WordPress Studio has two new debugging capabilities that make this process faster and more intuitive: Xdebug support and debug log access.

Step-through debugging with Xdebug

Xdebug is the gold-standard PHP debugging extension. Instead of scattering debug output throughout your code, you can set breakpoints, step through execution line-by-line, and inspect variables in real time — all from your editor.

This is now available for all Studio users and is powered by WordPress Playground’s WebAssembly version of PHP, which means there’s nothing extra to install or configure at the system level.

Enabling Xdebug

1. Select the site you want to debug in Studio.
2. Navigate to the Settings tab.
3. Click Edit site.
4. Navigate to the Debugging tab.
5. Check the Enable Xdebug checkbox.
6. Click Save.

Studio will restart the site automatically with Xdebug active.

A couple of things worth keeping in mind:

• Xdebug can only be active for a single site: To use Xdebug on a different site, disable it on the currently active one first. The site with Xdebug enabled will display a bug icon in the left sidebar. 
• Enabling Xdebug will slow things down noticeably: It’s best to turn it on only when you’re actively debugging.

Connecting your IDE

Once Xdebug is enabled, you can connect your editor and start debugging to find the source of any issues — plugins, themes, or WordPress core. Studio listens for debug connections on port 9003.

For the full setup guide, see the Xdebug in Studio documentation.

Easier access to debug logs

Sometimes a full step-debugger is more than you need when you just want to see what WordPress is logging. 

Studio now makes that much easier with a dedicated debug log toggle, which sets WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_LOG for your sites automatically.

Enabling the debug log in Studio

1. Select your site and click Edit site.
2. Open the Debugging tab.
3. Toggle Enable debug log on.
4. Click Save.

When the debug log is enabled, your local site will capture PHP errors, notices, and warnings to a log file at wp-content/debug.log. You’ll then see an Open log file link appear in the Settings tab, which opens the log directly — no need to hunt down the file path manually.

You can also write your own messages to the log using PHP’s error_log() function:

error_log( 'My value: ' . print_r( $my_variable, true ) );

This is especially handy when you need a quick look at what’s happening during a plugin activation, a hook callback, or a REST API request — without setting up a full debugging session.

Using AI agents to interpret debug logs

Once your debug log is capturing errors and warnings, you can bring an AI agent directly into your debugging workflow. Instead of manually reading through log output and cross-referencing documentation, point your agent at the log and let it do the heavy lifting.

Whether you’re using Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex, the setup is the same: tell your agent that error logs are available at wp-content/debug.log. From there, it can read the output, identify what’s going wrong, and suggest fixes, all without breaking your flow.

Showing errors in the browser

The Debugging tab also includes a “Show errors in browser” toggle, which sets WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY and controls whether PHP errors are printed directly on the page rather than silently captured in the log.

When enabled, fatal errors, warnings, and notices appear inline in the HTML output — useful during active development so you don’t have to keep switching to the log file.

One important note: “Show errors in browser” is best used alongside the debug log, not as a replacement for it. It’s great for quick iteration in your own local environment, but you’ll want to keep it off on any site that’s shared with clients — it can expose sensitive path information or internal logic in the page output.

Better debugging, faster fixes

These two features address different parts of your local debugging workflow:

• The debug log gives you a lightweight way to catch errors and warnings as they happen. 
• Xdebug takes it further, letting you pause execution and dig into exactly what’s going on inside your code.

Together, they make Studio a more capable environment for developing and troubleshooting WordPress sites locally.

If you haven’t tried WordPress Studio yet, now is a great time to get started.

Since then, thousands of you have built blocks, shared feedback, and pushed the tool in directions we didn’t expect.

That enthusiasm kept us going. Here’s what’s new.

1. Show Telex what you want to build

You can now upload reference images when describing your block. A Figma mockup. A screenshot of a design you like. A napkin sketch. 

Upload it alongside your prompt and let Telex see what you’re imagining.

This helps most with complex layouts — or when you’re chasing a specific aesthetic. Instead of writing a detailed description of how every element should be arranged, just show it.

A picture is worth a thousand prompt words, or so they say.

2. Work in your favorite editor, then come back

One of our most requested features — editing blocks outside of Telex — is here.

Download your block, open it in VS Code, Cursor, or whatever you prefer (we’re not starting that debate), and make your changes. Then upload the zip back to Telex to keep refining with AI.

This round-trip workflow bridges AI generation and traditional development. It’s early days — we’ll keep improving it.

3. Explore previous versions risk-free

Version history now works better. When you restore a previous version, Telex creates a new version instead of overwriting your current work. 

