wp-cli · swissspidy · Mar 19, 2026 · Mar 18, 2026 · Mar 18, 2026 · Mar 18, 2026
@@ -195,6 +195,52 @@ Feature: Manage WordPress menu items
       | custom | First  | 1        | https://first.com  |
       | custom | Third  | 2        | https://third.com  |
 
+  Scenario: Menu order is recalculated on update
+    When I run `wp menu create "Sidebar Menu"`
+    Then STDOUT should not be empty
+
+    When I run `wp menu item add-custom sidebar-menu Alpha https://alpha.com --porcelain`
+    Then save STDOUT as {ITEM_ID_1}
+
+    When I run `wp menu item add-custom sidebar-menu Beta https://beta.com --porcelain`
+    Then save STDOUT as {ITEM_ID_2}
+
+    When I run `wp menu item add-custom sidebar-menu Gamma https://gamma.com --porcelain`
+    Then save STDOUT as {ITEM_ID_3}
+
+    When I run `wp menu item list sidebar-menu --fields=type,title,position,link`
+    Then STDOUT should be a table containing rows:
+      | type   | title | position | link               |
+      | custom | Alpha | 1        | https://alpha.com  |
+      | custom | Beta  | 2        | https://beta.com   |
+      | custom | Gamma | 3        | https://gamma.com  |
+
+    When I run `wp menu item update {ITEM_ID_3} --position=1`
+    Then STDOUT should be:
+      """
+      Success: Menu item updated.
+      """
+
+    When I run `wp menu item list sidebar-menu --fields=type,title,position,link`
+    Then STDOUT should be a table containing rows:
+      | type   | title | position | link               |
+      | custom | Gamma | 1        | https://gamma.com  |
+      | custom | Alpha | 2        | https://alpha.com  |
+      | custom | Beta  | 3        | https://beta.com   |
+
+    When I run `wp menu item update {ITEM_ID_1} --position=3`
+    Then STDOUT should be:
+      """
+      Success: Menu item updated.
+      """
+
+    When I run `wp menu item list sidebar-menu --fields=type,title,position,link`
+    Then STDOUT should be a table containing rows:
+      | type   | title | position | link               |
+      | custom | Gamma | 1        | https://gamma.com  |
+      | custom | Beta  | 2        | https://beta.com   |
+      | custom | Alpha | 3        | https://alpha.com  |
+
   Scenario: Get menu item details
     When I run `wp menu create "Sidebar Menu"`
     Then STDOUT should not be empty

@@ -634,7 +634,71 @@ private function add_or_update_item( $method, $type, $args, $assoc_args ) {
 		}
 
 		$menu_item_args['menu-item-type'] = $type;
-		$result                           = wp_update_nav_menu_item( $menu->term_id, $menu_item_db_id, $menu_item_args );
+		$pending_menu_order_updates       = [];
+
+		// Reorder other menu items when the position changes on update.
+		if ( 'update' === $method ) {
+			$new_position = (int) $menu_item_args['menu-item-position'];
+			if ( $new_position > 0 ) {
+				// Fetch all menu items sorted by their raw menu_order to determine
+				// normalized (1-indexed) ranks, since wp_get_nav_menu_items(ARRAY_A)
+				// normalises menu_order to 1,2,3… which may differ from the raw DB values.
+				$sorted_item_ids = get_posts(
+					[
+						'post_type'   => 'nav_menu_item',
+						'numberposts' => -1,
+						'orderby'     => 'menu_order',
+						'order'       => 'ASC',
+						'post_status' => 'any',
+						'tax_query'   => [
+							[
+								'taxonomy' => 'nav_menu',
+								'field'    => 'term_taxonomy_id',
+								'terms'    => $menu->term_taxonomy_id,
+							],
+						],
+						'fields'      => 'ids',
+					]
+				);
+
+				// Normalise to integers so that strict comparisons below work regardless of
+				// whether $wpdb->get_col() returned strings or integers.
+				$sorted_item_ids = array_map( 'intval', $sorted_item_ids );
+
+				// Clamp the requested position to the valid range of menu items.
+				$max_position = count( $sorted_item_ids );
+				if ( $max_position > 0 && $new_position > $max_position ) {
+					// Treat out-of-range positions as "move to end", consistent with core behavior.
+					$new_position = $max_position;
+				}
+
+				// Find the 1-indexed normalized rank of the item being moved.
+				$item_idx                = array_search( (int) $menu_item_db_id, $sorted_item_ids, true );
+				$old_position_normalized = ( false !== $item_idx ) ? $item_idx + 1 : 0;
+
+				if ( $old_position_normalized > 0 && $new_position !== $old_position_normalized ) {
+					if ( $new_position < $old_position_normalized ) {
+						// Moving up: items at 0-indexed [new_pos-1, old_pos-2] shift down by +1.
+						for ( $i = $new_position - 1; $i <= $old_position_normalized - 2; $i++ ) {
+							$pending_menu_order_updates[] = [
+								'ID'         => $sorted_item_ids[ $i ],
+								'menu_order' => $i + 2,
+							];
+						}
+					} else {
+						// Moving down: items at 0-indexed [old_pos, new_pos-1] shift up by -1.
+						for ( $i = $old_position_normalized; $i <= $new_position - 1; $i++ ) {
+							$pending_menu_order_updates[] = [
+								'ID'         => $sorted_item_ids[ $i ],
+								'menu_order' => $i,
+							];
+						}
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
+		$result = wp_update_nav_menu_item( $menu->term_id, $menu_item_db_id, $menu_item_args );
 
 		if ( is_wp_error( $result ) ) {
 			WP_CLI::error( $result->get_error_message() );
@@ -645,6 +709,26 @@ private function add_or_update_item( $method, $type, $args, $assoc_args ) {
 				WP_CLI::error( "Couldn't update menu item." );
 			}
 		} else {
+			// Apply deferred reordering of other menu items only after a successful update.
+			if ( ! empty( $pending_menu_order_updates ) ) {
+				global $wpdb;
+
+				$ids_to_update = [];
+				$case_clauses  = '';
+				foreach ( $pending_menu_order_updates as $update_args ) {
+					$item_id         = (int) $update_args['ID'];
+					$ids_to_update[] = $item_id;
+					$case_clauses   .= $wpdb->prepare( ' WHEN %d THEN %d', $item_id, $update_args['menu_order'] );
+				}
+
+				$ids_sql = implode( ',', $ids_to_update );
+				// phpcs:ignore WordPress.DB.PreparedSQL.InterpolatedNotPrepared -- $case_clauses and $ids_sql are constructed from prepared/safe integer values.
+				$wpdb->query( "UPDATE {$wpdb->posts} SET menu_order = CASE ID {$case_clauses} END WHERE ID IN ({$ids_sql})" );
+
+				foreach ( $ids_to_update as $id ) {
+					clean_post_cache( $id );
+				}
+			}
 
 			if ( ( 'add' === $method ) && $menu_item_args['menu-item-position'] ) {
 				$this->reorder_menu_items( $menu->term_id, $menu_item_args['menu-item-position'], +1, $result );