WP Editorial Abilities

What is this?

WordPress plugin that registers editorial workflow abilities — drafts, media, SEO, scheduling, publishing — through the WordPress Abilities API and the official MCP Adapter.

Why?

WordPress 7 introduces AI-powered workflows through the Abilities API and assistant integrations, making it easier than ever to generate and edit content directly from the editor.

However, generating content is only part of the editorial process.

Most AI assistants can write text, but they do not automatically understand:

• How your site structures articles
• Which editorial patterns are commonly used
• What content already exists
• Which internal links should be added
• How SEO metadata is managed
• How drafts move through your publishing workflow

WP Editorial Abilities extends the WordPress Abilities API with a set of editorial capabilities designed to give AI assistants access to that context.

Instead of generating content in isolation, agents can:

• Analyze existing content and category patterns
• Discover authors, categories, tags, and media assets
• Suggest internal links
• Manage SEO metadata
• Create, update, schedule, and publish drafts

Combined with the official MCP Adapter, these abilities become available to MCP-compatible assistants such as Claude Desktop, Codex, and Cursor.

The goal is not simply to help AI write content, but to help AI understand how content is created and managed on your WordPress site.

How it works

flowchart TB
  mcpClient["Claude Desktop / Codex / Cursor"]
  remoteBridge["Automattic MCP WordPress Remote"]
  mcpAdapter["MCP Adapter plugin"]
  editorialAbilities["WP Editorial Abilities"]
  wordpress["WordPress core"]

  mcpClient -->|"HTTPS + user password"| remoteBridge
  remoteBridge --> mcpAdapter
  mcpAdapter --> editorialAbilities
  editorialAbilities --> wordpress

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See docs/ABILITIES.md for the full list of registered abilities.

Requirements

• WordPress 6.9+ (tested against 7.0 stable).
• PHP 8.0+.
• Site served over HTTPS (required for user password authentication).
• Official wordpress/mcp-adapter plugin installed and active.
• An MCP client: Claude Desktop, Codex, or Cursor.
• Node.js LTS (runs the Automattic MCP remote bridge via npx).

Installation

Estimated time: 20–30 minutes. All WordPress steps are done in wp-admin — no server SSH required.

If your host provides staging, complete the setup there first.

1. Download and activate plugins

MCP Adapter (install first):

1. Download the latest zip from WordPress/mcp-adapter releases.
2. In wp-admin: Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin → install and activate.

WP Editorial Abilities:

1. Download the latest zip from GitHub Releases (wp-editorial-abilities-vX.Y.Z.zip).
2. In wp-admin: Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin → install and activate.

Post-activation checks on the Plugins screen:

• No notice — ready.
• Red notice ("requires WordPress 6.9…") — update WordPress first.
• Yellow notice ("install the MCP Adapter…") — activate MCP Adapter, then deactivate and reactivate this plugin.

2. Create an MCP user

Do not use your administrator account for MCP access.

1. Users → Add New — create a user such as claude-editorial with the Editor role (use Author if you want drafts only, without publish permission).
2. Set a strong password for that user and copy it immediately.

Save these values:

Setting	Example
Site URL	https://your-site.com
Username	your-wp-username
User password	your-wp-user-password

3. Connect your MCP client

Install Node.js LTS if you do not have it. The bridge runs via npx.

Claude Desktop

1. Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config (claude_desktop_config.json).
2. Add or merge:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wp-editorial": {
      "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-wp-username",
        "WP_API_PASSWORD": "your-wp-user-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Replace WP_API_URL, WP_API_USERNAME, and WP_API_PASSWORD with your values. The URL must use https://.
4. Quit Claude Desktop completely and reopen it. The wp-editorial connector should appear.

Codex or Cursor

Add the same MCP server definition to your client's MCP configuration — npx with @automattic/mcp-wordpress-remote@latest and the same three environment variables (WP_API_URL, WP_API_USERNAME, WP_API_PASSWORD).

