IATO MCP turns any self-hosted WordPress site into an MCP server. 43 tools for AI agents — manage posts, SEO, menus, media, taxonomy, and bridge to IATO's crawler. No subscription. No limits.
WordPress.com launched their own MCP server — but it only works on paid WordPress.com plans. If you self-host WordPress like 43% of the web, you need IATO MCP.
| Feature | WordPress.com MCP | IATO MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Paid plan required (~$48/yr+) | Free |
| Hosting | WordPress.com only | Any self-hosted WordPress |
| AI Clients | Any MCP client | Any MCP client |
| SEO Tools | None | Read & write via Yoast, RankMath, SEOPress |
| Crawler Integration | None | 13 IATO bridge & sync tools |
| Self-Hosted Support | No | Yes — any host |
| Rollback Support | No | Yes — per-change rollback with receipts |
| Review Queue | No | Yes — approve/reject AI changes |
| Dashboard Widget | No | Yes — SEO health at a glance |
| Tool Categories | 9 categories | 43 individual tools |
Every tool follows the MCP protocol — any AI client that supports MCP can use them. No IATO account needed for the 30 WordPress native tools.
Site name, URL, WordPress version, and active theme
Site title, tagline, admin email, and timezone
List posts and pages with status and type filters
Full post content, meta, and terms by ID or slug
Create draft or published posts and pages
Edit title, content, excerpt, or publication status
Full-text search across all posts and pages
SEO title and description via Yoast, RankMath, or SEOPress
Write SEO title and meta description through your SEO plugin
List media items with optional missing-alt-text filter
Update image alt text for accessibility and SEO
List comments filtered by status or post
List all registered WordPress navigation menus
Get items in a specific navigation menu
Add pages to menus with dry-run preview support
Add a URL or page item to a menu with position and parent support
Remove an item from a navigation menu
Edit an existing menu item's title, URL, position, or parent
List categories and tags with term IDs
Assign categories or tags to any post
Create a new category or tag in WordPress
Update an existing category or tag name, slug, or description
Delete a category or tag from WordPress
Replace all terms on a post for a given taxonomy
Set canonical URL for a post. Auto-detects Yoast, RankMath, SEOPress
Add JSON-LD structured data to a post
Create or update redirect rules. Auto-detects redirect plugins
Detects Elementor, WPBakery, Divi, Gutenberg, or Classic editor
Returns raw _elementor_data JSON for a post
Updates Elementor JSON, clears CSS cache, regenerates post_content. Supports dry_run
Full URL hierarchy with WordPress post IDs per node
Menu structure plus orphan pages with WordPress slugs
Pages not linked from any navigation menu
IATO categories mapped to WordPress term IDs
SEO issues with fix type (auto or manual) and WP slugs
Thin content pages with word count, flags, and WP slugs
Broken links mapped to source WordPress post IDs
AI-prioritized fixes across SEO, content, links, and performance
Slow or heavy pages with contributing causes
Push all WordPress pages and posts into an IATO sitemap
Sync WordPress categories and tags to IATO taxonomy
Push SEO titles and descriptions from WordPress to IATO
Sync WordPress navigation menus to IATO preserving hierarchy and ordering
IATO MCP reads and writes the correct post meta keys for whichever SEO plugin is active. No configuration needed.
| Plugin | Title Key | Description Key |
|---|---|---|
| Yoast SEO | _yoast_wpseo_title | _yoast_wpseo_metadesc |
| RankMath | rank_math_title | rank_math_description |
| SEOPress | _seopress_titles_title | _seopress_titles_desc |
| Fallback | Native WordPress post title (no SEO plugin detected) | |
Every write tool returns a change receipt with full audit trail. One-click rollback for any AI-made change. Review and approve before anything goes live.
Every write tool returns a change_receipt with a unique wr_ ID, before/after values, and timestamp. Full audit trail for AI-made changes.
POST /wp-json/iato-mcp/v1/rollback endpoint restores any change using its receipt ID. Validates before_value to prevent stale rollbacks.
Admin page where editors approve, reject, or mark-as-fixed AI-proposed changes from IATO Autopilot. Per-item and bulk actions.
wp-admin dashboard widget showing SEO score, issue counts, recent auto-fixes, pending reviews, and crawl freshness.
4-step guided setup: connect IATO, configure governance policy, set crawl schedule, run first crawl.
Install the plugin and connect your AI client in under 5 minutes. The 30 WordPress native tools work immediately — no IATO account needed.
In WP Admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin. Select the ZIP and click Install Now.
Click Activate. An MCP API key is generated automatically. Your site is now an MCP server.
In Claude Desktop → Settings → Connectors → Add, enter your site's MCP endpoint URL (shown in Settings → IATO MCP). Authorize via OAuth.
For the 9 bridge tools and 4 sync tools, enter your IATO API key in Settings → IATO MCP. WordPress native tools work without an IATO account.
With IATO MCP installed, ask your AI agent to do any of these in a single conversation.
Agent calls get_iato_seo_fixes to find issues, then update_seo_data on each post to write the fixes directly into your SEO plugin.
Agent calls sync_wp_pages_to_iato to push live content, then get_iato_content_gaps to identify pages under 300 words with WordPress slugs.
Agent calls get_iato_nav_audit to find orphans, previews changes with update_menu_item (dry_run), then applies them.
IATO proposes SEO fixes → Review Queue → Approve → Auto-applied with rollback receipts → Dashboard shows results.
Yes. IATO MCP is free and open source under GPL v2. The 30 WordPress native tools work without any account. The 9 bridge tools and 4 sync tools require an IATO free trial or subscription for API access.
Any self-hosted WordPress site. Shared hosting (Bluehost, SiteGround), VPS (DigitalOcean, Linode), managed WordPress (WP Engine, Flywheel, Cloudways), or local development environments. If you can install a plugin, you can run IATO MCP.
Any AI client that supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This includes Claude Desktop, Gemini, ChatGPT, and other MCP-compatible tools. The plugin exposes a standard MCP endpoint via HTTP.
Not for the 30 WordPress native tools — they work immediately after activation. For the 9 IATO bridge tools and 4 sync tools, you need an IATO free trial or subscription and API key, which you enter in Settings → IATO MCP.
WordPress.com's MCP only works on paid WordPress.com plans. IATO MCP works on any self-hosted WordPress site, supports multiple AI clients (not just Claude), includes SEO read/write tools, and integrates with IATO's crawler for SEO auditing and content analysis.
Yoast SEO, RankMath, and SEOPress. The plugin auto-detects which is active and reads/writes the correct meta keys. If no SEO plugin is installed, it falls back to the native WordPress post title.
Yes. The source code is on GitHub under GPL v2. Contributions are welcome. The plugin is pending approval in the WordPress.org plugin directory.
Every write tool (update_seo_data, update_alt_text, update_canonical, etc.) returns a change_receipt with a unique wr_ ID, before/after values, and timestamp. You can rollback any change by POSTing its receipt ID to /wp-json/iato-mcp/v1/rollback. The endpoint validates that before_value still matches to prevent stale rollbacks.
The Review Queue is an admin page (IATO Reviews in wp-admin) where editors can approve, reject, or mark-as-fixed AI-proposed changes from IATO Autopilot. It supports per-item and bulk actions, giving you full control over what AI changes go live on your site.
Turn your self-hosted WordPress site into an MCP server. Free, open source, works with any AI client.
Download from GitHub