diff --git a/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/Sniffs/Security/AIConnectorAPIKeySniff.php b/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/Sniffs/Security/AIConnectorAPIKeySniff.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fa552876b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/Sniffs/Security/AIConnectorAPIKeySniff.php
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * AIConnectorAPIKeySniff
+ *
+ * Detects direct access to WordPress AI Connector API keys.
+ *
+ * @package PluginCheck
+ */
+
+namespace PluginCheckCS\PluginCheck\Sniffs\Security;
+
+use PHPCSUtils\Utils\PassedParameters;
+use PHPCSUtils\Utils\TextStrings;
+use WordPressCS\WordPress\AbstractFunctionParameterSniff;
+
+/**
+ * Detect direct access to WordPress AI Connector API keys.
+ *
+ * Plugins should use the WordPress AI Connector APIs rather than
+ * reading provider API keys directly from the options table.
+ */
+final class AIConnectorAPIKeySniff extends AbstractFunctionParameterSniff {
+
+	/**
+	 * The group name for this group of functions.
+	 *
+	 * @var string
+	 */
+	protected $group_name = 'ai_connector_api_key';
+
+	/**
+	 * List of functions to examine.
+	 *
+	 * @var array<string, true>
+	 */
+	protected $target_functions = array(
+		'get_option'         => true,
+		'get_site_option'    => true,
+		'get_network_option' => true,
+		'get_options'        => true,
+	);
+
+	/**
+	 * Parameter positions for supported functions.
+	 *
+	 * @var array<string, int>
+	 */
+	private $param_positions = array(
+		'get_option'         => 1,
+		'get_site_option'    => 1,
+		'get_network_option' => 2,
+		'get_options'        => 1,
+	);
+
+	/**
+	 * Process the parameters of a matched function.
+	 *
+	 * Checks whether the requested option name matches the
+	 * WordPress AI Connector API key naming pattern.
+	 *
+	 * @param int    $stackPtr        The position of the current token in the stack.
+	 * @param string $group_name      The name of the group which was matched.
+	 * @param string $matched_content The token content (function name) which was matched in lowercase.
+	 * @param array  $parameters      Array with information about the parameters.
+	 *
+	 * @return void
+	 */
+	public function process_parameters( $stackPtr, $group_name, $matched_content, $parameters ) {
+
+		$param_position = isset( $this->param_positions[ $matched_content ] )
+			? $this->param_positions[ $matched_content ]
+			: 1;
+
+		$option_param = PassedParameters::getParameterFromStack(
+			$parameters,
+			$param_position,
+			array()
+		);
+
+		if ( false === $option_param ) {
+			return;
+		}
+
+		// Handle get_options().
+		if ( 'get_options' === $matched_content ) {
+
+			// Extract option names from the get_options() array parameter.
+			preg_match_all(
+				'/["\']([^"\']+)["\']/',
+				$option_param['clean'],
+				$matches
+			);
+
+			foreach ( $matches[1] as $option_name ) {
+				if ( $this->is_connector_api_key( $option_name ) ) {
+					$this->add_error( $stackPtr );
+					return;
+				}
+			}
+
+			return;
+		}
+
+		$option_name = TextStrings::stripQuotes( $option_param['clean'] );
+
+		if ( ! $this->is_connector_api_key( $option_name ) ) {
+			return;
+		}
+
+		$this->add_error( $stackPtr );
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Adds an error for direct AI Connector API key access.
+	 *
+	 * @param int $stackPtr Position of the function call.
+	 *
+	 * @return void
+	 */
+	private function add_error( $stackPtr ) {
+
+		$this->phpcsFile->addError(
+			'Your plugin reads WordPress AI Connector API keys directly from the options table. Plugins should not access connector credentials directly. Use the WordPress AI Client instead.',
+			$stackPtr,
+			'DirectAIConnectorAPIKeyAccess'
+		);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Checks whether an option name matches the AI Connector API key pattern.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $option_name Option name.
+	 * @return bool True when the option name matches the AI Connector API key pattern.
+	 */
+	private function is_connector_api_key( $option_name ) {
+		return (bool) preg_match(
+			'/^connectors_ai_[a-z0-9_]+_api_key$/i',
+			$option_name
+		);
+	}
+}
diff --git a/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/Tests/Security/AIConnectorAPIKeyUnitTest.inc b/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/Tests/Security/AIConnectorAPIKeyUnitTest.inc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c39418c77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/Tests/Security/AIConnectorAPIKeyUnitTest.inc
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<?php
+
+get_option( 'connectors_ai_openai_api_key' ); // Error.
+get_site_option( 'connectors_ai_anthropic_api_key' ); // Error.
+get_network_option( null, 'connectors_ai_grok_api_key' ); // Error.
+
+get_options(
+	array(
+		'connectors_ai_openai_api_key',
+		'connectors_ai_custom_provider_api_key',
+	)
+); // Error.
+
+get_options(
+	array(
+		"connectors_ai_openai_api_key",
+	)
+); // Error.
+
+get_option( 'siteurl' ); // Good.
+get_site_option( 'blogname' ); // Good.
+get_network_option( null, 'admin_email' ); // Good.
diff --git a/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/Tests/Security/AIConnectorAPIKeyUnitTest.php b/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/Tests/Security/AIConnectorAPIKeyUnitTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dc834ab07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/Tests/Security/AIConnectorAPIKeyUnitTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Unit tests for AIConnectorAPIKeySniff.
+ *
+ * @package PluginCheck
+ */
+
+namespace PluginCheckCS\PluginCheck\Tests\Security;
+
+use PHP_CodeSniffer\Sniffs\Sniff;
+use PluginCheckCS\PluginCheck\Sniffs\Security\AIConnectorAPIKeySniff;
+use PluginCheckCS\PluginCheck\Tests\AbstractSniffUnitTest;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for AIConnectorAPIKeySniff.
+ */
+final class AIConnectorAPIKeyUnitTest extends AbstractSniffUnitTest {
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the lines where errors should occur.
+	 *
+	 * @return array <int line number> => <int number of errors>
+	 */
+	public function getErrorList() {
+		return array(
+			3  => 1, // get_option() reading Connector API key.
+			4  => 1, // get_site_option() reading Connector API key.
+			5  => 1, // get_network_option() reading Connector API key.
+			7  => 1, // get_options() reading Connector API key (single quotes).
+			14 => 1, // get_options() reading Connector API key (double quotes).
+		);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the lines where warnings should occur.
+	 *
+	 * @return array <int line number> => <int number of warnings>
+	 */
+	public function getWarningList() {
+		return array();
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the fully qualified class name (FQCN) of the sniff.
+	 *
+	 * @return string
+	 */
+	protected function get_sniff_fqcn() {
+		return AIConnectorAPIKeySniff::class;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Sets the parameters for the sniff.
+	 *
+	 * @param Sniff $sniff The sniff being tested.
+	 */
+	public function set_sniff_parameters( Sniff $sniff ) {
+	}
+}
diff --git a/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/ruleset.xml b/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/ruleset.xml
index 047e63acf..e3a7d824b 100644
--- a/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/ruleset.xml
+++ b/phpcs-sniffs/PluginCheck/ruleset.xml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 	<rule ref="PluginCheck.CodeAnalysis.WriteFile" />
 	<rule ref="PluginCheck.Security.VerifyNonce" />
 	<rule ref="PluginCheck.Security.DirectDB" />
+	<rule ref="PluginCheck.Security.AIConnectorAPIKey" />
 
 	<!-- Minified PHP files are not allowed without the original source -->
 	<rule ref="Internal.Tokenizer.Exception">