After a four-week break — courtesy of a sciatic nerve with strong opinions — I’m happy to be back in by office chair and in your inbox. There is plenty to catch up on.
Beyond the updates on the new WordPress and Gutenberg versions, you’ll find stories below from WordPress veterans on migrating to and working with block themes on client sites and dive into more complex theme solutions or
Don’t let me keep you from your light summer reading.
Have a splendid weekend ahead!
Yours, Birgit
Developing Gutenberg and WordPress
The team around release lead Aaron Jorbin pushed WordPress 7.0.1 Maintenance release out the door to update millions of WordPress sites. The update covers 17 Trac tickets and 14 Gutenberg PRs. The full list is available in the RC 1 announcement post from last week.
In WordPress 7.0.1 Fixes Registration Spam, wp_kses() CSS Corruption, and 7.0 Admin Design Glitches, I cover the most important fixes for end users and developers of this release. You’ll learn how the registration-spam loophole got closed, which admin design glitches were sanded off, and why developers can finally remove their wp_kses() CSS workarounds. Update your sites soon if auto-updates aren’t enabled.
Ryan Welcher compiled What’s new for developers (July 2026), and it’s all about the 7.1 cycle getting real: Beta 1 lands July 15, final release August 19 at WordCamp US. You’ll want to test responsive styling, the React 19 runtime flag, and Unicode email addresses now. Also on your radar: merge proposals for Core Abilities and Guidelines, the 40px component default, icons inheriting color, and Playground’s MCP support.
Berislav “Bero” Grgičak announced what’s new in Gutenberg 23.5, released July 1. The headliner: you can now drag the editor canvas to any width, with the device preview dropdown and resize handles working together for responsive editing. The experimental Media editor gains a magnified crop canvas, pixel-snapping handles, and Cover block support. Also notable: text shadows in Global Styles, flip and rotate controls for the Icon block, and a minimum WordPress version bump to 6.9.
For the next episode of the Gutenberg Changelog, I sat down with Ellen Bauer to chat about what’s coming next for WordPress. We dug into the latest Gutenberg plugin releases (23.4 and 23.5) and the recent WordPress 7.1 update. Plus, we walked through some big merge proposal, like the Design System Theming. our excitement around responsive styling coming to WordPress. It’s a packed episode full of news you won’t want to miss! The episode will land in your favorite podcast app over the weekend.
WordPress 7.1 roadmap and more calls for testing
Anne McCarthy published Roadmap to WordPress 7.1., scheduled for August 19, 2026. Longstanding styling gaps are being tackled: responsive styling and interactive-state styling let you adjust blocks per viewport or on hover — no custom CSS required. You’ll also find new Playlist, Table of Contents, and Tabs blocks, a smarter command palette, a Design → Identity screen, the admin bar inside the editors, a media editor modal, and expanded Unicode support for email addresses.
Also mentioned Real-time collaboration, Knowledge Guidelines, React 19 upgrade, Classic block deprecation have been punted since the posts came out. Beta 1 arrives July 15 and will settle which of the other Roadmap features are in and which will be punted to a future release.
Nikunj Hatkar, this year’s team rep of the Core Test team, posted a call for testing responsive styling. You’ll be able to style blocks differently for tablet and mobile right in the editor — no custom CSS or media queries needed. The underlying PR unifies the resizable canvas with the device-preview switcher. Fire up the linked WordPress Playground instance, walk through the four test scenarios, and share what feels intuitive or broken. Plugin and theme developers should test their canvas integrations, too.
Dennis Snell published a call for testing Unicode email addresses. With initial support merged, is_email() and sanitize_email() now accepting non-ASCII addresses like grå@grå.org, and validation aligns with the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) spec. You’ll want to check your plugins and themes: the new WP_Email_Address class gives you structured access to local and domain parts, and a snippet lets you disable Unicode support until third-party integrations catch up.
Three Merge Proposals
Core contributors put together three merge proposal for new features to be added to Core for public comment.
Jorge Costa published a merge proposal to expand WordPress Core Abilitiesin WordPress, adding three read-only abilities covering settings, content, and users. Building on the Abilities API from 6.9, they give the AI Client real tools to call, so agents can understand your site’s configuration, posts, and people. Settings and post types opt in through a dedicated flag, and management abilities are planned for a later WordPress version.
Greg Ziółkowski published a merge proposal for Guidelines built on Knowledge, a new custom post type headed for WordPress 7.1. Knowledge gives your site one shared home for standards, memories, and notes — with revisions, capabilities, and REST access built in. Guidelines is the first feature on top, letting you capture voice, tone, and per-block rules right where writing happens. Although, originally aimed at WordPress 7.1, in their latest comment, Anne McCarthy indicated that it needs to simmer some more before it’s considered for inclusion in WordPress Core.
Andrew Duthie published a merge proposal for Design System Theming, bringing design tokens and a new theme component to WordPress. Built by the Gutenberg Components Team, it turns hard-coded admin styles into CSS custom properties, so your plugins and screens stay consistent and accessible. A color ramp tool generates harmonious, accessible scales from just two seed colors, and the user color scheme reaches the Site Editor — with dark mode on the horizon.
Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners
Anne Katzeff published a tutorial exploring the WordPress Cover Block for parallax scrolls. You’ll learn how the Fixed Background setting turns a Cover block into a layered parallax effect — background, middle ground, and foreground text moving at different speeds. The post steps through nesting a second Cover block, switching which layer scrolls, and improving text readability with grouped backgrounds. A video tutorial rounds it out. She also demos her process in this YouTube video.
Carrie Dils shared a case study, One Header, Two Themes, on phasing a legacy Elementor site toward Full Site Editing without a rebuild or content freeze. Using ThemeSwitcher Pro to run two themes side-by-side, she built one shared header in a plugin that both themes render. You’ll learn from five real-world snags — WooCommerce’s hooked blocks, cascade conflicts, routing gaps, query-string bypasses — and why shipping the shared layer first de-risks everything after.
Gina Lucia compared WordPress block themes vs page builders on the Ollie blog. You’ll get a clear-eyed walkthrough of what classic themes, page builders, and block themes each handle — scope, design control, performance, lock-in, and maintenance — with side-by-side tables. Her conclusion: block themes combine sitewide design control with visual editing natively, so you rarely need a page builder anymore, though migration costs and team habits can justify keeping one.
Elliott Richmond explained why he spent 16 months turning 400+ holiday cottages into WordPress blocks. The kate & tom’s site moved from ACF flexible content to a native block theme, freeing the marketing team from waiting on custom widgets. You’ll appreciate his candor: 10,590 widgets migrated via a purpose-built plugin, re-run against fresh production snapshots, with flaky conversions fixed by hand. Even untuned, PageSpeed jumped from 22 to 67.
Wes Theron published a video tutorial, How to Create and Edit Navigation Menus in WordPress, for anyone getting comfortable with block themes. In under ten minutes, you’ll learn how to edit your menu with the Navigation block, add pages, posts, categories, and custom links, and build dropdown menus. Timestamps let you jump straight to the part you need — handy if dropdowns are the only thing standing between you and a finished header.
Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks
Henrique Iamarino shared how the Automattic Design team built a WordPress theme without ever opening Figma. You’ll follow the making of Crafted, a production-ready theme created almost entirely in the WordPress Editor: Global Styles for typography and spacing, Create Block Theme to save edits to theme files, WordPress Studio for local review, and an AI assistant for finishing-touch hover CSS. His takeaway: the Editor is now a professional design surface.
Justin Tadlock explained how to dynamically load template parts in block themes on the Developer Blog. Instead of maintaining a pile of near-identical templates, you can hook into the render_block_data filter and swap a template part’s slug on the fly — say, a different sidebar per post category. His walkthrough covers early returns, fallback behavior, and file setup, and the technique works for headers, footers, and banners, too.
“Keeping up with Gutenberg – Index 2026” A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test, and Meta team from Jan. 2024 on. Updated by yours truly.
Jeff Paul announced what’s new in AI 1.1.0, the latest release of the canonical AI plugin. Two experiments headline, type-ahead text suggests inline ghost text as you write in the block editor, and key encryption secures your AI Connector API keys in the database. You’ll also find smarter content readiness checks with locale-aware counting, more control over guest comment moderation, a new core/read-settings Ability, and a peek at 1.2.0 plans.
Now also available via WordPress Playground. There is no need for a test site locally or on a server. Have you been using it? Email me with your experience.
Questions? Suggestions? Ideas? Don’t hesitate to send them via email or send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph.
Otter Blocks 3.2.0 is now live, bringing AI that builds full sections and pages, a redesigned AI writing toolbar, AI form autoresponders, a completely rebuilt Design Library, a new Content Slider block, more reliable forms, and full WordPress 7.0 support. This release focuses on the slowest part of building in the block editor: getting started….
