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Connect Claude Desktop to your WordPress sites

In this guide, you use the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to connect Claude Desktop to your WordPress sites through the WP Engine AI MCP server. The guide covers everything from adding the connector to running your first ability.

To configure Claude Code, see Connect Claude Code.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  • Claude Desktop installed (download)
  • A WP Engine account with at least one WordPress site connected to it (a site connection)
  • AI turned on for that account. An account owner accepts the WP Engine AI terms and turns on AI in the WP Engine User Portal

1. Add the connector

Section titled “1. Add the connector”
  1. In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors.
  2. Select Add custom connector.
  3. Enter the name wpengine and the URL https://api.ai.wpengine.com/v1/mcp.
  4. Select Add.

Do not add an Authorization header. You authenticate with OAuth in the next step.

2. Sign in

Section titled “2. Sign in”
  1. Select Connect on the new connector.
  2. Sign in with your WP Engine account in the browser window that opens.

Claude Desktop stores the sign-in and renews it for you.

3. Confirm Claude Desktop can see your sites

Section titled “3. Confirm Claude Desktop can see your sites”

Start a new chat, then ask:

Use the wpengine MCP server to list my WordPress sites

Claude Desktop calls list_accounts to find your account, then calls list_account_sites. It returns your active registered sites, similar to this:

You have 3 WordPress sites connected:
1. example.com (example-prod) - Active
2. staging.example.com (example-staging) - Active
3. dev.example.com (example-dev) - Active

If no tools appear:

  • Confirm the connector shows as connected under Settings → Connectors. If it doesn’t, select Connect and sign in again
  • Confirm the URL is exactly https://api.ai.wpengine.com/v1/mcp
  • Review the Claude Desktop logs under Settings → Developer
  • For anything else, see Troubleshooting

4. Connect your WordPress account

Section titled “4. Connect your WordPress account”

With your current setup, you can list sites and search a knowledge base. You can’t run an ability yet. Running an ability needs a second, separate connection between you and each site.

Most people don’t expect this. Registering a site with WP Engine gives nobody permission to act on it, including the administrator who registered it. The two connections explains why.

Complete these steps once per site:

  1. Ask Claude Desktop: “What’s the WordPress connection status for my sites?”

  2. For each site that isn’t connected, Claude Desktop gives you a link. Open the link while you’re logged in to that site’s WordPress admin. If no link comes back, build it yourself:

    {site_url}/wp-admin/admin.php?page=power-overview&action=trigger_wp_connection

    Opening this link is the only way to start the connection. WordPress has no option to start it manually.

  3. Review the permissions, then confirm with Connect WordPress user. You land back in wp-admin, now connected. See The consent screen.

5. Run your first ability

Section titled “5. Run your first ability”

Ask:

Create a draft post on example.com titled 'Today in the news with WP Engine' using the wpengine MCP server

Claude Desktop finds the site’s Create Post ability (wp-engine-ai/create-posts) with search_abilities and runs it with run_site_ability. It returns the new post ID and a link to the draft.

TroubleshootingFixes by symptom, including a server your client can't see, the 'not personally connected' error, and what each error code means.
AuthenticationHow MCP clients authenticate with OAuth.
Site and WordPress account connectionsWhy you still can't write to a registered site.

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