WordPress MCP Adapter: Tools, Setup and Security

The WordPress MCP Adapter lets an AI app use your WordPress site's functions as MCP tools, resources and prompts. It is "the official WordPress package for MCP integration," part of the AI Building Blocks for WordPress initiative. It bridges the WordPress Abilities API, where plugins register what they can do, with the MCP standard.

Checked against: WordPress MCP Adapter on GitHub on 28 October 2026. eSEOspace did not install or test this server.

Website teams should also read our overview of MCP servers for website teams.

At a glance

What it can do

The adapter itself does not ship content tools. It exposes whatever abilities are registered on your site. The README lists these features:

• Ability-to-MCP conversion: abilities become MCP tools, resources and prompts.
• Multi-server management: run several MCP servers, each with its own transports, abilities and handlers.
• HTTP and STDIO transports, plus an interface for custom transports.
• Pluggable error handling and observability, so you can add your own logging.
• Granular permissions: per-server transport authentication and per-ability permission checks.

The default server offers three meta-tools for public abilities: mcp-adapter/discover-abilities, mcp-adapter/get-ability-info and mcp-adapter/execute-ability.

How to connect it

The CLI usage guide shows two routes.

STDIO for local sites. Point your client at the wp binary:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wordpress": {
      "command": "wp",
      "args": [
        "--path=/path/to/your/wordpress/site",
        "mcp-adapter",
        "serve",
        "--server=mcp-adapter-default-server",
        "--user=admin"
      ]
    }
  }
}

The guide says that without --user, the server "runs as unauthenticated (limited capabilities)."

HTTP through a proxy. The @automattic/mcp-wordpress-remote package runs locally and turns STDIO calls into WordPress REST API calls. It authenticates with WordPress Application Passwords.

You can list servers and count components for a protocol version with:

wp mcp-adapter list --protocol=2026-07-28

The guide says the supported revisions are 2025-11-25 and 2026-07-28.

Security notes

• Private by default. Abilities stay hidden until a developer sets meta.public (or meta.mcp.public) to true. Review that list before you connect an AI app.
• Pick the user carefully. The guide's examples use --user=admin. A lower-privilege user limits what the AI can change. See MCP excessive permissions.
• Application Passwords are secrets. Store them like passwords and revoke them when a project ends.
• Plugins add abilities. Every plugin that registers public abilities widens what the AI can reach. Treat new plugins as a supply chain risk.
• The API is still moving. Migration guides for v0.3.0, v0.5.0 and v0.7.0 mean upgrades can change behavior. Test on staging first.

More guidance is in our MCP security hub.

Alternatives

• Webflow MCP server: hosted by Webflow, covers design, CMS and SEO.
• Wix MCP server: hosted by Wix, covers docs, sites and site APIs.

Next step

If your site runs on WordPress and you want AI agents to update content safely, start with a short list of public abilities. Our MCP development team can help design them, and The MCP Guide covers the basics.

Frequently asked questions