# Formidable MCP > Create, query, and manage everything in Formidable Forms via MCP — first-time setup and connecting a site, forms, fields, repeaters, entries, views, styles, form actions (email/confirmation/webhook), applications, PDF downloads, templates, and troubleshooting known MCP bugs - Skill: `strategy11/formidable-mcp` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 16 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add strategy11/formidable-mcp` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/strategy11/formidable-mcp/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: Strategy11 (https://skillmd.com/u/strategy11) - Updated: 2026-09-22 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/strategy11/formidable-mcp --- ## Overview This skill covers all Formidable Forms work through the Formidable MCP adapter. It is self-contained and portable: everything needed to do the work correctly is in this file and the `references/` directory. Site-specific access details (credentials, URLs, local paths) intentionally live outside this skill — they belong in a local `scripts/frm-mcp.env` file, so the skill stays portable across sites. ## Not connected yet? Start here If the site has never been connected from this machine — no `scripts/frm-mcp.env`, no working MCP tool, or the first call fails on auth — **read `references/getting-started.md` and walk the user through it.** It is a four-step setup with the exact commands to run, and `scripts/frm-mcp-setup` diagnoses each step automatically. **Never ask the user for credentials.** Not in chat, not as a command to run, not "just paste it and I'll write the file". The application password goes from WP Admin straight into `frm-mcp.env`, typed by the user in an editor; you only ever confirm the file exists and run calls that read it. A password pasted into a conversation is in the transcript and must be rotated — so don't create that situation. Full reasoning in `references/mcp-protocol.md` § "Connecting". ## Routing: which reference to read Read the reference file(s) for the task at hand BEFORE making MCP calls. Do not work from recall — these documents encode hard-won corrections; skipping them repeats solved mistakes. | Task | Read | |---|---| | **First-time setup / "how do I connect this?" / auth failures on the first call** | `references/getting-started.md` | | Create/edit forms, add fields, field types & options, form settings | `references/forms-and-fields.md` | | Repeaters (repeatable sections) or nested/embedded forms | `references/repeaters.md` — **always**, this is the most error-prone area | | Entries (submissions), views, field statistics | `references/entries-and-views.md` | | **Choosing a view type, styling a view, or laying one out** — tables, card grids, column counts, view Custom CSS | `references/entries-and-views.md` § "Styling views", § "Grid views" and § "Table views" — **read before writing any view content**, see rule 9 | | Nested views — showing a second form's related entries inside a view (parent/child, shared field) | `references/shortcodes.md` §7 `[display-frm-data]` → "Nested Views", plus view filters in `references/entries-and-views.md` | | Styles / appearance / themes | `references/styles.md` | | Email notifications, confirmations, webhooks | `references/actions.md` | | Gated content — restrict private pages/posts/files/PDFs/Views behind a form submission, access tokens/links | `references/actions.md` (action + tokens) and `references/shortcodes.md` §5 (`[frm_gated_content]`) | | Writing shortcodes — email/confirmation bodies, View content, form HTML, field defaults, conditionals, stats/graphs | `references/shortcodes.md` | | Applications (Pro) | `references/applications.md` | | PDF downloads — `[frm-pdf]` links in views/pages/emails, entry/View PDFs, email PDF attachments, Dompdf rendering constraints | `references/pdfs.md` | | Graphs/charts (`[frm-graph]`), stats, search — full treatment is in the shortcodes reference | `references/shortcodes.md` §8 | | MCP setup, session protocol, abilities catalog, auth, errors | `references/mcp-protocol.md` | | Form template XML import/export | `references/templates.md` | | Something behaves wrong / MCP call fails unexpectedly | `references/gotchas.md` | ## Universal rules (apply to every task) 1. **MCP exclusively.** All creates/updates/deletes go through Formidable MCP abilities. Never fall back to the REST API, and never write to the database directly. 2. **Every field gets a label** (accessibility requirement — no label-less fields). 3. **Use specialized field types** — `name`, `email`, `phone`, `url` — not generic `text`, whenever the data has a specialized type. 4. **Option fields have minimums:** radio buttons ≥ 2 options, dropdowns ≥ 2, checkboxes ≥ 1. Always provide options at creation. 5. **If the form has a `submit` field, it must keep the highest `field_order`** so it renders last — re-check when appending fields. Note `submit` is **not** a `create-field` type (the enum rejects it): forms created via MCP have no submit field, and their button text comes from `update-form` `options.submit_value`. Older forms often do have one. 6. **`form_select` is never empty** on divider (repeater) and dynamic (data) fields — see `references/repeaters.md` and `references/forms-and-fields.md`. 7. **Verify after writing.** After creating or changing anything, verify via MCP reads (and browser inspection for rendering) before declaring success. 8. **Cache:** if fields don't appear in the form editor after API changes, it's almost always browser cache — hard refresh first; server caches are cleared automatically by the API (see `references/forms-and-fields.md` for the manual wp-cli cache clear if needed). 9. **Never inline-style a view, and never hand-roll a CSS grid.** Put semantic class names in the view content and the rules in the View Custom CSS setting (`options.listing_page_custom_css`, auto-scoped to the view) — never `style=` attributes repeated per entry, never a `