Claude MCP WordPress: The Complete Integration Guide (2026)

Connecting Claude to WordPress with MCP is the closest thing to giving an AI assistant the keys to your admin dashboard. Once the connection is live, Claude can create posts, update SEO metadata, manage WooCommerce products, search your media library, and read site settings — all from a chat window. No copy-pasting. No tab-switching. No custom scripts.

This guide walks through every integration path that actually works in 2026, the security guardrails you should never skip, real prompts you can run on day one, and the troubleshooting steps for the errors most people hit.

TL;DR

• MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the open standard that lets Claude call WordPress tools like create_post, update_user, or list_products.
• WordPress 6.9+ is only required to expose abilities registered by third-party plugins. Native WordPress tools work on any modern WordPress version.
• The easiest path is the Easy MCP AI plugin — install the plugin, paste your MCP URL into Claude, click Connect, sign in, and approve.
• The official path is the WordPress MCP Adapter by Automattic, which uses Application Passwords and an npx proxy.
• WordPress.com users get MCP built-in via OAuth 2.1.
• Always limit permissions — Easy MCP AI lets you define exactly what each token or OAuth client can do, so you don’t need a separate low-privilege user.

What Is Claude MCP for WordPress?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard Anthropic released in late 2024. It defines a shared interface for AI clients (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, n8n, etc.) to discover and execute external tools.

For WordPress, that means an AI assistant can browse your site’s available “abilities” — create_post, get_site_info, wp_wc_update_product, wp_acf_get_fields — and call them directly. The model sees a typed schema for each tool, validates inputs, requests your approval, and runs the action.

The full 2026 stack:

1. WordPress core or a plugin registers an Ability with wp_register_ability().
2. An MCP server (Easy MCP AI, the official MCP Adapter, or AI Engine) exposes abilities flagged as MCP-public.
3. An MCP client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) discovers those tools and lets Claude call them.

WordPress 6.9 made it possible for third-party plugins to register their own abilities by landing the Abilities API in core. Before that, every plugin invented its own integration; now there’s one standard, and Claude speaks it fluently. (Easy MCP AI ships its own complete toolset and works on older WordPress versions too — you only need 6.9+ when you want plugins like WooCommerce, ACF, or Yoast to expose their abilities through the Abilities API.)

What You Can Do With Claude + WordPress

Once the connection is live, real workflows you can run on day one:

• Publish a draft from a chat brief — “Draft a 1,200-word post about WordPress security in 2026, set the focus keyword to ‘wordpress security 2026,’ assign it to the Tutorials category, and save as draft.”
• Bulk SEO cleanup — “List the 10 most-recent posts missing a Yoast meta description. For each, generate one under 155 characters and update it.”
• WooCommerce inventory ops — “Find every product in the ‘Accessories’ category with stock under 5 and add ‘Low stock’ to the short description.”
• Media library hygiene — “List images in the media library larger than 1 MB that have no alt text. Suggest alt text for the first 10.”
• User audit — “List all users with the Administrator role. Flag any that haven’t logged in for 90+ days.”
• Custom field workflows (ACF) — “For every post in the ‘Case Studies’ CPT, show me the value of the client_name ACF field and which ones are empty.”

You’re not building a plugin for any of this. You’re chatting with Claude, and Claude is calling REST API endpoints on your behalf.

Which Integration Path Should You Pick?

There are four working paths in 2026. They differ in setup time, technical knowledge required, and which AI clients they support.

Path	Best for	Auth	Setup time
Easy MCP AI plugin	Most users — non-devs, agencies, anyone wanting OAuth one-click	OAuth 2.1 or Bearer token	~3 min
WordPress MCP Adapter (Automattic, official)	Developers who want the canonical Automattic-maintained stack	Application Password + npx proxy	~10 min
AI Engine (Meow Apps)	Sites already using AI Engine Pro for in-editor AI	OAuth 2.1 or Bearer	~5 min
WordPress.com native	Sites hosted on WordPress.com	OAuth 2.1 with PKCE	~2 min

For self-hosted sites, the Easy MCP AI plugin is the path most users land on. It implements OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, refresh-token rotation, and Dynamic Client Registration (RFC 7591) — meaning Claude.ai and Claude Desktop can connect with a single click, no token paste required.

If you want the canonical Automattic-maintained route, the MCP Adapter is excellent but requires running the @automattic/mcp-wordpress-remote npx proxy and managing Application Passwords yourself.

We’ll cover all three self-hosted methods below.

Setup Method 1: Easy MCP AI (5-Minute Path)

This is the path we recommend for most sites because it eliminates the entire Node.js proxy layer and gives you OAuth one-click in supported clients.

Step 1: Install the plugin

In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin, search for “Easy MCP AI,” click Install Now, then Activate.