AI assistants like Claude Code, Cowork, and ChatGPT are incredible productivity boosters, and if you wished that you could connect these AI tools with WordPress directly, then you’re not alone.
Lately, I have been using WordPress MCP by WPVibe to let my AI assistant manage my website, and it’s truly amazing how much time this saves. You can simply ask it to create a post, upload image, handle admin tasks, and more from a single conversational prompt.
In this step by step tutorial, I’ll show you how to connect your favorite AI tools with WordPress using MCP along with sharing a few work examples, so you can see what becomes possible when you combine WordPress + AI.
You can use the quick links below to jump to any section:
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is as an open standard that lets AI assistants connect to outside tools and services.
Think of it as a universal adapter. Instead of every AI tool building a custom integration with every service, they all speak the same language, so any tool and service that support MCP can work together.
With a WordPress MCP, your AI assistant can see what your website supports and carry out tasks from a plain-text prompt. It does this using a connection WordPress already has built in (the REST API), so there’s nothing extra to install.
You can use WordPress MCP to manage your WordPress site and perform tasks including:
Draft and publish posts – Create blog posts as drafts, set titles, add categories and tags, and publish when you’re ready.
Upload media – Pull images from any public URL directly into your WordPress media library.
Manage categories and tags – Create or rename taxonomy terms and assign them to posts.
Run admin tasks – Flush your site cache, check which plugins are active, and activate or deactivate plugins.
Use plugin abilities – On WordPress 6.9+, many plugins register their own actions the AI can discover and run automatically
Each of these can be done from a plain-text prompt from your favorite AI tool like Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT, etc. I’ll show you the exact prompts once you’re fully set up.
What You Need Before Getting Started
Self-hosted WordPress 6.9 or later – With the REST API enabled (it’s on by default). You need version 6.9 or later for plugin abilities API which is allows you to use AI to manage plugins like AIOSEO, WPForms, etc.
A publicly accessible site – Your site must be reachable on the internet because local development sites won’t work unless exposed via a tunnel.
A free WPVibe account — You’ll create this during setup.
An HTTPS-enabled site — WordPress application passwords require SSL and they won’t function on http:// sites. See our guide on how to add SSL and HTTPS to WordPress.
Step 1. Set Up MCP on Your WordPress Website
The easiest way to add MCP to a self-hosted WordPress site is with WPVibe.ai. It’s free and runs on a hosted server, so there’s no infrastructure to configure. It also works with every major AI tool through a single setup.
You can read our full WPVibe review for a deeper look at everything it can do, but this guide covers what you need to get connected.
Other ways to set this up: There’s also an official WordPress MCP Adapter, which pairs with the new Abilities API in WordPress 6.9, but it’s built for developers and needs manual configuration.
Along with connecting your AI tools, the WPVibe plugin unlocks WP-CLI commands, theme file editing, and the plugin abilities that I talk about later in this guide.
Once activated, go to Vibe AI » Vibe AI in your WordPress dashboard. You’ll see the MCP server URL and a three-step setup guide.
Keep this tab open. You’ll need the URL in the next step.
Step 2. Connect Your AI Tools to WordPress
With WPVibe set up, connecting your AI tool takes under a minute. You add the same server URL to any AI client you use: https://mcp.wpvibe.ai/mcp.
You’ll find instructions on how to do this in the official WPVibe documentation. But let me show you exactly where to find that setting in some popular AI platforms.
Connecting Claude
If you’re just getting started, I recommend beginning with Claude.
The simplest method is to add the WPVibe URL once via Claude.ai on the web, and it syncs automatically to Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and the Claude mobile apps with no separate setup needed.
Note: On Team and Enterprise workspaces, only an Owner or Admin can add connectors. Individual members on those plans can authenticate with WPVibe once the admin has added it, or use the Claude Code method in step 3 below.
Free, Pro, and Max plans: In Claude.ai, go to Customize » Connectors. Click the + button, select ‘Add custom connector’, and paste https://mcp.wpvibe.ai/mcp.
Team and Enterprise (admin only): Go to Organization settings » Connectors. Click ‘Add’, select Custom » Web, and paste the WPVibe URL.
Claude Code (any plan): In your terminal, run claude mcp add --scope user wpvibe --transport http https://mcp.wpvibe.ai/mcp. Then, open Claude Code, type /mcp, select wpvibe, and choose ‘Authenticate’.
Once saved, follow the on-screen prompt to authorize your WordPress site.
Connecting ChatGPT
WPVibe is available directly in the ChatGPT App Marketplace, so both free and paid users can connect without copying server URLs or editing config files.
In ChatGPT, click ‘Apps’ in the sidebar and search for WPVibe. Then click ‘Connect’ on the app page and sign in with your WPVibe account when prompted.
After connecting, ChatGPT pre-fills ‘@WPVibe’ at the start of each message. You can delete it with backspace for prompts unrelated to WordPress. Leave it in place when following the authorization step below.
Connecting Cursor
Cursor adds MCP servers through a JSON config file. In Cursor, go to Settings » MCP and click the ‘Add new global MCP server’ button. This opens the mcp.json file.
WPVibe will appear in the MCP list once it connects.
Connecting Windsurf
In Windsurf, open the Cascade panel and click the ‘Plugins’ icon (puzzle piece). Search for WPVibe, click ‘Enable’, and complete the sign-in flow when prompted.
To configure manually instead, edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json and add the following, then restart Windsurf:
Note: Windsurf uses serverUrl (not url) in its config file. Using the wrong key will cause the connection to fail.
Authorize Your WordPress Site
With the MCP URL added to your AI client, go back to Vibe AI » Vibe AI in your WordPress dashboard.
Under step 3, you’ll find a ready-to-copy prompt with your site’s URL already filled in.
Paste that prompt into your AI chat. Your AI assistant will call WPVibe and return a one-click authorization link. Simply click it to approve the connection.
You never see or copy a password. WordPress and WPVibe handle the credentials securely in the background.
What You Can Do Once You’re Connected (Worked Examples)
Once your AI tool is connected to WordPress, here are the first prompts I tried, including one for WooCommerce store owners.
My examples are from Claude Code terminal, but these will work with whichever AI tool you connected.
1. Write and Draft a Blog Post
Type this into your AI tool: ‘Create a draft WordPress post titled “How to Start a Blog” with an intro paragraph explaining why blogging is still worth it.’
Your AI assistant calls the WordPress REST API, saves the post as a draft, and returns a confirmation with a link to edit it in wp-admin.
Nothing goes live until you choose to publish it yourself.
2. Upload a Photo to Your Media Library
Type: ‘Upload this image to my WordPress media library: [paste a public image URL]. Set the alt text to “A person working at a laptop”.’
WPVibe validates the source URL, downloads the image, and adds it to your media library with the alt text you specified.
You can reference it in any post from there.
Note: The prompt above uses a public URL, which is the simplest approach. Uploading a local file from your computer works too, but WPVibe will generate a browser upload link as an intermediate step.
3. Manage Your WooCommerce Store
WooCommerce 10.9 ships with native MCP support, which exposes product and order abilities through the same standard that WPVibe uses.
If your site runs WooCommerce, try: ‘Draft a new product called “Summer T-Shirt” with a short description and a price of $29.95.’
The product saves as a draft in your store. Beyond creating products, your AI can also query orders, update their status, and add order notes, so you can handle routine store admin from the same chat window.
You can see the example below.
The next three examples go beyond WordPress’s built-in actions. On WordPress 6.9 or later, plugins can register their own actions (called ‘abilities’) that your AI discovers automatically, so if you use these tools, you can drive them from the same chat.
4. Optimize Your SEO with AI
If you use AIOSEO, then you can ask your AI to handle common SEO tasks from the chat window. It can check TruSEO scores, generate meta titles and descriptions, and run SEO audits.
My starting point was to ask it to find every post missing a meta description and write one for each.
Try this prompt: ‘Find all posts missing meta descriptions and write and apply them in one go.’
Your AI checks every post, writes the missing meta descriptions, and applies them through AIOSEO in one step.
If you use SeedProd, then your AI can manage your coming soon page, maintenance mode, and landing page settings without going into wp-admin.
For example: ‘Check if maintenance mode is currently active’ or ‘Enable the coming soon page.’
6. Build a Form with AI
If you use WPForms, then your AI can build forms from a plain-English description.
Try: ‘Create a contact form with name, email, and a message field.’ WPForms creates the form in your dashboard, ready to configure and embed.
Before using this, make sure you enable write access under WPForms » Tools.
WPForms Lite supports basic field types. Paid plans add phone, date/time, file upload, and more.
