Connect Claude Code to your own WordPress site over the Model Context Protocol. Claude Code talks to your site directly from the terminal — there is no relay in between, no account to create, and your credentials never leave your machine.
Free plugin · No account · Runs on your own server · Any WordPress host
Config file
~/.claude.json
Top-level key
mcpServers
Transport
npx bridge, or WP-CLI STDIO
Before you start
You need AcrossAI MCP Manager installed and active on the WordPress site you want Claude Code to reach, plus an administrator account on that site. If you have not installed it yet, follow the Get Started guide first — it takes about a minute, and the MCP server ships bundled with the plugin.
You also need Node.js, which you almost certainly have if Claude Code is installed — the connection runs through an npx bridge fetched on demand.
How to connect Claude Code to WordPress
Step 1
Open Quick Connect and choose Claude Code
In wp-admin go to AcrossAI → MCP, open the server you want to expose, and start Quick Connect. Pick Claude Code from the client list. Everything below is generated for you with your real site URL and username already filled in.
Step 2
Generate an Application Password
Click Generate password in the wizard. This creates a standard WordPress Application Password — not your login password — scoped to this connection and revocable at any time from your user profile.
Prefer not to hold a password at all? MCP Manager also supports signing in from the CLI and approving it in your browser, and connecting over WP-CLI STDIO where no credential crosses the network. Both appear as options in the wizard.
Step 3
Add the server to ~/.claude.json
Copy the JSON from the wizard, open ~/.claude.json and paste the entry under the mcpServers key. If you already have other MCP servers configured, add this one alongside them rather than replacing the file.
{
"mcpServers": {
"your-site-mcp-adapter-default-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@automattic/mcp-wordpress-remote@latest"],
"env": {
"WP_API_URL": "https://example.com/wp-json/acrossai/mcp",
"WP_API_USERNAME": "your-wp-username",
"WP_API_PASSWORD": "xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx"
}
}
}
}Scope matters. ~/.claude.json in your home directory applies everywhere. Claude Code also reads project-scoped configuration, which is the better home for a site only one repository needs.
Step 4
Restart Claude Code and run /mcp
Restart Claude Code so it reads the new configuration, then type /mcp to list connected servers. Your site should appear with its toolsets available. Ask something harmless to confirm it is live — “Which plugins on this site need updating?” is a good first test.
What Claude Code can do once it is connected
With Abilities Manager installed alongside it, Claude Code reaches 350+ abilities across 14 toolsets — rising past 800 once it detects the plugins you already run. Without leaving the terminal it can:
- Debug against the real site — read the debug log with secrets redacted, check Site Health, list recent fatal errors and un-pause what WordPress auto-disabled.
- Inspect the database — schema and table sizes, index health, bloated autoloaded options, or
EXPLAINon a slow query, without opening phpMyAdmin. - Read and edit content — posts, pages and any custom post type, and surgically edit a page’s block tree without rewriting the page.
- Manage plugins, themes and core — install, update, roll back, and verify files against official checksums.
- Work with files — inside an allowlist you define, with optional pre-image backups of everything it touches and a changelog of what changed.
- Reach the plugins you already run — WooCommerce, Elementor, ACF, Rank Math, Yoast, WPCode and more, each registering only when that plugin is active.
Every ability runs WordPress’s own capability check for the calling user, so Claude Code can never do anything your account could not already do. See the full platform overview for the complete catalogue.
Frequently asked questions
Is connecting Claude Code to WordPress free?
Yes. AcrossAI MCP Manager and Abilities Manager are both free and GPL on WordPress.org, and there is no AcrossAI account to create. You use the Claude subscription you already have — AcrossAI never charges for AI inference, because none of it runs here.
Does my site data pass through AcrossAI servers?
No. Claude Code connects straight to your own domain and every request terminates at your /wp-json/ route. There is no relay, no gateway and no telemetry. Whatever Claude reads is still processed by Anthropic, so treat it as you would any other prompt.
Can I connect without storing a password on disk?
Yes, two ways. Sign in from the CLI and approve the request in your browser, so no password is written into a config file. Or connect over WP-CLI STDIO, where the client talks to WordPress through a subprocess and no credential crosses the network at all — the right choice when the site is on the same machine.
Can Claude Code break my site?
Every ability runs WordPress’s own capability check for the calling user, so Claude Code can never exceed what your account can already do. Higher-risk operations refuse to run without an explicit confirmation flag, file access is confined to an allowlist you define, search-and-replace is a dry run by default, and any ability can be disallowed site-wide.
How do I disconnect Claude Code again?
Revoke the Application Password from your WordPress user profile, or remove the entry from ~/.claude.json. Access is re-checked on every request, so revoking takes effect immediately even if the config is still on the machine.
Troubleshooting
/mcp shows nothing
Claude Code reads its configuration at startup, so restart it after editing the file. Check ~/.claude.json is valid JSON — a trailing comma or missing brace makes the whole file skip silently. Confirm your entry sits under mcpServers and not at the root, and that you edited the scope you are actually running in: a project-scoped config does not apply outside that directory.
The server appears but has no tools
That is the connection working and the catalogue being empty. Either Abilities Manager is not installed — MCP Manager will serve an empty catalogue quite happily — or the abilities exist but are not exposed to this particular server. Open AcrossAI → MCP, select the server, and check its Tools and Abilities tabs. After changing what a server exposes, restart Claude Code: MCP clients receive their tool list once, at connection time.
Authentication fails
Application Passwords are shown once and are not your login password. Generate a fresh one from Quick Connect rather than retyping an old one, and copy it complete with spaces. If the request is being refused rather than failing, check the server’s access rules — a new server requires manage_options until you add a rule, and the gate fails closed. CLI sign-in attempts are recorded per server, so you can see whether the request arrived at all.
It worked yesterday and stopped today
Access is re-checked on every request, not just at setup. A change to your role, capability or membership takes effect immediately, and a saved config does not keep working. Revoking the Application Password has the same effect.
Local site over HTTPS with a self-signed certificate
A local development site using a self-signed certificate will fail TLS verification. MCP Manager detects a local environment and adds the bypass to the generated config for you; if you are hand-writing it, that is what the extra environment variable in the wizard’s output is doing. Never carry that setting over to a production config.
Connect a different AI client
The same server works with every MCP client — only the config file and top-level key change. See the guides for Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, GitHub Copilot, Codex, Windsurf, Zed and every other client.
Not installed yet?
Install MCP Manager on your site, then come back and run Quick Connect.