Skip to content
delta

Connect Claude Desktop to WordPress with Delta’s MCP server

Claude Desktop is the chat app, not the terminal. With Delta it builds and runs your WordPress site from a conversation: pages, templates, the design system, content types and the plugins Delta integrates. There are two ways in, and which one you use depends on where the site is.

Which route

  • Live site (a public address): add Delta as a custom connector. Nothing to install.
  • Local site (.test, .local, localhost): install Delta’s Claude Desktop extension. Connectors connect from Anthropic’s servers, so they cannot reach a site on your machine; the extension runs on your machine and can.

Both need a site with Delta active and an administrator login.

Live site: add a custom connector

  1. In wp-admin open Delta → Connect and pick the Claude Desktop tab. Copy the MCP Server URL. For a site at example.com it is https://example.com/wp-json/21press-delta/mcp.
  2. In Claude Desktop open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. Give it a name, paste the URL, and click Add.
  3. Click Connect. A browser tab opens on your WordPress login screen. Log in as an administrator and approve.

No password is copied anywhere. The sign-in is OAuth against your own site, and the token can be revoked from the Connect screen at any time. A connector added on Claude.ai shows up in Claude Desktop after it syncs, and the other way round.

Local site: install the extension

  1. On the Claude Desktop tab of the Connect screen, click Generate password. Delta creates a WordPress Application Password named for Claude Desktop and shows it once; copy it.
  2. Click Download Claude Desktop extension. The file is a small .mcpb bundle made for this site. It contains no password.
  3. Double-click the file, or drag it onto Claude Desktop, or use Settings → Extensions → Advanced settings → Install extension. Claude Desktop asks for the password and keeps it in your system keychain.

The extension runs on Claude Desktop’s built-in Node, so nothing else needs installing. Generating a password again replaces the previous one, and the extension asks for the new one.

Say hello

Start a new chat and ask: “look at my Delta site and tell me what’s there”, using the name you gave the connector or extension. The agent reads its Delta briefing, checks the design system and reports back. If it does, you are connected. On a new site, carry on with Set up your site.

Manual config

If you prefer a config file, the same tab builds a claude_desktop_config.json entry. It runs a pinned mcp-remote bridge through npx, so Node.js must be installed. Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config, merge the entry into mcpServers, then quit Claude Desktop completely (⌘Q on macOS, not only the window) and open it again. This route uses its own Application Password, so the extension keeps working beside it.

Working in Claude Desktop

Claude sees four tools and they never change: start-here, discover-abilities, get-ability-info and execute-ability. Everything else is an ability the agent discovers as it needs it. See Tools and abilities.

Keep the site open in a browser beside the chat. The Front panel lets you select an element on the live page and tell the agent which one you mean. Actions that hand out control of the site, such as installing a plugin or creating a user, wait for your approval.

If it does not connect

  • Delta tools do not show up: quit Claude Desktop completely and open it again.
  • The connector cannot reach the site: the site is local or behind a login or VPN. Use the extension.
  • The Connect screen warns that discovery is blocked: your host blocks the OAuth discovery URLs the connector needs. Use the extension, which signs in with the Application Password.
  • Manual config says “spawn npx ENOENT”: Claude Desktop does not see your shell’s PATH. Install the extension instead.

Next

Related