See What Your Site Can Do
You don’t have to guess which of your plugins support this. Because WPVibe automatically discovers every registered ability, you can just ask your connected AI: ‘What can you do on my WordPress site?’
It will list the abilities your installed plugins expose, so the answer stays accurate no matter which plugins you run.
Is WordPress MCP Safe?
I had the same concern when I first tested this. Here’s how WPVibe handles security.
WordPress manages the connection using application passwords, a built-in feature that creates a separate password for each external tool you connect. The AI only gets the permissions of the user account you connected.
So, it’s worth connecting with a limited, non-admin account rather than your main administrator login. If you create a dedicated Editor-role user for the connection, then the AI can only do what an Editor can do.
WPVibe encrypts your application password before storing it, using a separate key for each site, and keeps it on secure servers hosted by Cloudflare. Every connection between your AI client, WPVibe, and your WordPress site is encrypted too, so your credentials are never exposed along the way.
WPVibe also doesn’t store your conversation content. It stays within your AI client.
On the WordPress side, new posts always save as drafts and deletions go to the trash rather than permanent deletion.
To fully revoke access at any time, go to Users » Profile in your WordPress dashboard and scroll down to the Application Passwords section to delete it.
Troubleshooting Connection Issues
Connecting your AI client to WordPress is the step that trips people up most often.
If the connection fails or WPVibe doesn’t appear, then work through these checks:
WPVibe isn’t in your client’s tool or MCP list – Restart the AI client after saving the config. New MCP servers only load on a fresh start.
The connection fails silently in Windsurf – Windsurf uses the serverUrl key, not url. The wrong key produces no error message, so double-check it.
Application passwords won’t authenticate – Your site must run on HTTPS. Application passwords don’t work over http://.
Your AI client can’t reach the site – The site has to be publicly reachable. A local development site won’t connect unless you expose it through a tunnel.
Authorization keeps failing – Re-check that you pasted the correct MCP server URL: https://mcp.wpvibe.ai/mcp.
Frequently Asked Questions About WordPress MCP
Is WPVibe free?
Yes. WPVibe has no API key costs and everything in this guide works on the free plan. There is now a paid Pro plan (early-access pricing, $99 per year) that adds higher daily usage limits and priority support, not new features, so you don’t need it for anything covered here.
Does WordPress MCP work with all AI tools?
WPVibe works with Claude.ai (web), Claude Desktop, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Cursor, and Windsurf. Because MCP is an open protocol, any new AI tool that adopts the standard will work with the same WPVibe setup automatically.
Does WordPress MCP work with WordPress.com?
No, not through WPVibe. WordPress.com has its own built-in MCP setup that works differently. This guide covers self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org) only.
Do I need WordPress 6.9 to use MCP?
No. You can create posts, upload media, and run admin tasks on WordPress 6.0 or later. WordPress 6.9 is only required if you want to use plugin abilities like those from All in One SEO or SeedProd.
Can I connect more than one WordPress site to WPVibe?
Yes. WPVibe supports multiple sites under one free account. Install the Vibe AI plugin on each additional site and complete the site authorization step. Your existing WPVibe account covers all your sites.
What happens if I disconnect WPVibe from my site?
You can remove a site from WPVibe in the plugin admin or on wpvibe.ai at any time. To fully revoke access, also delete the credential under Users » Profile » Application Passwords.
David Snead, director of the Secure Hosting Alliance and a long-time Internet policy leader, shares his perspective on the complexities that emerge when technological solutions like age verification are implemented in the digital infrastructure space. Dave’s reflection highlights how the push for more secure, regulated environments can unintentionally create barriers for vulnerable or less tech-savvy […]
AI assistants like Claude Code, Cowork, and ChatGPT are incredible productivity boosters, and if you wished that you could connect these AI tools with WordPress directly, then you’re not alone.
Lately, I have been using WordPress MCP by WPVibe to let my AI assistant manage my website, and it’s truly amazing how much time this saves. You can simply ask it to create a post, upload image, handle admin tasks, and more from a single conversational prompt.
In this step by step tutorial, I’ll show you how to connect your favorite AI tools with WordPress using MCP along with sharing a few work examples, so you can see what becomes possible when you combine WordPress + AI.
You can use the quick links below to jump to any section:
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is as an open standard that lets AI assistants connect to outside tools and services.
Think of it as a universal adapter. Instead of every AI tool building a custom integration with every service, they all speak the same language, so any tool and service that support MCP can work together.
With a WordPress MCP, your AI assistant can see what your website supports and carry out tasks from a plain-text prompt. It does this using a connection WordPress already has built in (the REST API), so there’s nothing extra to install.
You can use WordPress MCP to manage your WordPress site and perform tasks including:
Draft and publish posts – Create blog posts as drafts, set titles, add categories and tags, and publish when you’re ready.
Upload media – Pull images from any public URL directly into your WordPress media library.
Manage categories and tags – Create or rename taxonomy terms and assign them to posts.
Run admin tasks – Flush your site cache, check which plugins are active, and activate or deactivate plugins.
Use plugin abilities – On WordPress 6.9+, many plugins register their own actions the AI can discover and run automatically
Each of these can be done from a plain-text prompt from your favorite AI tool like Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT, etc. I’ll show you the exact prompts once you’re fully set up.
What You Need Before Getting Started
Self-hosted WordPress 6.9 or later – With the REST API enabled (it’s on by default). You need version 6.9 or later for plugin abilities API which is allows you to use AI to manage plugins like AIOSEO, WPForms, etc.
A publicly accessible site – Your site must be reachable on the internet because local development sites won’t work unless exposed via a tunnel.
A free WPVibe account — You’ll create this during setup.
An HTTPS-enabled site — WordPress application passwords require SSL and they won’t function on http:// sites. See our guide on how to add SSL and HTTPS to WordPress.
Step 1. Set Up MCP on Your WordPress Website
The easiest way to add MCP to a self-hosted WordPress site is with WPVibe.ai. It’s free and runs on a hosted server, so there’s no infrastructure to configure. It also works with every major AI tool through a single setup.
You can read our full WPVibe review for a deeper look at everything it can do, but this guide covers what you need to get connected.
Other ways to set this up: There’s also an official WordPress MCP Adapter, which pairs with the new Abilities API in WordPress 6.9, but it’s built for developers and needs manual configuration.
Along with connecting your AI tools, the WPVibe plugin unlocks WP-CLI commands, theme file editing, and the plugin abilities that I talk about later in this guide.
Once activated, go to Vibe AI » Vibe AI in your WordPress dashboard. You’ll see the MCP server URL and a three-step setup guide.
Keep this tab open. You’ll need the URL in the next step.
Step 2. Connect Your AI Tools to WordPress
With WPVibe set up, connecting your AI tool takes under a minute. You add the same server URL to any AI client you use: https://mcp.wpvibe.ai/mcp.
You’ll find instructions on how to do this in the official WPVibe documentation. But let me show you exactly where to find that setting in some popular AI platforms.
Connecting Claude
If you’re just getting started, I recommend beginning with Claude.
The simplest method is to add the WPVibe URL once via Claude.ai on the web, and it syncs automatically to Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and the Claude mobile apps with no separate setup needed.
Note: On Team and Enterprise workspaces, only an Owner or Admin can add connectors. Individual members on those plans can authenticate with WPVibe once the admin has added it, or use the Claude Code method in step 3 below.
Free, Pro, and Max plans: In Claude.ai, go to Customize » Connectors. Click the + button, select ‘Add custom connector’, and paste https://mcp.wpvibe.ai/mcp.
Team and Enterprise (admin only): Go to Organization settings » Connectors. Click ‘Add’, select Custom » Web, and paste the WPVibe URL.
Claude Code (any plan): In your terminal, run claude mcp add --scope user wpvibe --transport http https://mcp.wpvibe.ai/mcp. Then, open Claude Code, type /mcp, select wpvibe, and choose ‘Authenticate’.
Once saved, follow the on-screen prompt to authorize your WordPress site.
Connecting ChatGPT
WPVibe is available directly in the ChatGPT App Marketplace, so both free and paid users can connect without copying server URLs or editing config files.
In ChatGPT, click ‘Apps’ in the sidebar and search for WPVibe. Then click ‘Connect’ on the app page and sign in with your WPVibe account when prompted.
After connecting, ChatGPT pre-fills ‘@WPVibe’ at the start of each message. You can delete it with backspace for prompts unrelated to WordPress. Leave it in place when following the authorization step below.
Connecting Cursor
Cursor adds MCP servers through a JSON config file. In Cursor, go to Settings » MCP and click the ‘Add new global MCP server’ button. This opens the mcp.json file.
WPVibe will appear in the MCP list once it connects.