Restart the client after saving the config.

4. Verify the setup

Run these prompts in a new conversation and confirm results in wp-admin under Posts:

1. "List the categories on my WordPress site." — confirms the connection.
2. "Create a draft titled Installation test with two short paragraphs." — confirm a Draft appears.
3. "Add SEO metadata to that post." — check Yoast or Rank Math if active.
4. "Publish it." — Claude must ask for explicit confirmation; publishing requires your approval.

Security

• Use a dedicated MCP user with editorial permissions only — not an administrator.
• Publish and schedule abilities require explicit confirmation (confirm_publish: true).
• Revoke access anytime: Users → [MCP user] → reset or delete the user.
• Review drafts in wp-admin before publishing.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Red notice: "requires WordPress 6.9…"	WordPress too old	Update WordPress
Yellow notice: "install the MCP Adapter…"	MCP Adapter missing	Install and activate MCP Adapter first
MCP connector missing	Invalid JSON or client not restarted	Validate config JSON; fully quit and reopen the client
401 / unauthorized	Wrong password or HTTP URL	Check user password; use https://
500 / incorrect_password — Connection Failed, tools never load	Application Password used instead of user password	Replace WP_API_PASSWORD with the user's actual login password, not a WordPress Application Password
command not found: npx	Node.js not installed	Install Node.js LTS and restart
Categories work, drafts fail	Insufficient permissions	Use Editor role for the MCP user
SEO not saved	No SEO plugin	Activate Yoast SEO or Rank Math
Connector shows "Connection Failed" but appears connected; tools never load; 404 in the logs	WP_API_URL points to a headless front-end, not to WordPress	Point WP_API_URL to the real WordPress backend — see Headless WordPress: pointing at the wrong domain

Headless WordPress: pointing at the wrong domain

On a headless setup, the public domain serves a separate front-end (Next.js, Astro, etc.) and WordPress lives on a different host (commonly a wp. subdomain). If WP_API_URL points at the front-end, /wp-json/ does not exist there, so the front-end returns its own 404 — not a WordPress REST error.

The Automattic bridge still starts the local session (so the connector looks "connected", often with serverInfo: "Connection Failed"), but the upstream tools/list fails with 404 and no tools ever load. It never reached WordPress.

How to recognize it: open the MCP log (see Where the logs live) and look at the body of the 404. If it contains __NEXT_DATA__, /_error, MUI markup, or <link rel="preconnect" href="https://wp.yoursite.com">, you are hitting the headless front-end, not WordPress.

Fix: set WP_API_URL to the real backend, then fully restart the client:

"WP_API_URL": "https://wp.yoursite.com/wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server"

Confirm the backend before restarting (replace the host with your own):

# Should return WordPress REST JSON (name, namespaces, …), HTTP 200
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" "https://wp.yoursite.com/wp-json/"

# The MCP endpoint, unauthenticated:
#   401 rest_forbidden  → route exists, MCP Adapter is active (good — auth gate)
#   404 rest_no_route   → MCP Adapter / this plugin not active on that instance
curl -s "https://wp.yoursite.com/wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server"

If, after fixing the domain, you still get a 404 — but now a WordPress rest_no_route 404 instead of the front-end's — the problem shifts to the plugins not being active on that WordPress instance.

Where the logs live

Claude Desktop writes MCP logs to:

• macOS: ~/Library/Logs/Claude/
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\

The most useful files for this connector:

• mcp-server-wp-editorial.log — the bridge for the wp-editorial server (filename follows the server key in your config; rename accordingly if you used a different key).
• mcp.log — general MCP client log across all servers.

Quick tail on macOS:

tail -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-wp-editorial.log

Further reading

• docs/ABILITIES.md — full abilities reference and SEO options
• docs/REPOSITORY-ANATOMY.md — architecture and codebase layout
• CONTRIBUTING.md — local development, testing, and releases