How to Connect Claude Desktop to Your WordPress Website Using the WordPress MCP Plugin

If you’ve been looking for a way to manage your WordPress site directly from Claude Desktop — without switching tabs, logging into your dashboard, or copy-pasting content — the WordPress MCP plugin by Automattic is exactly what you need.

In this step-by-step guide, I’ll walk you through how to connect Claude Desktop to your WordPress website using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Once connected, you’ll be able to create posts, manage media, update pages, and much more — all through a natural conversation with Claude.

What Is MCP and Why Does It Matter?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard developed by Anthropic that allows AI models like Claude to connect to external tools and services. Think of it as a bridge between your AI assistant and the apps you use every day.

The WordPress MCP plugin by Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com) implements this protocol for WordPress, giving Claude direct, secure access to your site’s posts, pages, media library, categories, tags, and more.

Instead of logging into your dashboard to publish a post, you simply tell Claude: "Write and publish a post about the benefits of AI for small businesses." Claude handles the rest.

What You’ll Need Before You Start

Make sure you have the following ready:

Claude Desktop installed (Mac or Windows) — download from claude.ai/download
A self-hosted WordPress website (WordPress.org installation)
Admin access to your WordPress dashboard
Node.js v18 or higher installed on your computer — download from nodejs.org
Basic comfort with editing a JSON text file (don’t worry — we’ll walk through it step by step)

Step 1: Install Claude Desktop

If you haven’t already installed Claude Desktop, here’s how:

Visit https://claude.ai/download
Download the installer for your operating system (macOS or Windows)
Run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts
Sign in with your Anthropic account

Once Claude Desktop is open and running, move on to Step 2.

Step 2: Install the WordPress MCP Plugin on Your Site

The WordPress MCP plugin is maintained by Automattic and is available on the official WordPress plugin directory.

Option A — Install from the Dashboard:

Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard
Navigate to Plugins → Add New Plugin
Search for WordPress MCP
Locate the plugin by Automattic and click Install Now
Click Activate once the installation finishes

Option B — Manual Installation:

Download the plugin from wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-mcp
In your dashboard go to Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin
Upload the downloaded .zip file and activate it

Generate an Application Password

Claude Desktop needs secure credentials to access your site. WordPress’s built-in Application Passwords feature handles this safely — no need to share your main login password.

In your dashboard, go to Users → Profile
Scroll down to the Application Passwords section
In the New Application Password Name field, type something like Claude Desktop
Click Add New Application Password
Copy the generated password immediately — it will only be shown once

Keep this password handy for the next step.

Step 3: Configure Claude Desktop

This is where you wire Claude Desktop to your WordPress site. Claude Desktop reads its MCP connections from a configuration file called claude_desktop_config.json.

Locate the Config File

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Open this file in a text editor (VS Code, Notepad, TextEdit). If the file doesn’t exist yet, create it.

Add the WordPress MCP Configuration

Paste the following into the file (or merge it with any existing content):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wordpress": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@automattic/wordpress-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "WORDPRESS_SITE_URL": "https://yourwebsite.com",
        "WORDPRESS_USERNAME": "your_admin_username",
        "WORDPRESS_APP_PASSWORD": "xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace the three placeholder values:

Field	Replace with
`https://yourwebsite.com`	Your WordPress site URL (include `https://`, no trailing slash)
`your_admin_username`	Your WordPress admin username
`xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx`	The Application Password from Step 2

Save and Restart

Save the config file, then fully quit and relaunch Claude Desktop — make sure the app is completely closed first, not just minimized.

Step 4: Test the Connection

After restarting Claude Desktop:

Open a new conversation
Look for the MCP tools indicator in the interface — your WordPress connection should appear in the available tools
Type a simple test prompt:

"List my 5 most recent WordPress posts"

If the connection is working, Claude will fetch and display your posts directly from your site. That’s it — you’re connected! 🎉

What Can You Do With Claude + WordPress?

Once connected, Claude becomes your AI-powered WordPress co-pilot. Here are some of the things you can ask it to do:

Content Creation

"Write and publish a 600-word post about the top AI tools for content creators"
"Create a draft for my weekly newsletter and save it as a draft"
"Update the introduction paragraph on my About page"

Site Management

"Show me all posts in the ‘Tutorials’ category"
"Create a new category called ‘AI Tools’ and add it to my last three posts"
"Upload this image to my media library and set it as the featured image for post ID 42"

Research & Review

"Search my site for any posts mentioning ‘ChatGPT’ and list them"
"What are the most recent comments waiting for moderation?"
"Give me a summary of all my published pages"

The possibilities are almost endless — and it all happens through plain English conversation.

Troubleshooting

If the connection isn’t working, run through this checklist:

Node.js installed? Open your terminal and run node --version — it should return v18 or higher
Correct site URL? Make sure it starts with https:// and has no trailing slash
Right username and password? Double-check both against what’s in your WordPress dashboard
Plugin activated? Verify the WordPress MCP plugin shows as "Active" in your plugin list
REST API accessible? Some security plugins (like Wordfence) can block the WordPress REST API. Temporarily disable them to test
Try running manually: Open your terminal and run npx @automattic/wordpress-mcp to see if there are any error messages

Final Thoughts

Connecting Claude Desktop to your WordPress site using the WordPress MCP plugin by Automattic is one of the most powerful productivity upgrades you can make as a content creator or blogger. You get a single AI assistant that can read, write, and manage your entire site — no dashboard juggling required.

Give it a try and drop a comment below letting me know how you’re using Claude with your WordPress site. I’d love to see what workflows you’re building!

Want more AI + automation tutorials like this? Subscribe to the Dalvio Digital AI YouTube channel for weekly guides on using AI to supercharge your workflow.

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