Connecting Windsurf
In Windsurf, open the Cascade panel and click the ‘Plugins’ icon (puzzle piece). Search for WPVibe, click ‘Enable’, and complete the sign-in flow when prompted.
To configure manually instead, edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json and add the following, then restart Windsurf:
Note: Windsurf uses serverUrl (not url) in its config file. Using the wrong key will cause the connection to fail.
Authorize Your WordPress Site
With the MCP URL added to your AI client, go back to Vibe AI » Vibe AI in your WordPress dashboard.
Under step 3, you’ll find a ready-to-copy prompt with your site’s URL already filled in.
Paste that prompt into your AI chat. Your AI assistant will call WPVibe and return a one-click authorization link. Simply click it to approve the connection.
You never see or copy a password. WordPress and WPVibe handle the credentials securely in the background.
What You Can Do Once You’re Connected (Worked Examples)
Once your AI tool is connected to WordPress, here are the first prompts I tried, including one for WooCommerce store owners.
My examples are from Claude Code terminal, but these will work with whichever AI tool you connected.
1. Write and Draft a Blog Post
Type this into your AI tool: ‘Create a draft WordPress post titled “How to Start a Blog” with an intro paragraph explaining why blogging is still worth it.’
Your AI assistant calls the WordPress REST API, saves the post as a draft, and returns a confirmation with a link to edit it in wp-admin.
Nothing goes live until you choose to publish it yourself.
2. Upload a Photo to Your Media Library
Type: ‘Upload this image to my WordPress media library: [paste a public image URL]. Set the alt text to “A person working at a laptop”.’
WPVibe validates the source URL, downloads the image, and adds it to your media library with the alt text you specified.
You can reference it in any post from there.
Note: The prompt above uses a public URL, which is the simplest approach. Uploading a local file from your computer works too, but WPVibe will generate a browser upload link as an intermediate step.
3. Manage Your WooCommerce Store
WooCommerce 10.9 ships with native MCP support, which exposes product and order abilities through the same standard that WPVibe uses.
If your site runs WooCommerce, try: ‘Draft a new product called “Summer T-Shirt” with a short description and a price of $29.95.’
The product saves as a draft in your store. Beyond creating products, your AI can also query orders, update their status, and add order notes, so you can handle routine store admin from the same chat window.
You can see the example below.
The next three examples go beyond WordPress’s built-in actions. On WordPress 6.9 or later, plugins can register their own actions (called ‘abilities’) that your AI discovers automatically, so if you use these tools, you can drive them from the same chat.
4. Optimize Your SEO with AI
If you use AIOSEO, then you can ask your AI to handle common SEO tasks from the chat window. It can check TruSEO scores, generate meta titles and descriptions, and run SEO audits.
My starting point was to ask it to find every post missing a meta description and write one for each.
Try this prompt: ‘Find all posts missing meta descriptions and write and apply them in one go.’
Your AI checks every post, writes the missing meta descriptions, and applies them through AIOSEO in one step.
If you use SeedProd, then your AI can manage your coming soon page, maintenance mode, and landing page settings without going into wp-admin.
For example: ‘Check if maintenance mode is currently active’ or ‘Enable the coming soon page.’
6. Build a Form with AI
If you use WPForms, then your AI can build forms from a plain-English description.
Try: ‘Create a contact form with name, email, and a message field.’ WPForms creates the form in your dashboard, ready to configure and embed.
Before using this, make sure you enable write access under WPForms » Tools.
WPForms Lite supports basic field types. Paid plans add phone, date/time, file upload, and more.
See What Your Site Can Do
You don’t have to guess which of your plugins support this. Because WPVibe automatically discovers every registered ability, you can just ask your connected AI: ‘What can you do on my WordPress site?’
It will list the abilities your installed plugins expose, so the answer stays accurate no matter which plugins you run.
Is WordPress MCP Safe?
I had the same concern when I first tested this. Here’s how WPVibe handles security.
WordPress manages the connection using application passwords, a built-in feature that creates a separate password for each external tool you connect. The AI only gets the permissions of the user account you connected.
So, it’s worth connecting with a limited, non-admin account rather than your main administrator login. If you create a dedicated Editor-role user for the connection, then the AI can only do what an Editor can do.
WPVibe encrypts your application password before storing it, using a separate key for each site, and keeps it on secure servers hosted by Cloudflare. Every connection between your AI client, WPVibe, and your WordPress site is encrypted too, so your credentials are never exposed along the way.
WPVibe also doesn’t store your conversation content. It stays within your AI client.
On the WordPress side, new posts always save as drafts and deletions go to the trash rather than permanent deletion.
To fully revoke access at any time, go to Users » Profile in your WordPress dashboard and scroll down to the Application Passwords section to delete it.
Troubleshooting Connection Issues
Connecting your AI client to WordPress is the step that trips people up most often.
If the connection fails or WPVibe doesn’t appear, then work through these checks:
WPVibe isn’t in your client’s tool or MCP list – Restart the AI client after saving the config. New MCP servers only load on a fresh start.
The connection fails silently in Windsurf – Windsurf uses the serverUrl key, not url. The wrong key produces no error message, so double-check it.
Application passwords won’t authenticate – Your site must run on HTTPS. Application passwords don’t work over http://.
Your AI client can’t reach the site – The site has to be publicly reachable. A local development site won’t connect unless you expose it through a tunnel.
Authorization keeps failing – Re-check that you pasted the correct MCP server URL: https://mcp.wpvibe.ai/mcp.
Frequently Asked Questions About WordPress MCP
Is WPVibe free?
Yes. WPVibe has no API key costs and everything in this guide works on the free plan. There is now a paid Pro plan (early-access pricing, $99 per year) that adds higher daily usage limits and priority support, not new features, so you don’t need it for anything covered here.
Does WordPress MCP work with all AI tools?
WPVibe works with Claude.ai (web), Claude Desktop, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Cursor, and Windsurf. Because MCP is an open protocol, any new AI tool that adopts the standard will work with the same WPVibe setup automatically.
Does WordPress MCP work with WordPress.com?
No, not through WPVibe. WordPress.com has its own built-in MCP setup that works differently. This guide covers self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org) only.
Do I need WordPress 6.9 to use MCP?
No. You can create posts, upload media, and run admin tasks on WordPress 6.0 or later. WordPress 6.9 is only required if you want to use plugin abilities like those from All in One SEO or SeedProd.
Can I connect more than one WordPress site to WPVibe?
Yes. WPVibe supports multiple sites under one free account. Install the Vibe AI plugin on each additional site and complete the site authorization step. Your existing WPVibe account covers all your sites.
What happens if I disconnect WPVibe from my site?
You can remove a site from WPVibe in the plugin admin or on wpvibe.ai at any time. To fully revoke access, also delete the credential under Users » Profile » Application Passwords.
Thirteen years ago today, I received my very first props for contributing to WordPress Core. If my WordPress contribution journey were a person, it would now be a teenager. It’s pretty wild to think about, but I’ve now been contributing to the WordPress project in some way for a third of my life!
What is a “prop”?
In the WordPress open source project, community participants receive credit for contributing to a given change or deliverable by receiving “props.”
Props should be given to all those who contributed to the final commit, whether through patches, refreshed patches, code suggested otherwise, design, writing, user testing, or other significant investments of time and effort. Usernames are parsed for the credits list and WordPress.org profiles.
The names of all the contributors who helped make a specific release possible are collected in the weeks leading up and added to the Credits API, which powers the Credits page in the WordPress dashboard.
To date, I have been listed on the Credits page for 24 consecutive releases starting with 4.7, and 29 of the 35 releases overall since my first credited contribution in WordPress 3.6 “Oscar”, alongside 224 other contributors.
Every year is a bit different than the last, but I can confidently say that this past year has been significantly different. What it means to develop software or contribute to open source is changing rapidly with advanced AI innovations seemingly every day combined with these tools being accessible to more people than ever before. But throughout all this, one truth holds strong: open source software is more important than ever.
Looking Back
It seemed only fitting for me to instruct AI to analyze my contribution activity over the last 365 days to try and find anything interesting!
Prompt
Today is the 13th Anniversary of my first credited contribution to the WordPress project. I try to write a blog post each year to mark the occasion.
I’m looking for ideas for this years edition. Please go and read all of my past posts (accessible here at this category feed https://jonathandesrosiers.com/category/contributing-anniversaries/feed) and give me 10-12 ideas for what to focus on this year. You can also look through the other content on my site for other ideas.
After you do that, I want you to look at the git history for the wordpress-develop and gutenberg repositories between July 8, 2025 and yesterday (July 7, 2026). I want you to parse the logs to summarize my activity and find some particular ways to analyze the data that are interesting.
