Sideload Image is a WordPress ability from The Plus Addons for Elementor — usable via Easy MCP AI, which connects Claude, ChatGPT, and any AI assistant to your site.
Install Free Plugin →Sideload Image
WriteDownloads an external image URL into the WordPress Media Library and returns the local attachment ID and URL.
Requires the The Plus Addons for Elementor plugin (which registers under the 'tpae' ability category) on WordPress 6.9+, with Elementor active. Every ability requires the current user to have the 'edit_posts' capability (and 'edit_post' for the specific post being modified); abilities that create or edit content also verify Elementor and, where relevant, the target The Plus widget are available. A subset of abilities (theme templates, template conditions, dynamic tags, popups, and some custom-code abilities) only register when Elementor Pro is active, and many widget abilities load only in the free plugin when the Pro add-on is inactive.
What it does
Validates the URL is safe via tpae_elementor_mcp_is_safe_remote_url, downloads it to a temp file with download_url (30s timeout), derives a filename from the URL path (defaulting the extension to .jpg if none is present), and sideloads it into the media library via media_handle_sideload. Optionally updates the attachment title, sets the _wp_attachment_image_alt meta, and sets the post_excerpt from caption or attribution input. Cleans up the temp file on failure.
See it in action
You ask your AI assistant
"Download this stock photo URL into the media library with alt text 'team meeting'."
Inputs
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| url | string | Yes | The external image URL to download. |
| title | string | No | Attachment title. Falls back to the filename. |
| alt_text | string | No | Alt text for the image. |
| caption | string | No | Image caption. |
| attribution | string | No | Attribution text for Creative Commons images. Stored as the attachment caption/excerpt. |
Returns
Returns attachment_id, url, and title of the sideloaded media attachment.
Permission
check_upload_permission requires the upload_files capability.
More The Plus Addons for Elementor abilities
Accordion
Adds The Plus Addons "Accordion" widget (tp-accordion) to an Elementor container.
Add Code Snippet
Creates a site-wide Custom Code snippet using Elementor Pro, injecting CSS/JS/meta into the head or body on all pages.
Add Container
Adds a new Elementor flex container to a page or nests it inside another existing container.
Add Container
Adds a flex or grid container to a page, optionally nested inside a parent container.
Add Custom CSS
Adds custom CSS to a specific element or to the entire page (requires Elementor Pro).
Add Custom JavaScript
Adds a custom JavaScript snippet to a page by inserting an HTML widget containing a <script> tag; works with free Elementor.