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WP EngineDocumentation

AI MCP Server

The AI MCP service lets you connect AI agents (like Claude Code CLI) to your WordPress sites using the Model Context Protocol. Search abilities, run WordPress operations, and manage sites — all from natural language conversations.

Connect Claude CodeOne command registers the server. Key, server, WordPress account, and first ability.
Connect Claude DesktopThe same path, through the mcp-remote bridge and a config file.

What you can do

Section titled “What you can do”
  • List your WordPress sites — see all sites registered to your WP Engine account
  • Search abilities — find WordPress operations by keyword across all your sites
  • Run abilities — execute WordPress actions (create posts, manage plugins, etc.) from your AI agent
  • Manage content — create, update, and delete posts and pages

All through natural language conversations in Claude Code CLI or any MCP client.

How it works

Section titled “How it works”
  1. You configure Claude Code CLI with the AI MCP service URL and a user API key
  2. Claude connects to the MCP server when you start a session
  3. You ask Claude to perform a WordPress operation in natural language
  4. Claude calls the MCP server with the appropriate tool (list_account_sites, search_abilities, run_site_ability)
  5. The gateway verifies your identity, checks permissions, and executes the ability on your WordPress site
  6. Claude returns the result to you

The MCP server acts as a bridge between AI agents and your WordPress sites, translating natural language requests into WordPress API calls.

Available tools

Section titled “Available tools”
Tool Needs Purpose
ping Bearer token Health check and server version
list_account_sites Site connection List active sites by default, or filter by registration status
search_abilities WordPress account connection Find abilities by keyword
list_site_abilities WordPress account connection List all abilities for a site
run_site_ability WordPress account connection Execute a WordPress ability
get_site_knowledge_base Site connection Get a site’s knowledge base identity and searchable filter values
search_knowledge_base Site connection Search a site’s knowledge base for content that grounds an answer
fetch_knowledge_base_document Site connection Fetch one full document from a site’s knowledge base by ID

All tools accept JSON-RPC 2.0 requests over Streamable HTTP. Exact input/output shapes are not duplicated here — fetch them live via tools/list, or inspect them interactively with MCP Inspector.

Example conversations

Section titled “Example conversations”

List your sites

Section titled “List your sites”
Terminal window
claude "Use the coworker MCP server to list all my active WordPress sites"

Claude calls list_account_sites and returns, something like:

You have 3 sites:
1. example.com - Active, WordPress account connected
2. staging.example.com - Active, needs a WordPress account connection
3. dev.example.com - Active, WordPress account connected

Create a post

Section titled “Create a post”
Terminal window
claude "Use the coworker MCP server to create a draft post on example.com titled 'Hello from Claude' with the content 'This was created via MCP.'"

Claude:

  1. Searches for the site’s Create Post ability (wp-engine-ai/create-posts)
  2. Runs it with your input
  3. Returns the new post ID and admin link

Search abilities

Section titled “Search abilities”
Terminal window
claude "Use the coworker MCP server to find WordPress abilities for managing comments"

Claude searches across your connected sites and returns matching abilities.

Supported MCP clients

Section titled “Supported MCP clients”

Any MCP client that speaks Streamable HTTP can connect. We test against:

Client Client docs Setup guide
Claude Code MCP in Claude Code Connect Claude Code
Claude Desktop Custom connectors using remote MCP Connect Claude Desktop
MCP Inspector Inspector —

Any other client

Section titled “Any other client”

A client we don’t test needs three things from you:

  • Endpoint — https://api.ai.wpengine.com/v1/mcp
  • Transport — Streamable HTTP, JSON-RPC 2.0 (not stdio). POST carries requests; GET opens the server-to-client SSE stream and DELETE ends the session, both optional for a client that only needs request/response
  • Header — Authorization: Bearer wpe_pat_... on every request

Everything else is the protocol’s, not ours. If a client can’t send a custom header, it needs a bridge — see Connect Claude Desktop for how that is done with mcp-remote.

One server entry covers every site

Section titled “One server entry covers every site”

The connection is scoped to your WP Engine account, not to one site, so you configure the server once no matter how many sites you have. There is no “select site” step: every site-scoped tool takes a site_id, and each call stands on its own. An agent can act on two of your sites in the same conversation without reconnecting, and there is no active site to forget or stale selection to clear.

AuthenticationOnly a user API key can run an ability — it acts as the person who created it, and an account key carries nobody to run as.
Site and WordPress account connectionsRegistering a site grants nobody the ability to act on it, including the administrator who registered it. Which tools need which connection.
ErrorsTools report failure as a normal response carrying an error.code, not an HTTP error. Fixes by symptom, and what each code means.
Rate limitsReads and ability execution have separate per-minute budgets, both provisional. You are unlikely to reach either by hand; an agent in a loop will.

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