Be creative! These posts are the most fun when I am able to find some unique insight into a year’s worth of contributions.
Results
Your year 13 in numbers (Jul 8 2025 → Jul 7 2026)
Metric
Value
Core commits authored & committed
119 (~7% of all 1,707 core commits this cycle)
Additional commits crediting you (props received)
97 → ~216 credited touch points in core alone
Lines changed
+41,746 / −21,940 across 656 file-changes
Unique Trac tickets
69
Gutenberg PRs authored
24 (+108 co-authored/credited)
Reverts you committed
6
The headline:80 of your 119 core commits (67%) are “Build/Test Tools.” Add Tests + General and it’s ~80%. You spent year 13 as the plumber of WordPress — CI, build pipeline, dependency stewardship, release infrastructure.
The most interesting angles the data surfaced
The nocturnal committer. ~50 of your commits land between midnight and 4am. Tuesday (37) and Thursday (31) are your peak days; Saturday is nearly dead (3).
The month that didn’t exist.January 2026: zero commits. March 2026: 40. Your cadence is a heartbeat synced to the 6.9 and 7.0 release cycles, not the calendar.
The June 30th ritual. You bumped Gutenberg’s pinned hash seven times in a single day (v22.8.0 → v23.4.0) — a whole quarter of catching-up compressed into one sitting.
Supply-chain quiet work. Pinning full-length action SHAs, replacing abandoned third-party actions, migrating release logic to a GitHub App, ca-bundle updates — you spent the year hardening the software supply chain nobody thanks you for.
Keeping the ancient libraries breathing. lodash, underscore, backbone, getID3, Twemoji — you’re the caretaker of WordPress’s legacy vendored code.
Future-proofing the matrix. MySQL 9.5/9.6/9.7, MariaDB 12.1, PHP 8.5 (HEIF/HEIC) — you test tomorrow’s platforms today.
A first, quietly historic commit:“Include example for disclosing AI usage” — you helped write core’s early AI-disclosure norms.
10–12 ideas for the year-13 post
“The Plumber’s Year: 67% of My Commits Were Infrastructure.” Own the unglamorous. A love letter to build/test/CI work — the contributions that never show up in a release announcement but without which nothing ships. This is your strongest, most authentic angle.
“Confessions of a Nocturnal Committer.” Fun, human, data-driven: your midnight-to-4am commit cluster, Tuesday/Thursday peaks, the dead January. Chart your year as a heartbeat and reflect on what it says about maintainer rhythms (and sustainability/burnout).
“216 Times.” Companion to your 2024 props post, flipped: this year you received credit ~216 times in core (119 committed + 97 propped). Explore the two halves of a committer’s fingerprint — the work you land yourself vs. the work you shepherd for others.
“The Boring Commits That Keep 40% of the Web Safe.” The supply-chain security angle: pinned SHAs, abandoned-action replacement, the GitHub App migration, ca-bundle. Frame maintenance-as-security — timely and underappreciated.
“I Test the Future So You Don’t Break in It.” MySQL 9.7, MariaDB 12.1, PHP 8.5 — a piece on being the person who runs tomorrow’s platforms against today’s code, and why the test matrix is a form of care.
“The Commit I’m Proudest Of Was One Line About AI.” Use “Include example for disclosing AI usage” as a springboard into how WordPress (and you) navigated AI’s arrival in the contribution workflow in 2025–26. Very of-the-moment.
“Anatomy of a Revert.” Six times this year you reverted your own or others’ work. A candid, senior-contributor essay on why reverting is a feature not a failure — iteration, humility, and trunk stability.
“A Year in Dependencies.” The stewardship story — lodash/underscore/backbone/getID3/Twemoji. What it means to be the caretaker of code written a decade ago that you can’t just delete. Legacy as responsibility.
“Who I Built With.” Refresh your collaborator lens for year 13: westonruter (24), jorbin (22), johnbillion (15), peterwilsoncc (14), wildworks (13)… Name the people behind the props lines and tell a story or two about the work you shared.
“The Shape of a Release Cycle, Drawn in Commits.” Overlay your monthly commit counts on the 6.9 and 7.0 timelines — the March spike, the December bundled-themes push, the quiet stretches. Show readers what a maintainer’s year looks like mapped to what shipped.
“Same Job, New Tools: Automating Myself Out of the Loop.” Your Gutenberg PRs are almost all release automation — GitHub App auth, GHCR publishing, reproducible builds, Dependabot. A reflective piece on spending your labor building the machine that does the labor, and what that means for the next generation of contributors.
I haven’t validated any of these numbers, but they do seem relatively accurate at first glance. I had ChatGPT create an embroidered patch that reflects the summary above.
And some of those writing suggestions are pretty good ideas! I’m out of time for today, so I’ll file these in the backlog for another day. But here’s to another year of helping the world find their voice to share their stories using WordPress.
“Listen… the birds are already singing,” said Danylo — a Ukrainian I’d met at a previous WordCamp — as we were wrapping up the last hour of the WCEU afterparty in Krakow. “It’s time for us to go.” He started singing “Hei! Hei! Hei, sokoly! Omynaite hory, lisy, doly.” I started singing with him. The Polish guys next to us continued singing in Polish “Dzwoń, dzwoń, dzwoń dzwoneczku, Mój stepowy skowroneczku.” Some people behind us joined the choir. That was “Hey Sokoly” — a Ukrainian-Polish folk song — carrying us out of Bastion III, a 19th-century Austrian fortress on the edge of Krakow’s Old Town, as the night turned to morning.
But to explain how I ended up there, I need to go back to where it all began.
The view of the Krakow castle, taken on the morning after the after-party, around the time when birds were singing. Photo by Volodymyr Melnychenko.
Mykolaiv
It all started in Mykolaiv, the city of shipbuilders and brides, where I spent my childhood. I graduated from two universities I had been attending simultaneously and started looking for a job during a gap year. I planned to find work to earn some money for further education while preparing for the entrance exams to one of the Finnish universities. Mykolaiv didn’t provide good opportunities for graduates unless you had very good connections, but I managed to find a job at an “IT” company. In 2011, the term “IT” didn’t mean much to me, but they required English, which was my major, so I thought — why not. The work wasn’t particularly difficult: I had to pretend to be “Bob” from the United States, helping customers who had purchased physical products by tracking their orders and walking them through setup instructions. I was fired after a month and a half. Maybe I underperformed, or maybe somebody just didn’t like me — either way, it’s water under the bridge.
The first job I’d gotten entirely on my own, the first paycheck that proved I could be independent, and the first time being fired — all of it hit me at once. The last part was devastating, made worse by comments like “it was too good to be true,” “we told you they’d trick you,” and “look at so-and-so, doing such-and-such and earning properly.” It was hard to sit with feeling like a failure. But somewhere in that difficulty, I got tougher — and more determined to prove everyone wrong.
TemplateMonster
The first job was a failure, but it gave me one clear answer: I needed to stay in IT. The next job was TemplateMonster.com — well known in certain circles. It was the complete opposite of what I’d experienced before. In 2012 they were selling templates for the most popular CMS platforms of the time: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and various e-commerce solutions. The onboarding alone took two months, which tells you something about how seriously they took their people — staff rarely left, and when they did, it was for personal reasons, not because they were pushed out.
My job was to help customers with their templates: installation, editing, customization. Difficult, but genuinely interesting — I liked it. This was the first time I encountered WordPress. I worked six nights a week, and Sundays were the strangest — your day off, but your body had adjusted to night shifts and refused to cooperate. None of that bothered me much. Being able to build sites and make things look exactly right was addictive. I overworked, learned constantly, pestered developers with questions, all just to quench my thirst for knowledge. It ended quickly: I got accepted into three master’s programs in Finland, chose one, and left for Central Finland.
Helsinki
Morning “Weekly” at booncon PIXELS, my first workplace in Helsinki. Photo by Volodymyr Melnychenko.
Studying in Finland was genuinely different from anything I’d known in Ukraine — in the best possible way. Once the mandatory courses were done, I started looking for work. It was harder than I expected: a year of passive searching, then six months of applying every day. Eventually, I landed at a Helsinki-based agency building WordPress websites — which is still what I do today. A friendly team, around ten people — I’m still close with many of them. We built sites of varying complexity during the day and spent evenings playing board games, swapping stories, and throwing the occasional party.
That’s also where I attended my first WordPress event: WordCamp Helsinki 2017, a two-day conference. It didn’t blow me away, but it opened something. When you work in a small agency, you live inside your own bubble — and then suddenly a whole other world appears. You see the other side of WordPress: the community, the people pushing it forward, the people wrestling with the same problems you are and finding creative ways through.
