WordPress Plugin Directory MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables Claude Code to analyze, download, and compare WordPress.org plugins with your local plugins.

🔗 Repository: https://github.com/juanma-wp/wordpress-org-mcp

Features

• Search plugins on WordPress.org by keyword

• Download plugins directly from WordPress.org

• Extract and analyze plugin files

• Compare local plugins with WordPress.org versions

• Generate detailed diffs between plugin versions

• Browse plugin file structures

Installation & Setup

# Register with Claude CLI
claude mcp add wordpress-org npx wordpress-org-mcp-server

# Verify registration
claude mcp list

Available Tools

search_plugins

Search for WordPress.org plugins by keyword.

Parameters:

• query (string): Search query

• limit (number, optional): Maximum results (default: 10)

Example:

Search for "jwt authentication" plugins

get_plugin_info

Get detailed information about a specific plugin.

Parameters:

• slug (string): Plugin slug

Example:

Get info for plugin "jwt-authentication-for-wp-rest-api"

download_plugin

Download a plugin from WordPress.org.

Parameters:

• slug (string): Plugin slug

• version (string, optional): Version (default: "latest")

extract_plugin

Extract a downloaded plugin ZIP file.

Parameters:

• slug (string): Plugin slug

• zip_path (string, optional): Path to ZIP file

list_plugin_files

List files in an extracted plugin.

Parameters:

• slug (string): Plugin slug

• extension (string, optional): Filter by extension (.php, .js, etc.)

read_plugin_file

Read contents of a specific plugin file.

Parameters:

• slug (string): Plugin slug

• file_path (string): Relative path to file

compare_plugins

Compare local plugin with WordPress.org version.

Parameters:

• local_path (string): Path to local plugin directory

• wp_org_slug (string): WordPress.org plugin slug

• format (string, optional): "summary" or "detailed" (default: "summary")

Example:

Compare my local plugin with WordPress.org version:
- local_path: "/absolute/path/to/rest-auth-jwt"
- wp_org_slug: "jwt-authentication-for-wp-rest-api"

get_file_diff

Get detailed diff for a specific file.

Parameters:

• local_path (string): Path to local plugin

• wp_org_slug (string): WordPress.org plugin slug

• file_path (string): Relative path to file

Example Workflow

1. Search for similar plugins:

   Search for JWT authentication plugins to see what's available

2. Get plugin details:

   Get detailed info for "jwt-authentication-for-wp-rest-api"

3. Compare with your local plugin:

   Compare my local plugin at "/path/to/my/plugin" with "jwt-authentication-for-wp-rest-api"

4. Examine specific differences:

   Show me the diff for "includes/class-auth.php" between my plugin and "jwt-authentication-for-wp-rest-api"

Plugin Storage Locations

The server stores downloaded and extracted plugins in system directories to avoid cluttering your project workspace:

Default Locations

macOS:

• Cache (downloads): ~/Library/Caches/wordpress-org-mcp/

• Extractions: /tmp/wordpress-org-mcp-extractions/

Linux:

• Cache (downloads): ~/.cache/wordpress-org-mcp/ (or $XDG_CACHE_HOME/wordpress-org-mcp/)

• Extractions: /tmp/wordpress-org-mcp-extractions/

Windows:

• Cache (downloads): %LOCALAPPDATA%\wordpress-org-mcp\Cache\

• Extractions: %TEMP%\wordpress-org-mcp-extractions\

Customizing Storage Locations

Set these environment variables before registering the MCP server:

# Set custom paths
export WP_MCP_CACHE_DIR="/path/to/custom/cache"
export WP_MCP_EXTRACT_DIR="/path/to/custom/extractions"

# Register the MCP server (will use custom paths)
claude mcp add wordpress-org npx wordpress-org-mcp-server

**Persistent Setup:**
Add the environment variables to your shell profile (`.bashrc`, `.zshrc`, `.bash_profile`, etc.):

```bash
echo 'export WP_MCP_CACHE_DIR="/path/to/custom/cache"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'export WP_MCP_EXTRACT_DIR="/path/to/custom/extractions"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

Environment Variables:

• WP_MCP_CACHE_DIR: Custom directory for downloaded ZIP files

• WP_MCP_EXTRACT_DIR: Custom directory for extracted plugin files

Why System Directories?

• No Git conflicts: Downloaded plugins won't appear in your project's version control

• Cross-platform compatibility: Uses appropriate directories for each operating system

• Easy cleanup: Temporary extractions are automatically cleaned up on system restart

Development

# Watch mode for development
npm run dev

# Build for production
npm run build

# Start the server
npm start

Troubleshooting

1. "Plugin not found" errors: Verify the plugin slug is correct on WordPress.org

2. Download failures: Check internet connection and WordPress.org availability

3. Extraction errors: Ensure sufficient disk space and file permissions

Supported File Types

• PHP files (.php)

• JavaScript files (.js)

• CSS files (.css)

• Text files (.txt, .md)

• Configuration files (.json, .xml, .yml)

Binary files are compared by size only.