IATO MCP for WordPress

Free, open-source MCP server that turns any self-hosted WordPress site into an AI-controllable workspace.

Project overview &
goals

IATO MCP for WordPress is an open-source plugin that exposes a self-hosted WordPress site as a Model Context Protocol server, giving Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, or any MCP-compatible client full read/write access to posts, SEO meta, media, menus, taxonomy, and Elementor — with per-change rollback receipts on every write.

It’s the self-hosted answer to WordPress.com’s paid MCP offering. Where WordPress.com’s MCP is locked to their hosting and paid plans, IATO MCP works on any WordPress install — shared hosting, VPS, managed hosts, or local dev — and ships free under GPL v2.

Live site: iato.ai/wordpress-mcp
Plugin: WordPress.org Plugin Directory
Source: github.com/IATO-ai/mcp-wordpress
License: GPL v2

The Problem

43% of the web runs on self-hosted WordPress, but the existing MCP options either require a WordPress.com subscription or expose only a thin slice of the platform. Site owners who wanted an AI agent to actually do work — fix meta descriptions, repair navigation, edit Elementor widgets, rewrite thin content — had no way to grant that access safely on their own infrastructure.

The Solution

A WordPress plugin that ships 52 MCP tools in two layers:

40 WordPress-native tools that work the moment the plugin is activated. No account, no API key, no external dependency. Posts, pages, SEO, media, menus, taxonomy, and Elementor — all readable and writable through any MCP client.
12 IATO bridge tools that connect to the IATO crawler platform for site-wide audits — sitemap, orphan pages, SEO fixes, content gaps, broken links, performance issues — each mapped back to WordPress post IDs so the agent can act on what it finds.

Features

The Toolkit

Auto-detects your SEO plugin. Yoast, RankMath, and SEOPress are all supported transparently. The plugin reads and writes the correct meta keys for whichever is active, with a fallback to native WordPress fields when none is installed.

Write-with-rollback. Every write tool returns a change receipt with a unique ID, before/after values, and a timestamp. Any AI-made change can be reversed by posting the receipt ID to the rollback endpoint, which validates the prior value to prevent stale rollbacks.

Elementor at widget granularity. Beyond standard post editing, the plugin exposes Elementor data with optimistic concurrency (if_revision), idempotency keys, dry-run previews, bulk operations, and RFC 6902 JSON Patch support for surgical array edits.

Universal MCP compatibility. Standard MCP-over-HTTP endpoint. Works with Claude Desktop, Gemini, ChatGPT, and any other MCP-compatible client.

One-screen setup. Generate an Application Password, paste it into the AI client config, optionally add an IATO API key for the bridge tools. Done.

Real Workflows It Enables

“Audit my site and fix all missing meta descriptions” — agent calls get_iato_seo_fixes, then loops update_seo_data across every flagged post.
“Find thin content under 300 words and rewrite it” — agent calls get_iato_content_gaps, then get_post and update_post for each.
“Find orphan pages and add them to the menu” — agent calls get_iato_nav_audit, previews with update_menu_item dry-run, then applies.
“List images missing alt text and add descriptive alt” — agent filters media, generates alt text, writes back via update_alt_text with a receipt for every change.

Tech Stack

PHP 8.0+ · WordPress 6.2+ · Model Context Protocol · OAuth · REST API · GPL v2