Step 2: Choose your connection path

After activation, you have two options:

Path A — OAuth one-click (recommended for Claude Desktop, ChatGPT Developer Mode, and other OAuth-capable clients):

1. Go to Easy MCP AI → Dashboard in the WordPress sidebar and copy your MCP server URL.
2. In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector and paste the URL.
3. Your browser opens a WordPress login + consent screen. Sign in as the user Claude should act as.
4. Tick the permission categories (Read/Write per content type, GA4, Search Console, etc.) and click Approve.
5. Done. The client is connected — start chatting.

Path B — Bearer token (for Claude Code, scripts, custom clients, or any tool that doesn’t support OAuth):

1. Go to Easy MCP AI → API Tokens in the WordPress admin.
2. Click Create New Token, give it a name, choose the WordPress user the AI will act as, and select which tools to allow.
3. Click Create Token and copy it — it’s only shown once.
4. Paste the endpoint URL and token into your AI client.

Step 3: Verify

Open a fresh Claude conversation and ask:

“Using the WordPress tools, list the 5 most recent posts on my site and tell me which ones are missing a featured image.”

If Claude returns real post titles, you’re live. If it says it can’t find the tool, jump to the troubleshooting section.

Setup Method 2: WordPress MCP Adapter + Application Password

This is the official Automattic-maintained path. It uses two pieces: the MCP Adapter plugin on your site, and the @automattic/mcp-wordpress-remote npx proxy on your local machine.

Step 1: Install the MCP Adapter

You have two install options:

Composer (recommended for production):

composer require wordpress/mcp-adapter

Requires PHP 7.4+ and WordPress 6.8+. On WordPress 6.8 you also need the Abilities API package: composer require wordpress/abilities-api wordpress/mcp-adapter. On WordPress 6.9+ the Abilities API is in core, so the single package is enough.

ZIP install:

1. Download the latest release from github.com/WordPress/mcp-adapter/releases.
2. In Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, upload the ZIP and activate.
3. A default MCP server named mcp-adapter-default-server registers automatically.

Confirm the endpoint is live by visiting:

https://your-site.com/wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server

You should see a JSON response describing the server. If you get a 404, go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes to flush rewrite rules.

Step 2: Create a WordPress Application Password

1. Go to Users → Profile.
2. Scroll to Application Passwords.
3. Enter a name like Claude MCP and click Add New Application Password.
4. Copy the password immediately — it’s shown once, in the format xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx.

For production sites, create a dedicated WordPress user with the minimum role needed (Editor instead of Administrator if you never need plugin management) and generate the password against that user instead.

Step 3: Configure Claude Desktop

On macOS, open Claude Desktop → Claude menu → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. On Windows, the file lives at %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json.

Paste this block:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wordpress": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@automattic/mcp-wordpress-remote@latest"],
      "env": {
        "WP_API_URL": "https://your-site.com/wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server",
        "WP_API_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "WP_API_PASSWORD": "xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace the placeholders with your actual site URL, WordPress username, and Application Password (keep the spaces in the password — that’s how WordPress generates them).

Step 4: Restart Claude Desktop

Fully quit Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q on Mac, Alt+F4 on Windows), wait 5 seconds, and reopen. The config is only read on startup.

You should see a tools icon in the message input. Click it to confirm wordpress is listed with tools like create_post, list_posts, and get_site_settings.

Step 5: Expose more abilities (optional)

By default, the adapter only exposes abilities marked meta.mcp.public. To expose a custom ability you’ve registered in your own plugin, add an MU-plugin:

add_action('abilities_api_init', function () {
  wp_register_ability('my-site/summarize-comments', [
    'label'               => 'Summarize recent comments',
    'description'         => 'Returns a short summary of the last N approved comments.',
    'meta'                => ['mcp' => ['public' => true]],
    'execute_callback'    => 'my_site_summarize_comments',
    'permission_callback' => fn () => current_user_can('moderate_comments'),
  ]);
});

Restart Claude Desktop and the new tool appears automatically.

Setup Method 3: Claude Code (Terminal)

If you’re a developer running Claude Code from your terminal, you can wire up WordPress in a project-scoped config.

Step 1: Create .mcp.json in your project root

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wordpress-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@automattic/mcp-wordpress-remote@latest"],
      "env": {
        "WP_API_URL": "https://your-site.com/wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server",
        "WP_API_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "WP_API_PASSWORD": "your-application-password",
        "LOG_FILE": "/tmp/mcp-wordpress.log"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 2: Launch and verify

1. Run claude in the project folder.
2. When prompted, trust the folder and the MCP server.
3. Type /mcp and you should see wordpress-mcp-server · ✔ connected.
4. Ask: “What is the name of my site?” — Claude Code prompts for permission, then returns your site title.

