Connect Wordpress MCP

Connecting Claude to a WordPress Site via MCP

Overview

WordPress has no first-party MCP server, but the EMCP Tools plugin (free, WordPress.org-style install) turns any self-hosted WP install into one — exposing posts, media, pages, users, plugins/themes, and (if Elementor is installed) full page-building as MCP tools, reachable over HTTP with OAuth. This skill covers the one-time connection; once connected, Claude uses the exposed tools normally.

Two sides to this: something a site owner with wp-admin access does once in the browser, and something you (the agent) do in a real interactive terminal — not a chat window, because the OAuth step needs an interactive picker.

When to Use

• User asks to publish/edit a WordPress site and no WordPress MCP tool is connected yet
• "Connect Claude to my blog/WordPress" or similar
• NOT for wordpress.com-hosted sites without plugin install access — EMCP Tools needs to be installed as a plugin, which requires a self-hosted (or Business-tier wordpress.com) site

Steps

1. Site owner installs EMCP Tools (wp-admin, in the browser)

1. Download the packaged plugin ZIP from the EMCP Tools releases page — the asset named emcp-tools-X.Y.Z.zip. Not "Source code (zip)" — that's the raw repo, not an installable plugin.
2. wp-admin → Plugins → Adicionar novo/Add New → Enviar plugin/Upload Plugin → pick the ZIP → Install → Activate.
3. If a banner says something like "Complete EMCP Tools Activation Now", click it — the plugin isn't fully wired up until that finishes.
4. Open the EMCP Tools menu item → Connection tab. Note the Server URL, shown in the form https://SITE/wp-json/mcp/emcp-tools-server.
5. Leave OAuth sign-in for AI clients enabled (it's the default) — this lets the agent authenticate by signing in, with no static password/token to copy or store. Destructive operations (delete content, change plugins/themes) default to disabled; leave that off until there's a real need.

2. Register the server (agent side)

claude mcp add --scope user --transport http <name> https://SITE/wp-json/mcp/emcp-tools-server

--scope user makes it available in every project, not just the current one. Confirm it was added:

claude mcp list

It shows up as ! Needs authentication — expected, next step fixes that.

3. Authenticate (must be an interactive terminal — chat UI can't do this)

This step needs a real terminal window (PowerShell, Terminal.app, etc.) running claude interactively — a non-interactive session (like a chat-only agent surface) can register the server but cannot complete OAuth, since it requires an interactive picker and a browser popup.

1. In that terminal, run claude, then type /mcp — wait for the autocomplete suggestion box to appear before pressing Enter. Typing it and hitting Enter too fast sends /mcp as a plain chat message instead of running the command (the agent will just reply conversationally — that's the tell something went wrong).
2. Arrow down to the server's name, Enter.
3. Select "1. Authenticate", Enter. A browser window opens to the site's login page.
4. Sign in and authorize. The browser redirects to a localhost URL and may show a connection error page — this is expected, not a failure; it's the OAuth loopback redirect completing, and there's nothing listening on that port to serve a nice page. Look for "Authentication successful" on the authorize page itself before the redirect, or just check status in the next step.
5. Back in the terminal, confirm:

claude mcp list

Now shows ✔ Connected.

Common Mistakes

Notes

• This works for any MCP-exposing WordPress plugin with a Connection/Server URL screen, not just EMCP Tools specifically — the registration and OAuth steps are the same shape.
• If OAuth isn't offered and only a static token/API key is available, treat it like any other secret: don't paste it into chat, register it as a header/env var, and prefer a scoped WordPress user role over the site's main admin account.