This means you can explore past iterations, compare approaches, and recover that thing you deleted three prompts ago.

Your past mistakes are now just research. Or as we call it: iterative development.

4. Telex speaks your language

Telex is now available in 7 languages for you to create blocks and experiment.

We also fixed an issue where Japanese, Chinese, emoji, and other multi-byte characters weren’t streaming correctly.

5. Small improvements that add up

We’ve also shipped a bunch of smaller fixes:

• Dynamic page titles: Juggling multiple blocks in different tabs? The page title now matches your selected project.

• Save confirmations: Manual code edits now show a “Files updated” message. You’ll always know your changes took.

• Shorter share links: Cleaner URLs that are easier to pass along.

• Changelog page: Want to keep up with every update? We now have a dedicated changelog. It’s like release notes, but we actually write them.

Keep experimenting

Telex is a living experiment. Your feedback shapes where it goes.

Spin up a block. Try the image upload. Tell us what’s working and what isn’t — in the comments or through the in-app feedback form.

If you’ve used our AI website builder, you already know how easy it is to create a full site by having a conversation. Now, that same intelligence stays with you inside the editor and Media Library. 

Unlike standalone AI tools, the WordPress AI Assistant works inside your site. It understands your content and layout and can take action where you’re already building — no copy-pasting, no prompt engineering, and no code to figure out what to do with.

Sites on WordPress.com’s Business or Commerce plans can now opt into the WordPress AI Assistant at no extra cost.

Build, write, design, and manage without breaking your flow

The new AI assistant will show up in a few places within your WordPress experience once enabled on each of your sites:

The Editor

Get help with site-wide structure and design decisions, as well as content editing and refinement without leaving the editor. You can adjust layouts, styles, and patterns on your posts and pages just by talking — and see changes take shape as you work.

You can ask it to:

• “Make this section feel more modern and spacious.”
• “Change my site colors to be more bright and bold.”
• “Give me more font options that feel clean and professional.”
• “Add a testimonials section below this section.”
• “Add a Contact page.”
• “Rewrite this to sound more confident.”
• “Translate this section into Spanish.”
• “Give me three title options for this page.”
• “Generate an image of a croissant for this blog post.”

Media Library

Create and edit images directly in your Media Library. The AI assistant helps you generate new visuals or make targeted edits to existing images, so your media stays consistent with your site’s look and brand. You can specify aspect ratios and image styles to have even more control over the final look.

This feature uses the latest Nano Banana models, bringing you added value without needing other subscriptions.

In your Media Library, click the “Generate Image” button. You can ask the assistant things like:

• “Generate an image of a calico cat reading a book.”
• “Update this image to be black and white.”
• “Replace this stack of pancakes with a stack of waffles.”

Block notes

The block notes feature introduced in WordPress 6.9 lets you collaborate with teammates directly in the editor. The WordPress AI Assistant extends that same workflow with AI: ask questions in block notes and get answers with your content as context, including relevant links and info from external sources:

• “@ai Please fact-check this block.”
• “@ai Give me headline ideas for this article”
• “@ai Suggest examples to strengthen this paragraph”

The WordPress AI Assistant works right inside WordPress, so you get help exactly where you’re building, writing, and editing.

How to enable the WordPress AI Assistant

You can opt-in in just a few clicks:

1. Log in to your WordPress.com account and go to your Sites list.
2. Click your site name, and then click Settings. 
3. Scroll down and click the “AI tools” setting.
4. Click the toggle to enable the setting.

Alternatively, if you purchase a site built with our AI website builder, the AI assistant will be enabled automatically, regardless of which plan you choose.

Note that the AI assistant works best with block themes. If you’re using a classic theme, the AI assistant won’t appear in the editor. However, you can still generate and edit AI images in the Media Library.

Get started today

Most tools stop after generating a site. Others give you a single chat box isolated from your workflow or one-off code you need to know what to do with.

The WordPress AI Assistant works inside your actual site, helping adjust blocks, shape layouts, write content, and guide decisions.

This is WordPress, now with intelligence built in — ready to help you create, design, and grow faster than ever. And just one of the many ways WordPress.com users will be empowered by AI this year.

Today, we’re releasing new Skills and a Claude Cowork plugin designed for vibe coders and anyone who wants to create WordPress themes, generate sites, and experiment with AI-assisted development. You’ll find that you don’t need to be technical at all.

These tools are in rapid development and changing constantly, but we wanted to get them into your hands now. 

