allow register_post_type() arg to control whether a CPT's counts are added to the "At a Glance" Dashboard widget

Another "nice to have" would be to allow the param to take a string value that would be interpreted as a post_status to show the count for, e.g., show counts for custom post_status = mycustompoststatus instead of publish.

What about two arguments:

• at_a_glance
• at_a_glance_count_cb (like update_count_callback or register_meta_box_cb)

This way one can provide a custom callback that returns a count. Otherwise it would fall back to wp_count_posts.

Replying to swissspidy:

Another "nice to have" would be to allow the param to take a string value that would be interpreted as a post_status to show the count for, e.g., show counts for custom post_status = mycustompoststatus instead of publish.

What about two arguments:

• at_a_glance
• at_a_glance_count_cb (like update_count_callback or register_meta_box_cb)

This way one can provide a custom callback that returns a count. Otherwise it would fall back to wp_count_posts.

So at_a_glance would be a boolean and at_a_glance_count_cb would be ignored if at_a_glance is false.

That certainly works for me.

My ​Extended CPTs library provides a dashboard_glance argument that adds the post type to the At a Glance dashboard widget. I think a custom callback for the count is unnecessary - if you have a custom requirement such as that then the existing dashboard_glance_items filter can be used.

I've been thinking about the At a Glance functionality a bit after a recent project and liked the solution presented here. Here is my attempt at a patch (45035_patch.diff).

• Added at_a_glance arg to register_post_type defaulting to show_in_menu.
• Added 'at_a_glance' => false to attachment post type registration.
• Updated wp_dashboard_right_now to pull post types by the new at_a_glance arg.

Updated patch with unit tests

Following the patch in 45035.diff by @gwelser, I have refreshed and updated to work.

### Testing Instructions

1. Add a new CPT
2. Set the at_a_glance argument to true in that CPT
3. Create a couple posts in that CPT, some published some not published
4. Go to the admin dashboard, and check if "At a Glance" show the right number of published posts

Test Report

Description

✅ This report validates that the indicated patch works as expected.

Patch tested: ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/10647.diff

Environment

• WordPress: 7.0-alpha-61215-src
• PHP: 8.2.29
• Server: nginx/1.29.3
• Database: mysqli (Server: 8.4.7 / Client: mysqlnd 8.2.29)
• Browser: Chrome 143.0.0.0
• OS: Windows 10/11
• Theme: Twenty Twenty-Five 1.4
• MU Plugins: None activated
• Plugins:
  • BBB Testing Dolly
  • Gutenberg 22.3.0
  • Test Reports 1.2.1

Testing Instructions

• These: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/45035#comment:9

Actual Results

1. ✅ Issue resolved with patch.

Additional Notes

• I have refreshed 45035.diff to test the idea.
• @johnbillion what do you say of the idea that @gwelser provided?

Supplemental Artifacts

The other thing this PR should do is output relevant CSS that uses the menu_icon param to register_post_type() for the icon in the At a Glance item. Have to think a bit about the best way to do that, especially to for menu_icon being an inline SVG.

https://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/45035/at-a-glance-icon.diff uses the menu_icon arg for the icon of the "At a Glance" item.

It has to be applied to what is already in ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/10647

Test Report

Description

This report validates whether the indicated patch works as expected by allowing
developers to explicitly control whether a custom post type appears in the
“At a Glance” dashboard widget using the at_a_glance argument.

Patch tested:
​https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/10647.diff

Environment

• WordPress: 7.0-alpha-20251226.164314
• PHP: 8.5.0
• Server: PHP/8.5.0 (Development Server)
• Database: mysqli (Server: 9.1.0 / Client: mysqlnd 8.5.0)
• Browser: Chrome 143.0.0.0
• OS: Windows 10/11
• Theme: Twenty Twenty-Five 1.4
• MU Plugins: None activated
• Plugins:
  • Test Reports 1.2.1

Steps to Reproduce / Verify

1. Set up a local WordPress core development environment using the wordpress-develop repository and run WordPress from the build/ directory.
2. Download and apply the patch: ​https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/10647.diff using git apply.
3. Rebuild WordPress assets using npm run build.
4. Register a custom post type with the at_a_glance argument set to true, for example:

register_post_type(
    'mycpt',
    array(
        'label'       => 'My CPT',
        'public'      => true,
        'show_ui'     => true,
        'at_a_glance' => true,
    )
);

5. Create and publish at least one post of the custom post type.
6. Navigate to Dashboard → At a Glance.
7. Verify that the custom post type appears in the widget with the correct count.
8. Update the custom post type registration by setting at_a_glance to false (or removing the argument), refresh the dashboard, and verify that the custom post type no longer appears.

Actual Results

1. ✅ With the patch applied, a custom post type registered with at_a_glance => true appears correctly in the “At a Glance” dashboard widget after publishing at least one post of that type.
2. ✅ Setting at_a_glance => false (or omitting the argument) prevents the custom post type from appearing in the widget.
3. ⚠️ Admin button icons (Dashicons) were not visible in the local environment, likely due to a Node.js / npm version mismatch during the build process. This did not affect the functionality or validation of the patch itself.

Additional Notes

• This functionality is introduced via a patch and is not available in core by default. To test the change locally, the patch must be applied manually.
• Steps to apply the patch in a local WordPress core development environment:
  1. Download the patch: ​https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/10647.diff
  2. Place the file in the root of the wordpress-develop repository.
  3. Apply the patch using: git apply 10647.diff
  4. Rebuild WordPress assets (recommended): npm run build
  5. Run WordPress from the build/ directory and verify the behavior via Dashboard → At a Glance.

Supplemental Artifacts