	—	string	User slug (nicename)
user_email	—	string	Email address (requires list_users)
display_name	—	string	Display name
user_url	—	string	Website URL
link	—	string	Author archive URL
path	—	string	Author archive path
edit_link	—	string | null	Admin edit URL (null when not authorized)
profile_link	—	string | null	Profile page URL (null when not authorized)
avatar	size or {options}	string	Avatar URL
roles	—	array | null	User roles (null when no roles)
is_current	—	bool	Is the current logged-in user
can	capability, ...args	bool	Check user capability
can_edit	—	bool	Can edit this user
meta	field_name	mixed	User meta value (also used for first_name, last_name, nickname, description)
raw_meta	field_name	mixed	Unescaped meta value
has_field	field_name	bool	Check if field exists

Restricted fields

user_login, user_email, user_registered, roles, meta, raw_meta, and has_field require the list_users capability.

Raw Database Fields

Direct read access to the underlying WP_User columns:

Field	Returns	Description
ID	int	User ID (alias of id)
user_login	string	Username (requires list_users)
user_nicename	string	URL-friendly slug (alias of slug)
user_registered	string	Registration date YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS (requires list_users)

Profile

Profile fields like first/last name, nickname, and biographical info are accessed through meta() (matching how WordPress stores them):

{{ user.display_name }}
{{ user.meta('first_name') }} {{ user.meta('last_name') }}
{{ user.meta('nickname') }}
{{ user.meta('description') }}
{{ user.user_url }}

Avatar

The avatar field accepts either a size in pixels or an options object:

{{ user.avatar }}                                       <!-- Default size -->
{{ user.avatar(96) }}                                   <!-- 96px size -->
{{ user.avatar({size: 200, default: 'identicon'}) }}    <!-- Custom options -->

Roles & Capabilities

{{ user.roles|join(', ') }}
{{ user.is_current }}
{{ user.can('edit_posts') }}
{{ user.can('manage_options') }}
{{ user.can('edit_post', post.id) }}        <!-- Variadic — pass extra args for meta-capabilities -->

To check whether a visitor is logged in, compare user.id (it's 0 for guests):

{{ user.id ? 'Welcome back!' : 'Please log in' }}

Custom Fields (Meta)

{{ user.meta('phone') }}
{{ user.meta('company') }}
{{ user.meta('billing_address').city }}
{{ user.has_field('phone') }}

Plugin integration

meta('key') integrates with ACF, MetaBox, JetEngine, and Pods. Private meta keys (starting with _) are blocked for security.

Common Patterns

Show content for logged-in users

{{ user.id ? 'Welcome back!' : 'Please log in' }}

Display user greeting

Hello, {{ user.name ?? 'Guest' }}

Check admin capability

{{ user.can('manage_options') ? 'Admin Panel' : '' }}

Author bio

{{ author.name }}
{{ author.meta('description') }}
{{ author.avatar(96) }}

"Posted by" line

Posted by {{ author.name }} on {{ post.date('F j, Y') }}

Author link

<a href="{{ author.link }}">{{ author.name }}</a>