That first local WordCamp was enough to make us want to go further. In 2019 the team went to Berlin for WCEU — my first trip abroad outside of the Finland-Ukraine route I knew well. We spent a few days exploring the city and attending the event. WordCamp Europe is a different scale entirely: thousands of attendees, hundreds of volunteers making it happen. Standing in that crowd, I knew I wanted to be part of it — not just as a visitor. And then corona happened.
Porto
Me, standing on the roof the Super Bock Arena, where the WCEU 2022 took place. Photo by Oleksandr Misyats.
WCEU 2020 and 2021 were online, and I felt they were missing the whole point — thousands of people in one place, feeding off each other’s energy. So when Porto was announced for 2022, I started packing. This time, I joined as a volunteer, to see WordCamp from the inside. It was the right call. It was also a difficult time for Ukrainians — the full-scale invasion was by then well into its second year, and everyone was finding their own way to cope. For me, this event became a source of strength. I connected with the Ukrainian community, had real conversations with speakers, and came away feeling like I’d experienced what WCEU is actually for.
That trip also clarified something I’d been circling around for a while. I’ve always loved traveling, but there was a barrier that had nothing to do with visas or money — though those were factors too. It was a justification problem. Coming from a culture where time should be spent purposefully, traveling for its own sake felt hard to defend. A work conference, though? Completely justifiable. Nobody asks how much fun you had. I’ve been to Germany, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, and Poland this way. Spain is next.
Attending WordCamps is one thing. Building a similar event is another.
WP Suomi
In 2025 I became the lead organizer of WP Suomi — the first independent Finnish WordPress event, held in Helsinki. The months before October 10th were intensive in ways I hadn’t anticipated: budgets, logistics, gifts, merch, catering, venue coordination, a hundred small details that needed to be right simultaneously. I remember waking up at midnight worrying that I hadn’t ordered something in time and it wouldn’t arrive before the event. Most of the work that goes into an event like this is invisible to the people attending. They see the schedule, the food, the afterparty. They don’t see the half a year of pieces being polished before the puzzle comes together.
WP Suomi hall screen graphics. Graphics by Sergei Shchegrinets.
On the day of the event, there was nothing left to worry about. Whatever needed doing had been done — if something had been missed in the preparation, it would show up now and there would be little we could do about it. So why worry? The time for that was the preparation, not the day itself. The team — experienced, reliable, no hand-holding required — knew exactly what they were there for.
Around 300 people attended WP Suomi. Forty filled out our feedback form afterward, giving an overall score of 4.47 out of 5. But the number mattered less than what people wrote: networking, atmosphere, meeting old friends and new ones, a community that welcomes everyone openly. Reading that, I recognized the same feeling I’d had at WordCamp Helsinki 2017 — something new, interesting, and full of possibility.
Organizing WP Suomi gave me a clearer understanding of what goes into making these events happen. Having been a volunteer at WCEU and then a lead organizer at WP Suomi, I arrived in Krakow with a slightly different perspective — a better sense of what the people around me were going through. This year I’m back on the WP Suomi organizing team as speakers coordinator — a different role, another angle.
Milana Cap is ready to show some magic with HTML API. She is one of two people who convinced Vladimir to become the lead organizer of WP Suomi ‘25. Photo by Asanka Hettiarachchi.
Krakow
WordCamps have changed for me over the years — less about the sessions on stage, more about what happens between them. As an organizer, you miss most of the talks anyway, pulled in ten directions at once. But real life happens in the corridors, and at the parties in the evenings.
This matters especially for the Ukrainian community. The war has scattered us across Europe — different countries, different companies, different lives. WordCamp Europe has become one of the few places where we reassemble in person: to share what the year brought, to meet people we only knew online, to see the community still growing despite everything. Many couldn’t make it to Krakow, some would not be able to visit these events anymore. For those of us who could, the room carried extra weight.
That’s what Danylo and I were singing about at dawn outside Bastion III, even if neither of us said it out loud. I hope to do that someday in the afterparties in Helsinki and Kyiv — whenever that becomes possible again.
Ukrainian team at WordCamp Torino 2024. More and more Ukrainians visit this event every year despite the war. Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi.
Volodymyr’s Work Environment
We asked Volodymyr for a view into his development life and this is what he sent!
HeroPress would like to thank Draw Attention for their donation of the plugin to make this interactive image!
“Послухай… пташки заспівали”
Слухайте власну історію Володимира вголос.
«Послухай… пташки заспівали», — сказав Данило, українець, з яким я познайомився на попередньому WordCamp — ми якраз протеревенили останню годину afterparty WCEU у Кракові. «Значить нам теж час іти». І тут він від душі почав співати «Гей, гей, гей, соколи, оминайте гори, ліси, доли». Я підхопив пісню разом із ним. Поляки, що ішли поруч продовжили польською: «Dzwoń, dzwoń, dzwoń dzwoneczku, mój stepowy skowroneczku». Хтось позаду теж приєднався до хору. Це була «Гей, соколи» — українсько-польська народна пісня — під акомпанемент якої нас виносив натовп із Бастіону III, австрійської фортеці XIX століття на околиці краківського Старого міста, саме тоді, коли вже ніч переходила у ранок.
Щоб пояснити, як я там опинився, доведеться повернутися до самого початку цієї історії.
Вид на Краківський замок, фото зроблене зранку після вечірки, приблизно в той час коли “вже заспівали пташки”. Фото зроблене Володимиром Мельниченко.
Миколаїв
Ця історія бере свій початок у Миколаєві – місті суднобудівельників і наречених, де я виріс. Здобув освіту у двох університетах, де навчався одночасно і почав шукати роботу під час року перерви перед продовженням навчання. Я планував знайти собі роботу, щоб заробити грошенят для продовження навчання, готуючись до вступу в один із фінських університетів. У Миколаєві було важко знайти якісь серйозні перспективи для випускника, хіба що в тебе є зв’язки, але я примудрився знайти роботу в “IT” компанії. У 2011 термін “АйТі” нічого мені не говорив, але там потрібна була англійська, яка була моїм основним предметом в університеті, тому я подумав, а чом би й ні? Робота не була важкою: треба було казати, що я “Боб” із США і допомагати клієнтам, які купували фізичні продукти, відслідковувати їх замовлення і давати інструкції, як використовувати оте, що вони поназамовляли. Мене звільнили через півтора місяці. Можливо, я щось не так робив, можливо, просто не вдався обличчям — у будь-якому випадку, що було, то загуло.
На цю роботу я влаштувався самостійно, без будь-якої підтримки, перша заробітна плата була символом моєї незалежності, і перше звільнення — це був бурхливий вир емоцій. Але остання частина просто вибила землю з-під моїх ніг, гірше тільки зробили коментарі на кшталт: “це було занадто добре, щоб бути правдою”, “та ми тобі казали, що там надурять”, і “подивись на нього — він робить те та й се, ще й добре заробляє”. Дуже важко було бути вдома і відчувати себе невдахою. Але це відчуття зробило набагато більше ніж будь-яка ефемерна підтримка — воно мене загартувало і пробудило палке бажання довести, що всі помилялися щодо мене.
TemplateMonster
Хоч перша робота виявилась провалом, вона дала мені чітке розуміння, що треба продовжувати шукати роботу в IT. Наступну роботу я знайшов у TemplateMonster.com — добре відому у певних колах. Вона була повною протилежністю моєму минулому досвіду. У 2012 році вони продавали шаблони для більшості популярних CMS-ок того часу: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, і для різних рішень електронної комерції. Лише ознайомлення з роботою і навчання зайняло два місяці, що промовисто свідчить про те, наскільки серйозно компанія сприймала своїх людей — майже ніколи не звільняли, а якщо люди й ішли з роботи, то з власних причин.
Моїм завданням було допомагати клієнтам із шаблонами, які вони придбали: встановлення, налаштування, редагування. Було доволі складно, але дуже цікаво — мені подобалося. Тоді я вперше познайомився із WordPress. Я працював шість ночей на тиждень, а неділі були найважчими, бо тіло звикало до активності вночі і відмовлялося спати. Хоча такий графік мене не дуже турбував. Можливість створювати будь-які сайти і кастомізувати їх саме під себе — оце було до дідька захопливо. Я багато перепрацьовував, вивчав щось нове, заколупував розробників питаннями, щоб хоч трохи вгамувати жагу до знань. Але усе закінчилося несподівано швидко: я отримав три листи про зарахування на магістратуру у Фінляндії, вибрав один університет і поїхав до Центральної Фінляндії.