For Easy MCP AI users, you can skip the JSON file entirely and add the server with one command:

claude mcp add --transport http wordpress https://your-site.com/wp-json/easy-mcp-ai/v1/mcp

Claude Code will open your browser for the OAuth sign-in and consent screen on first connect — no token to paste. Run /mcp to verify it shows up.

Verifying the Connection With Real Prompts

Beyond the trivial “list my posts” test, here are concrete prompts that exercise different parts of the integration:

Read operations:

“Show me my 10 most-recent published posts with their categories and word counts.”

“List all WooCommerce products that are out of stock right now.”

“What plugins are active on my site, and which ones have updates available?”

Write operations (Claude will prompt you to approve each):

“Create a draft post titled ‘Testing MCP Integration’ with the content ‘This post was created by Claude using MCP.’ Assign it to the ‘News’ category.”

“Update the post with ID 123 to set its Yoast focus keyword to ‘wordpress mcp’ and meta description to ‘Connect Claude to WordPress in minutes with MCP.’”

Cross-tool workflows:

“Find every post in the ‘Tutorials’ category published in 2026. For each, check whether the Yoast meta description is missing or longer than 155 characters, and list the ones that need fixing.”

If any of these fail with a 401, the Application Password is wrong. If they fail with “tool not found,” the ability isn’t flagged as MCP-public.

Security: Least-Privilege Checklist

MCP gives Claude access through a real WordPress user account. Anything that user can do, Claude can do. Five rules to apply before pointing this at production:

1. Scope permissions, not just user roles. With the official MCP Adapter (which inherits the WordPress user’s full role), create a dedicated low-privilege user like mcp-claude with Editor or Shop Manager rights. With Easy MCP AI you can connect as an admin and still restrict access at the tool level — pick only the read/write categories the AI actually needs at the consent screen, no separate user required.
2. Use HTTPS, always. The HTTP transport sends your Application Password on every request. On a non-HTTPS site, that password is effectively public.
3. Audit which abilities are exposed. Every ability flagged meta.mcp.public is callable by any connected AI client. Treat it like a plugin permission audit.
4. Disable approval bypass for destructive tools. Claude Desktop lets you “Always allow” a tool. Never do this for create_post, delete_post, update_user, or anything that touches settings on production.
5. Rotate tokens and Application Passwords. Treat them like API keys. Easy MCP AI’s token panel and the OAuth Connected Apps view make this trivial — one click revokes access.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Claude’s free plan work with MCP?

Yes. Custom MCP connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans — Free users are limited to one custom connector. Local STDIO MCP servers in Claude Desktop work on every plan.

Can Claude publish posts automatically without my approval?

By default, no — Claude Desktop prompts you to approve every tool call. You can enable “Always allow” per tool, but never do this for create_post, update_settings, or anything destructive on a production site.

Does this work with WooCommerce?

Yes. Easy MCP AI ships a full WooCommerce toolkit out of the box — list products, batch update orders, manage variations, create coupons, run sales reports. The official MCP Adapter supports WooCommerce when paired with the WooCommerce MCP integration.

What about Yoast and AIOSEO?

Easy MCP AI exposes Yoast and AIOSEO fields (focus keyword, meta title, meta description, JSON-LD schema) as writable REST fields, so Claude can set them in the same operation that creates a draft. The official MCP Adapter requires you to register custom abilities for this.

Will my WordPress.com site work?

Yes — WordPress.com has MCP built in. Go to wordpress.com/me/mcp, toggle Enable MCP Access, then add WordPress.com as an official connector in Claude.ai. No plugin install needed.

Is the old Automattic/wordpress-mcp repo still maintained?

No. It was archived in February 2026. If you’re starting fresh, use wordpress/mcp-adapter directly.

Can multiple AI clients connect to the same site?

Yes. You can run Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, and ChatGPT against the same WordPress MCP server simultaneously. Easy MCP AI’s OAuth panel shows each connected client with one-click revocation.

How is this different from the WordPress REST API?

The REST API is a raw set of HTTP endpoints — you need to know the schema, build the request, and parse the response. MCP wraps those (and more) into a typed, self-describing toolset that an AI model can discover and call autonomously, with permission checks at every step.

Next Steps

Once you have Claude talking to WordPress, the interesting work begins. A few directions to explore:

• What is MCP? A plain-English guide — the conceptual primer if you skipped it
• Connect Cursor or n8n to the same MCP server for code-driven and workflow-driven automation
• Register custom abilities for your site’s business logic (not just CRUD)
• Layer DataForSEO or SEMrush tools on top so Claude can research keywords and update content in a single pass

The 2026 reality is that an AI agent operating your WordPress site through MCP is no longer experimental — it’s the path of least resistance for anyone who’d rather chat than click through twelve admin screens. Pick the integration path that matches your comfort level, lock down the security basics, and the rest is conversation.