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Quick Start Guide

1Installation
2Configuration
3First Tool
4Integration

🚀 5-Minute Setup

This guide will walk you through installing, configuring, and creating your first AI tool with MCP for WP. By the end, you'll have a working AI integration that can generate content, analyze data, or automate workflows.

Step 1: Installation

  1. Download the Plugin

    • Go to your WordPress admin dashboard
    • Navigate to Plugins > Add New
    • Click Upload Plugin
    • Choose the MCP for WP plugin file
    • Click Install Now

  2. Activate the Plugin

    • After installation, click Activate Plugin
    • You'll see a new MCP for WP menu item in your admin sidebar

Option B: Manual Installation

bash
# Download from GitHub
wget https://github.com/artificialpoets/mcp-wp-docs/archive/main.zip

# Extract to wp-content/plugins/
unzip main.zip -d wp-content/plugins/

# Rename the folder
mv wp-content/plugins/wp-mcp-docs-main wp-content/plugins/wp-mcp

# Activate via WP-CLI
wp plugin activate wp-mcp

Option C: Composer (Advanced)

bash
# Add to your composer.json
composer require artificialpoets/wp-mcp

# Or install directly
composer create-project artificialpoets/wp-mcp wp-content/plugins/wp-mcp

✅ Installation Complete! You should now see "MCP for WP" in your WordPress admin menu.

1Installation
2Configuration
3First Tool
4Integration

Step 2: Configuration

Configure Your First AI Provider

  1. Navigate to Settings

    • Go to MCP for WP > Settings in your WordPress admin
    • You'll see the provider configuration page

  2. Add OpenAI API Key (Most Common)

    php
    // Option A: Add to wp-config.php (Recommended for production)
define('OPENAI_API_KEY', 'sk-your-openai-api-key-here');

// Option B: Use the admin interface
// Enter your API key in the OpenAI section

  3. Test the Connection

    • Click Test Connection for your provider
    • You should see a green success message

Alternative Providers

php
// Anthropic Claude
define('ANTHROPIC_API_KEY', 'sk-ant-your-claude-api-key');

// Google Gemini
define('GOOGLE_API_KEY', 'your-gemini-api-key');

// Mistral AI
define('MISTRAL_API_KEY', 'your-mistral-api-key');

💡 Pro Tip: Store API keys in wp-config.php for better security. Never commit them to version control!

1Installation
2Configuration
3First Tool
4Integration

Step 3: Create Your First Tool

Content Summarizer Tool

Let's create a tool that automatically summarizes blog posts:

  1. Go to Tool Builder

    • Navigate to MCP for WP > Add New
    • You'll see the visual tool builder

  2. Configure the Tool

    json
    {
  "name": "Content Summarizer",
  "description": "Automatically summarize blog posts and articles",
  "provider": "openai",
  "method": "chat/completions",
  "input_schema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "content": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Content to summarize",
        "required": true
      },
      "max_length": {
        "type": "integer",
        "description": "Maximum summary length",
        "default": 150
      }
    }
  },
  "prompt_template": "Summarize the following content in {{max_length}} words or less:\n\n{{content}}"
}

  3. Advanced Configuration

    php
    // Add to your tool configuration
$tool_config = [
    'temperature' => 0.7,
    'max_tokens' => 200,
    'model' => 'gpt-3.5-turbo',
    'rate_limit' => 100, // requests per hour
    'cache_duration' => 3600 // cache for 1 hour
];

Customer Support Assistant

json
{
  "name": "Support Assistant",
  "description": "AI-powered customer support responses",
  "provider": "anthropic",
  "method": "messages",
  "input_schema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "customer_message": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Customer's support request"
      },
      "context": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Additional context about the issue"
      }
    }
  },
  "prompt_template": "You are a helpful customer support representative. Respond to this customer inquiry professionally and helpfully:\n\nCustomer: {{customer_message}}\nContext: {{context}}"
}

✅ Tool Created! Your AI tool is now ready to use via the REST API or WordPress hooks.

1Installation
2Configuration
3First Tool
4Integration

Step 4: Integration

Option A: REST API

bash
# Execute your tool via REST API
curl -X POST "https://yoursite.com/wp-json/wp-mcp/v1/execute/content-summarizer" \
  -H "Authorization: Basic base64(username:password)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "content": "Your long article content here...",
    "max_length": 100
  }'

Option B: WordPress Hooks

php
// In your theme's functions.php
add_action('save_post', 'auto_summarize_post', 10, 2);

function auto_summarize_post($post_id, $post) {
    // Only for published posts
    if ($post->post_status !== 'publish') {
        return;
    }
    
    // Generate summary
    $summary = wp_mcp_execute_tool('content-summarizer', [
        'content' => $post->post_content,
        'max_length' => 150
    ]);
    
    // Save summary as post meta
    if ($summary && !isset($summary['error'])) {
        update_post_meta($post_id, '_ai_summary', $summary['choices'][0]['message']['content']);
    }
}

Option C: Shortcode

php
// Add shortcode support
add_shortcode('ai_summary', 'ai_summary_shortcode');

function ai_summary_shortcode($atts) {
    $content = get_the_content();
    $summary = wp_mcp_execute_tool('content-summarizer', [
        'content' => $content,
        'max_length' => 100
    ]);
    
    if ($summary && !isset($summary['error'])) {
        return '<div class="ai-summary">' . 
               $summary['choices'][0]['message']['content'] . 
               '</div>';
    }
    
    return '';
}

Option D: Gutenberg Block

php
// Register Gutenberg block
add_action('init', 'register_ai_summary_block');

function register_ai_summary_block() {
    register_block_type('mcp-for-wp/ai-summary', [
        'editor_script' => 'mcp-ai-summary-block',
        'render_callback' => 'render_ai_summary_block'
    ]);
}

function render_ai_summary_block($attributes) {
    $content = get_the_content();
    $summary = wp_mcp_execute_tool('content-summarizer', [
        'content' => $content,
        'max_length' => $attributes['maxLength'] ?? 100
    ]);
    
    return '<div class="ai-summary-block">' . 
           $summary['choices'][0]['message']['content'] . 
           '</div>';
}

🎯 Next Steps

Monitor Your Tools

  1. View Logs

    • Go to MCP for WP > Logs
    • Monitor tool usage and performance
    • Check for errors or rate limit issues

  2. Analytics Dashboard

    • Track API usage and costs
    • Monitor response times
    • Analyze tool performance

Advanced Features

Get Help

🎉 Congratulations! You've successfully set up MCP for WP and created your first AI tool. Your WordPress site is now powered by artificial intelligence!