Гельсінкі
Система навчання у Фінляндії побудована зовсім по-іншому — і, на мою думку, на краще. Коли я закінчив основні курси моєї спеціальності, я почав шукати роботу. Завдання було не з легких: рік я шукав пасивно, де-не-де подаючи заявки на роботу, і ще пів року я зайнявся цим активно, відгукуючись на декілька вакансій щодня. Зрештою, доля занесла мене у Гельсінське агентство, що розробляло сайти на WordPress — цим я займаюся і сьогодні. У нас була дуже дружня команда, приблизно з десяти людей, з більшістю з них я досі дружу. Ми будували сайти дуже різного рівня складності, удень, вечорами грали в настолки, ділились історіями зі свого життя і влаштовували грандіозні вечірки.
Вранішній “Weekly” у booncon PIXELS, моєму першому агентстві у Гельсінкі. Фото зроблене Володимиром Мельниченко.
З цією командою я вперше відвідав подію WordPress: WordCamp Helsinki 2017 — дводенну конференцію. Я не був вражений наповал, але вона відкрила мої очі на дещо. Коли ти працюєш у маленькому агентстві, і живеш у своїй бульбашці, а тут неочікувано відкривається цілий всесвіт. Ти бачиш іншу сторону WordPress — спільноту, людей, які рухають увесь проект вперед, людей, які стикаються з тими самими проблемами, які знаходять творчі способи ці проблеми вирішити.
Того першого місцевого WordCamp’у було достатньо, щоб нам захотілося рухатися далі. У 2019 році наша команда поїхала до Берліна на WordCamp Europe — це була моя перша закордонна поїздка за межі звичного для мене маршруту між Фінляндією та Україною. Ми провели кілька днів, досліджуючи місто й відвідуючи конференцію. Масштаб відчувався зовсім по-іншому: тисячі учасників і сотні волонтерів, які усе організовують. Стоячи серед цього натовпу, я зрозумів, що хочу бути частиною цього, і не просто як відвідувач.
А потім почалася пандемія коронавірусу.
Порто
Я, стою на даху Super Bock Arena, де проводився WCEU 2022. Фото зроблене Олександром Місяц
WordCamp Europe 2020 і 2021 років проходили онлайн, і мені здавалося, що вони втратили найголовніше — тисячі людей, зібраних в одному місці, які заряджають одне одного своєю енергією. Тож коли оголосили, що WCEU 2022 відбудеться в Порту, я почав збирати валізу. Цього разу я приєднався до команди волонтерів, щоб побачити WordCamp зсередини. І це було правильне рішення. Для українців це був непростий час — повномасштабне вторгнення вже тривало, і кожен шукав свій спосіб впоратися з новою реальністю. Для мене цей захід став джерелом сили. Я ближче познайомився з українською спільнотою, жваво дискутував зі спікерами й повернувся з відчуттям, що нарешті зрозумів, нашо той WordCamp.
Та поїздка також допомогла мені усвідомити дещо, над чим я давно розмірковував. Я завжди любив подорожувати, але існував бар’єр, який не мав стосунку ні до віз, ні до грошей — хоча й вони теж відігравали свою роль. Проблема була в тому, як виправдати саму подорож. Я виріс у культурі, де час потрібно витрачати з користю, тому подорожувати просто заради подорожі здавалося чимось, що важко пояснити. А ось робоча конференція — зовсім інша справа. Це цілком виправдана причина. Ніхто не питає, скільки задоволення ти на ній отримав. Саме так я побував у Німеччині, Португалії, Італії, Швейцарії та Польщі. Наступна — Іспанія.
Відвідувати WordCamp — це одне. Створювати подібний захід — зовсім інше.
WP Suomi
У 2025 році я став головним організатором WP Suomi — першого незалежного фінського заходу, присвяченого WordPress, що відбувся в Гельсінкі. Місяці, які передували 10 жовтня, виявилися набагато напруженішими, ніж я очікував. Бюджет, логістика, подарунки, мерч, кейтеринг, координація локації — і сотні дрібниць, які мали зійтися в потрібний момент. Пам’ятаю, як прокидався посеред ночі з думкою, що не встиг замовити щось вчасно і воно не приїде до початку події. Більшість роботи, яка стоїть за такими заходами, залишається непомітною для учасників. Вони бачать програму, їжу, афтепаті. Але не бачать тих пів року, протягом яких окремі деталі поступово складаються в єдину картину.
Графіка WP Suomi на великому екрані у холі місця проведення. Графіка створена Сергієм Шенгрінцем
WP Suomi відвідали близько 300 людей. Після заходу сорок учасників заповнили форму зворотного зв’язку, оцінивши його в середньому на 4,47 із 5. Але для мене важливішою була не сама оцінка, а те, що люди писали: нетворкінг, атмосфера, зустрічі зі старими друзями й нові знайомства, спільнота, яка відкрито приймає кожного. Читаючи ці відгуки, я згадав себе і те саме відчуття, яке пережив на WordCamp Helsinki 2017, — це щось нове, захопливе й сповнене можливостей.
Організація WP Suomi допомогла мені значно краще зрозуміти, що стоїть за проведенням таких заходів. Після досвіду волонтера на WCEU, а згодом і головного організатора WP Suomi, я приїхав до Кракова вже з іншим поглядом — набагато краще розуміючи, через що проходять люди, які працюють поруч. Цього року я знову в команді організаторів WP Suomi, але вже в ролі координатора спікерів. Інша відповідальність, інший погляд.
Milana Cap готова показати магію з HTML API. Вона одна із двох людей, винних у тому, що я став головним організатором WP Suomi ‘25. Фото зроблене Asanka Hettiarachchi.
Краків
За ці роки WordCamp для мене змінився. Тепер він менше про доповіді на сцені й більше про те, що відбувається між ними. Як організатор, ти все одно пропускаєш більшість виступів, адже тебе одночасно тягнуть у десять різних боків. Але справжнє життя вирує в коридорах і на вечірках після завершення основних сесій.
Особливо важливо це для української спільноти. Війна розкидала нас по всій Європі — різні країни, різні компанії, різні життя. WordCamp Europe став одним із небагатьох місць, де ми можемо знову зустрітися наживо: поділитися тим, що приніс цей рік, побачитися з людьми, яких досі знали лише онлайн, і переконатися, що наша спільнота продовжує зростати попри все. Багато хто не зміг приїхати до Кракова, на жаль дехто вже ніколи не зможе побувати на цих заходах. Для тих із нас, кому це вдалося, ці зустрічі мають особливе значення.
Саме про це ми з Данилом співали на світанку біля Bastion III, хоча ніхто з нас не сказав цього вголос. Сподіваюся, колись мені ще доведеться робити це на афтепаті в Гельсінкі та Києві — щойно це знову стане можливим.
Українська команда на WordCamp Europe Torino 2024. Все більше і більше українців приїжджає на цей захід незважаючи на війну. Фото зроблене Максимом Кагарлицьким.
Ever wanted to build an AI support agent for your WordPress website or WooCommerce store?
Imagine customers asking a question at 2 a.m. and getting an instant, accurate answer, pulled straight from your own help docs, website content, and custom private SOPs. Plus, it can cut the repetitive 80% of support questions, so your team can focus on the questions that actually need a human.
Sadly, most AI support tools on the market are either crazy expensive or very complicated to set up.
It simply shouldn’t be this hard to give your customers fast, helpful answers.
That’s why today, I’m excited to announce HelpJet, an AI-powered support chatbot that learns your documentation and answers customer questions automatically, 24/7, built by our team at HeroThemes, a WPBeginner Growth Fund company.
What Is HelpJet?
HelpJet is a standalone AI support chatbot that trains on your own content and resolves the bulk of your repetitive tickets automatically.
It can read between the lines, understand what customers actually mean and respond with genuine empathy, especially when the customers are frustrated. In other words, it offers the human touch you’d expect from your best support person, combined with capabilities no human could ever match.
Aside from WordPress, it seamlessly integrates with BigCommerce, Shopify, Webflow, and more.
Here’s why every small business needs HelpJet:
Create a custom GPT trained on your own website content.
Add an AI support agent for your business that works 24/7.
Speed up WooCommerce store support and boost sales.
Train Your AI Chatbot in Five Minutes
Train your AI chatbot by dropping your content like private SOPs, URLs, help articles, and more.
If you drop a URL from your WordPress site, then HelpJet asks you which post types to fetch. Select the post types, and it trains from your content.
HelpJet also automatically re-scans your site weekly to stay up-to-date. You can also trigger a manual refresh anytime from your dashboard.
Easily Embed the Chatbot on Your Site
The easiest way to embed HelpJet’s chatbot on your website is by installing its WordPress plugin.
As soon as the plugin is activated, a floating chat widget will appear on your site.
You can choose which corner of the screen the widget should appear in, right or left.
Additionally, you can embed the chatbot in any articles with the ‘HelpJet Chatbot’ block or with a shortcode.
