WordPress add-on

The WordPress MCP server connects Claude to the REST API of your WordPress site, so content work happens in the conversation instead of in wp-admin. Claude can audit fifty posts for missing categories, draft a page from your notes, or tell you which plugins are active on a client site.

You run it as an add-on on mcp-core, the self-hosted MCP server. mcp-core runs in Docker on your own infrastructure and logs in to WordPress with an application password that you create for this purpose. Your normal account password is never involved, and you can revoke the application password in WordPress at any time.

What can Claude read with the WordPress MCP server?

Claude can read nearly everything the REST API exposes to the user you connect with:

• Posts, pages and custom post types
• Comments and media
• Users
• Categories and tags
• Menus, sidebars and widgets
• Site settings, installed plugins and themes
• Site search

That makes the WordPress MCP server useful well before you allow any changes. Content inventories, finding pages without a featured image, checking which theme a site runs, or listing every post in a category are all read-only jobs.

What changes when you enable write mode?

On a seat set to read-write, Claude can also create and update posts, pages and custom posts, upload media, manage users, categories, tags and menu items, change settings, and moderate comments. In read-only mode, none of these tools are registered.

Two safeguards are built into the WordPress MCP server. A new post is saved as a draft unless Claude is explicitly asked to publish it, so nothing goes live by accident. Comment moderation changes the status only (approve, hold, spam or trash); there is no permanent delete. Claude can only do what the connected WordPress user is allowed to do, so pick a role that fits the job.

How do you connect the WordPress MCP server to a site?

You connect it with a WordPress user and an application password:

1. On the target site, go to Users → Profile and create an application password.
2. Add the site URL, username and application password to your mcp-core .env.
3. Run ./mcp-update.sh so mcp-core restarts with the new values.

WORDPRESS_SITE_URL=https://www.example.com
WORDPRESS_USERNAME=claude-editor
WORDPRESS_APP_PASSWORD=xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx

All three variables are listed with their purpose in the WordPress setup guide. Bought the add-on after installing MCP Self-hosted? Run docker exec mcp-core npm run refresh-license and the WordPress tools appear without a new download.

Can one install manage several WordPress sites?

Yes, through WORDPRESS_CONNECTIONS. You list each site with its own id, URL, user and application password. Every tool then requires a site parameter, and Claude has to name the site it means. With one site configured, that parameter does not exist and nothing changes.

This is the setup agencies use: one WordPress MCP server on one mcp-core container, with each client site as its own entry. Combine that with seats, and a content editor gets read-write on two client sites through their own token while an account manager only reads. See MCP for agencies for how teams organise this.

Which add-on pairs with WordPress?

If the site runs a shop, add the WooCommerce MCP server. WordPress covers posts, pages and media; WooCommerce covers orders, products and stock. Claude uses both in the same conversation, for example to write a product announcement and check current stock before it goes out.

For a walkthrough aimed at site owners, read how to connect Claude to WordPress.