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Advanced Usage

Once you've mastered the basics, MCP for WP offers a wealth of advanced features that allow you to build truly powerful and sophisticated AI-driven workflows. This guide explores some of these advanced scenarios.

🚀 1. Automating Tool Execution via the REST API

The REST API is the key to unlocking automation. You can trigger your tools from a wide variety of external systems, including:

  • CI/CD Pipelines: Automate content updates as part of your deployment process.
  • Third-Party Services: Connect your tools to services like Zapier, Make (formerly Integromat), or custom applications.
  • Command-Line Scripts: Trigger tools directly from your terminal.

Example: Triggering a Summarizer Tool with cURL

This example demonstrates how to execute a tool with an ID of 1 using an application password for authentication.

bash
curl -X POST \
  -u your_admin_user:your_application_password \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "text_to_summarize": "This is a long block of text that you want to send to your summarizer tool..."
  }' \
  https://your-site.com/wp-json/wpmcp/v1/execute/1

Security Note: Always use Application Passwords for REST API authentication. They are more secure than using your main password.

🔗 2. Chaining Multiple Tools Together

For complex workflows, you can "chain" multiple tools together, where the output of one tool becomes the input for the next. This requires a bit of custom code, but it's incredibly powerful.

Example Workflow: Summarize, then Translate

Imagine you want to create a workflow that first summarizes an article and then translates that summary into Spanish.

Tool Chaining Workflow

You can achieve this by using the wpmcp_after_tool_execute action hook. Your custom code would listen for a successful execution of the summarizer tool, grab the output, and then immediately trigger the translator tool.

php
// in your theme's functions.php or a custom plugin
add_action( 'wpmcp_after_tool_execute', 'my_summarize_and_translate_chain', 10, 4 );

function my_summarize_and_translate_chain( $tool_id, $response, $request_data, $status ) {
    // Check if the summarizer tool (ID 1) ran successfully
    if ( $tool_id == 1 && $status === 'success' ) {
        $summary = $response['summary'];

        // Now, trigger the translator tool (ID 2)
        // You would need to write a function to call the REST API internally
        my_execute_internal_tool( 2, [ 'text_to_translate' => $summary ] );
    }
}

📝 3. Displaying Tools with Shortcodes

You can embed a user-facing form for any of your tools directly into your posts, pages, or widgets using a simple shortcode.

html
[wpmcp_tool id="1"]

This will render the form that you defined in the tool's UI mapping, allowing your site visitors to interact with your AI tools directly from the frontend.

🔌 4. Integrating with Other Plugins

The true power of MCP for WP is realized when you integrate it with other plugins. By using the provided hooks and filters, you can create seamless connections with:

  • Form Plugins (e.g., Gravity Forms, Fluent Forms): Trigger a tool whenever a form is submitted.
  • Membership Plugins (e.g., MemberPress, Restrict Content Pro): Provide special AI tools exclusively for your members.
  • E-commerce Plugins (e.g., WooCommerce): Automatically generate product descriptions or marketing copy.

🕒 5. Scheduled Executions with WP-Cron

Need to run a tool on a recurring basis? You can use WP-Cron (or a server-level cron job for better reliability) to schedule tool executions.

For example, you could create a tool that generates a daily report and schedule it to run every morning. This requires custom PHP code to register your cron event and trigger the tool's execution.

🎨 6. Custom UI Extensions

  • Add custom field types or UI enhancements by extending the admin JS/CSS.

🌐 7. Multi-site Considerations

  • Each site manages its own tools/logs. Use REST API for cross-site automation.