Built to Understand WooCommerce Stores
If you run a WooCommerce store, then HelpJet can help you with pre-sales and post-sales questions. The best part is that it can read product variations, stock levels, shipping classes, and tax rules.
So when a shopper asks, “Is this available in blue?” or “Do you offer shipping to Texas?”, it answers with real information instead of providing a generic answer.
For store owners, that’s the difference between a lost sale and a closed one.
Route Complex Questions to Your Team
Here’s the objection I always hear: “What happens when the bot can’t answer?”
When a question is too complex, or the customer simply wants a human, HelpJet routes the conversation to your team smoothly.
And here’s the clever part: when your support agent answers, HelpJet learns from that resolution. Next time, it can handle the question on its own.
That means your bot gets smarter every single day.
Clean Analytics Dashboard to See Exactly What’s Working
HelpJet includes a clean analytics dashboard so you’re never guessing.
You can track conversation volume, satisfaction rate, and resolution rate at a glance. You’ll see the questions customers ask most, which quietly reveal the gaps in your documentation.
Every answer gets a thumbs up or down, and the whole activity log is tagged by sentiment.
Test Your Chatbot Before You Go Live
You’d never want an under-trained bot talking to real customers. HelpJet includes a built-in preview environment for exactly this reason.
You can ask the bot real questions, check its answers, and fine-tune its tone and behavior… all before a single customer ever sees it.
Built by the Team Behind Heroic Themes
HelpJet comes from HeroThemes, a team that’s been building WordPress support software for roughly 15 years. They’re the folks behind Heroic KB, the popular knowledge-base plugin, and Heroic Inbox, their shared-inbox ticketing tool.
Over those years, HeroThemes kept running into the same frustration with Heroic KB customers: businesses had genuinely great documentation, but most visitors never read it. Customers would rather ask or just leave. HelpJet is their answer to that, turning the docs you’ve already written into instant answers your customers actually get.
If you’re already using Heroic KB or other knowledge base plugins on your site, then HelpJet works alongside them.
✅ Point it at your help docs, URLs, or PDFs to train your first bot.
✅ Preview and fine-tune the answers in the testing environment.
✅ Install the WordPress plugin to embed the chatbot on your site.
The free plan is genuinely free forever. You get one bot and 100 interactions per month, which is a great way to see the value before you commit to anything.
When you’re ready to scale, the Pro plan runs $29/month (or about $23/month billed annually) with three bots and 1,000 monthly interactions. It also comes with a 14-day free trial, again with no credit card.
I’d love to hear how you’d use HelpJet on your own site. If there’s a feature you’d like to see, let the team know… this is exactly the kind of feedback that shapes a young product.
Thanks, as always, for being part of our community. I truly believe HelpJet levels the playing field, giving small businesses the kind of live support that used to be reserved for the giants.
It’s quite surreal to type that WPBeginner turns 17 years old today!
I’m incredibly grateful to have the support of such an amazing community of website owners, small businesses, and web professionals. YOU are the best part of WPBeginner!
Like every year, I will take a few minutes to share all the major things that are happening in the business as well as my personal life.
But more importantly, to celebrate this big milestone, we’re doing a HUGE birthday giveaway with over $10,000+ in prizes!
If you’re new here, you might not know that I have been using WordPress since I was 16 years old, and I started WPBeginner in 2009 when I was in college at age 19.
Ever since then, WordPress community has played a huge role both in my life as well as my family’s life.
My son, Solomon is now 9 years old, and our baby girl, Aliyah, was born 6 months ago. Parenting is one of the wonderful gifts of life. We recently restarted our travels and took a trip to Mexico as well as Italy. I’ll be sharing more about these trips later in the year when I do my annual year end reviews.
If you didn’t get a chance to read my 2025 recap, I highly recommend checking it because I shared lessons learned from last year.
WPBeginner Updates
This year, Google’s algorithm updates and the rapidly changing A.I. landscape continued to impact our traffic.
The good news is that we’re fortunate to have an incredible community of readers and subscribers, and that’s what matters MOST.
Since starting WPBeginner, my focus has always been on creating helpful tutorials and resources for WordPress beginners, and that will never change. We’re already adapting how we create and share content for this new era, and we’re excited about what’s ahead.
I’m truly grateful for everything we’ve accomplished together this year.
As always, none of this would be possible without your continued support and trust. THANK YOU for being part of our journey!
Here are some of the big updates that happened on WPBeginner in the last 12 months:
1. New Product Launches
This past year, our team put their energy into building. Here are the new products we launched to help you get more done on WordPress:
We launched WPVibe, a WordPress MCP server that lets your favorite AI tool, like Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor, manage your WordPress site directly. Our announcement video went viral on X and got over 440k views.
We released ActiveLayer, an AI-powered spam protection tool that stops form, comment, and registration spam server-side in milliseconds without CAPTCHAs or puzzles. Here’s the full background story.
We launched Universally, an AI website translation tool that automatically translates your site into 110+ languages in minutes without hiring professional translators. Here’s the full background story.
My team at Uncanny Automator released Uncanny Agent, the first true AI assistant built natively for WordPress. You can ask any questions about your site or tell it what you need done…and it takes care of it for you. Here’s the full background story.
We launched WPChat, a live-chat widget that lets you convert your visitors into paying customers by connecting them on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Telegram. Here’s the full background story.
My team at WPForms released the Quiz Addon. It lets you build interactive quizzes and graded assessments right inside the form builder you’re already familiar with. Here’s the full background story.
My team at Duplicator released WP Media Cleanup, which enables you to reclaim disk space by identifying unused media files and removing them quickly and easily. Here’s the full background story.
We released WPFilters, which helps you easily add Amazon-style search filters to your site and make your content easily discoverable. Here’s the full background story.
I’m really proud of what our team has built this year, and it’s amazing to see the impact these products are making across the WordPress ecosystem and the larger open web.
Our WPBeginner Workshop is going strong, and this year, we hosted workshops every month covering WordPress fundamentals, AI tips, privacy compliance, and much more.
Every workshop is led by our own team at WPBeginner, sharing the real-world lessons we learn every day. At the end of each session, we also hold a live Q&A where attendees get their WordPress questions answered in real time.
WPBeginner is funded 100% through the support of our readers like you.
My various companies develop premium WordPress plugins to help you grow your website. These plugins are built with the same beginner-friendly approach you know and love from WPBeginner, and a large number of our product & feature ideas come from your feedback & suggestions.
When you buy a license for any of my premium plugins, you’re not only helping make your website better, but you’re also helping support WPBeginner and our mission.
My company, Awesome Motive, has over 300+ team members across the world, and all of us are committed to help you build a better website!
Here’s a list of our plugins that you should check out. Collectively, they’re being used on over 30 million websites. Your support means a lot to us whether you use the free version or purchase a premium license – we are here to serve.
OptinMonster: Powerful conversion optimization software that helps convert abandoning visitors into subscribers & customers. Download for free
WPForms: Drag & drop + AI form builder for WordPress. Create any type form with ease. Trusted by 5 million+ sites. Download for free
Duplicator: Leading WordPress Backup and migration plugin. Protect your website with reliable backups. Download for free
AIOSEO: The original and most powerful WordPress SEO plugin used by 3 million+ sites (now with AI). Download for free
I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported us in this journey. I really do appreciate all of your retweets, personal emails, content suggestions, and the interactions at the events.
I also want to say special thank you to everyone who’s using our plugins because that enables us to keep bringing more free tutorials to WPBeginner.
You all are AMAZING and without you, there is no WPBeginner.
On a globe, America is a landmass, a country. In an immigrant’s heart it is a belief that future is almost always better. It may not be perfect and it is certainly not equal, but it still is one of a kind — the only place where an absolute stranger with a funny name and a funny accent with no friends or contacts can show up, work hard and actually get to do what he was destined to do. […]
In most places in the world, outsiders like me don’t have that chance. That simple truth is what makes America so special. A chance – to be somebody even if you are nobody. America is a state of mind and I have opted-in!
I feel lucky to have been born here, and if I hadn’t been, I think I would have gotten here as fast as I could. I’m grateful to the public schools that educated me, the teachers who pushed me, the internet that freed my mind, and the culture of risk and innovation in technology that invested a million dollars in a 21-year-old dropout kid trying to build a company around (but not replacing) an Open Source project.
It’s not unimaginable that these things could have happened someplace else, but it would have been a long shot.
The latest episode is 
![Pull Quote: WordCamp Europe has become one of the few places where [Ukranians] can reassemble in person. WordCamp Europe став одним із небагатьох місць, де [українці] можуть знову зібратися разом наживо.](https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/3026/07/volodymyr_banner.webp)
