WordPress can work with Claude now. Should you stay, or move to code?
WordPress 7.0 put an AI Client in core, and an official plugin lets Claude call a site’s functions. So moving to code is no longer the only way to use Claude on your website. Here is what each route covers, and who should stay.
What changed
What can Claude do on a WordPress site now?
- 7.0 is the WordPress release that added an AI Client to core, so a site can talk to AI models from the dashboard. It shipped on 20 May 2026. The Abilities API it builds on arrived in 6.9; the MCP Adapter is a separate plugin. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress 7.0 “Armstrong”.
- MCP Adapter is the official WordPress plugin that lets AI tools such as Claude find and call a site’s abilities directly. WordPress announced it on 4 February 2026. Source: WordPress Developer Blog.
In practice, Claude can run the tasks a site’s plugins expose, such as creating a post or updating a product, and the AI plugin helps with titles, excerpts and alt text. The site underneath stays the same WordPress site.
Side by side
WordPress with Claude, or code run by Claude?
| WordPress with Claude | Coded site run by Claude | |
|---|---|---|
| What Claude can change | What WordPress and your plugins expose as abilities, and only the ones a developer marks as public to MCP. | Any part of the site: pages, components, forms, redirects and schema, because the site is code Claude can read. |
| How a change is checked | It runs on the live site as a logged-in user. WordPress keeps post revisions. | It opens as a preview. A person approves it, and every change is saved in GitHub and can be undone in one step. |
| Plugins to license and patch | All of them stay: page builder, forms, SEO, cache and security, plus the AI plugin if you want its extras. | None. The jobs plugins did are part of the site. |
| Speed | The same as before. AI does not change how the theme and plugins build each page. | Pages are built ahead of time and served from Cloudflare close to each visitor. |
| What can be attacked | wp-admin, PHP, every plugin, and now any MCP client, which acts as a logged-in user. | Forms and any APIs. There is no admin panel on the live site. |
- 11,334 new WordPress vulnerabilities were found in 2025. 91% were in plugins, and 46% had no fix by the time they were disclosed. Source: Patchstack, State of WordPress Security in 2026.
Be fair
When should you stay on WordPress and add AI?
You have a WordPress team in-house
Developers who know your theme and plugins can expose the abilities you need and keep the stack patched. AI on top of that is a cheap step.
The plugin list is short
With a theme, a forms plugin and little else, there is not much on the bill for a move to take off.
You mostly want help writing
For drafting posts, titles, excerpts and alt text inside the editor you already use, the WordPress AI plugin may be all you need.
When does a move to code pay off?
See how a move off WordPress worksYou pay an agency for changes
AI on WordPress still leaves the builder layouts, the plugin licences and the agency queue. In code, Claude makes the change and you approve it.
Plugins are most of the bill and most of the risk
Connecting Claude adds a door to the site. Moving removes the plugins, which is where most WordPress vulnerabilities are found.
Pages are slow on mobile
AI does not make a heavy theme lighter. A site built ahead of time starts fast and stays fast.
Before you decide
Read our reasoning, then add up your costs.
WordPress 7 can work with Claude. Here’s why we still move clients off it
The MCP Adapter, plugin security and page speed, and who should stay.
WordPress Cost Calculator
Add up what your site costs a year in hosting, plugins and people.
WordPress and an agency, or a coded site?
Who edits, what you pay for, and what happens if you leave.
Find out whether your site should stay or move.
Thirty minutes with both founders. Pick a time below. If there is a fit, a one-page agreement follows within 24 hours.
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