GDS MCP

WordPress MCP abilities plugin for content management, translations, and forms. Exposes WordPress functionality as MCP tools that AI assistants (Claude Desktop, etc.) can use to manage content on behalf of editors.

Built on the WordPress MCP Adapter and Abilities API.

Requirements

• PHP >= 8.0
• WordPress >= 7.0
• wordpress/mcp-adapter (required for MCP HTTP/STDIO transport)

Installation

composer require generoi/gds-mcp
wp plugin activate gds-mcp

Install and activate the MCP adapter as a normal WordPress plugin or Composer-managed dependency. gds-mcp bootstraps the adapter when the adapter class is present, so host projects do not need a separate adapter MU-plugin.

Architecture

CRUD abilities delegate to the WordPress REST API via rest_do_request() — a pure PHP call that works in HTTP, STDIO, and CLI contexts. Input/output schemas are pulled dynamically from REST route registrations. Permissions are handled by the REST API itself.

Custom abilities (duplication, block patching, translations, etc.) handle operations without REST equivalents, returning REST responses where possible for consistency.

Abilities

REST-Delegated CRUD (auto-registered for all post types and taxonomies)

Post types: gds/{rest_base}-list, gds/{rest_base}-read, gds/{rest_base}-create, gds/{rest_base}-update, gds/{rest_base}-delete

Taxonomies: gds/{rest_base}-list, gds/{rest_base}-read, gds/{rest_base}-create, gds/{rest_base}-update, gds/{rest_base}-delete

All REST parameters pass through — use _fields, search, per_page, page, slug, include, orderby, lang, etc.

Custom Abilities (always available)

Resources (always available)

ACF (when active)

ACF fields are also included in REST responses for post types via the acf field.

Polylang (when active)

Polylang also adds lang and translations fields to all REST responses automatically.

Gravity Forms (when active, REST API must be enabled)

Cache (sage-cachetags)

Redirects (Safe Redirect Manager / Redirection / Yoast)

Stream (when active)

Connecting

gds-mcp registers WordPress abilities. The wordpress/mcp-adapter plugin exposes those abilities as an MCP server.

STDIO (developers with shell access)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wordpress": {
      "command": "ddev",
      "args": ["wp", "mcp-adapter", "serve", "--server=mcp-adapter-default-server", "--user=admin"]
    }
  }
}

HTTP (production, remote access)

1. Create an application password:

# Via WP-CLI
wp user application-password create USERNAME yourname-claude-mcp --porcelain

# Or via WP Admin: Users > Profile > Application Passwords

2. Claude Code:

AUTH=$(echo -n 'USERNAME:YOUR_APP_PASSWORD' | base64)
claude mcp add-json -s local my-site \
  "{\"type\":\"http\",\"url\":\"https://example.com/wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server\",\"headers\":{\"Authorization\":\"Basic $AUTH\"}}"

3. Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wordpress": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@automattic/mcp-wordpress-remote@latest"],
      "env": {
        "WP_API_URL": "https://example.com/wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server",
        "WP_API_USERNAME": "USERNAME",
        "WP_API_PASSWORD": "xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Development

composer install
composer lint        # Check code style
composer lint:fix    # Fix code style

Testing

npx @wordpress/env start
npx @wordpress/env run tests-cli wp plugin activate gds-mcp polylang-pro gravityforms wordpress-seo safe-redirect-manager redirection stream
npx @wordpress/env run tests-cli --env-cwd=wp-content/plugins/gds-mcp vendor/bin/phpunit
npx @wordpress/env stop

License

MIT