We believe this is where site building is headed.

WordPress site creator plugin for Claude Cowork

This new Claude Cowork plugin turns a conversation with Claude into a fully built WordPress site. Describe what you want, and it creates a complete block theme and deploys it to a local site running in WordPress Studio.

For example:

/create-site A website for my fitness coaching business. I help busy professionals get strong without living at the gym. I want to book discovery calls and share workout tips.

Claude kicks off by asking you about your site and then provides multiple design options. Iterate until you are happy, and then a few minutes later, you have a full WordPress block theme.

WordPress Studio provides you with a preview link you can send to anyone, and it also allows you to easily sync your completed site with WordPress.com.

How to get started with the plugin

There are two parts to set up: WordPress Studio (which runs your site locally) and the Cowork plugin (which generates the theme). The whole process takes about 10 minutes.

First, download and install WordPress Studio (macOS only for now). Open Studio, go to Settings → Preferences, and click “Enable the studio command in the terminal.” 

Then open your terminal and run:

studio --version

This confirms it’s working.

Next, connect Studio to Claude Desktop so Claude can create and manage your local WordPress sites. 

In Claude Desktop, go to Settings → Developer → Edit Config, and add the following to your configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wordpress-studio-mcp-server": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/wordpress-studio-mcp-server/dist/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

From here, replace /ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/ with the actual path where you cloned the wordpress-agent-skills repo on your computer. For example:

/Users/yourname/projects/wordpress-agent-skills/studio-mcp/dist/index.js

Quit Claude Desktop and reopen it.

Finally, install the Cowork plugin. In Cowork, open the plugins menu at the bottom of the left sidebar, select Add to marketplace from GitHub, and paste:

https://github.com/Automattic/wordpress-agent-skills

Install the Create WP Site plugin.

That’s it.

Run the /create-site command in Cowork (or select it from the plugins menu) and describe the site you want to build.

*Note: This is a developer preview. Things will break, and results will vary. That’s expected — we’re sharing it early because we want your feedback. If you run into issues, file them on GitHub. 

Skills that power it

Alongside the plugin, we’re sharing the Skills that make it work. Skills are reusable instruction sets that teach AI assistants how to perform specific tasks — think of them as the next evolution of prompts.

We have skills for:

• Site Specification, collecting important context and info about the site being created
• Site Design, creating multiple design options and helping with fonts, colors, and style
• WordPress Theme Creation, sticking to best practices to generate a working block theme

The best part is you can use these Skills just about anywhere, including ChatGPT, Codex, or your favorite vibe coding tool.

These Skills are in active development and changing weekly. But they’re already producing themes worth shipping, and we expect results to only improve.

Build with us

We’re in a significant period of change. There’s uncertainty. But there’s also opportunity, especially for site builders willing to experiment.

Try the new tools. Break them. Tell us what’s missing. Help us make them better.

We have the hosting solutions to make it easy to take your AI-created sites and share them with the world.

And watch this space. Claude Cowork is just the start; we want to help you build WordPress sites with your AI agent of choice. 

This means that you can now safely connect Claude to your site and know that the integration is officially supported by both Anthropic and WordPress.com.

From MCP access to an official connector

A few months ago, we introduced MCP access to let AI agents work with real WordPress.com site context — something most standalone AI tools don’t have.

With our recent addition of OAuth 2.1 support, those integrations became both more secure and easier to authorize using the agents you already rely on.

This partnership builds on that foundation by bringing WordPress.com into Claude’s connectors directory — a curated set of trusted tools with clearly defined permissions. 

For WordPress.com users, this removes the setup hassle. You can connect Claude to your site in a few clicks and always see what it can access.

Let’s get connected

Ready to use the WordPress.com Claude Connector? Here’s how to get set up:

1. Enable MCP on your WordPress.com account. Note that MCP access is only available for sites on paid WordPress.com plans.
2. Specify which tools you want to make available to Claude. A full reference of tools can be found in our developer documentation.
3. On Claude desktop or web, go to your Settings. Click Connectors, and then click the “Browse connectors” button.
4. Search for “WordPress.com” and click the + button to connect.
5. You’ll be prompted to log in to WordPress.com and grant secured access to your sites, thanks to OAuth 2.1.

This connection gives Claude read-only access to your site content, meaning it won’t be able to create, delete, or update content. You can also revoke Claude’s access at any time by removing it from your connected apps in Claude or disabling MCP access on WordPress.com.

What this partnership unlocks for you and your site

Once set up, Claude can answer questions using your real WordPress.com site data, not estimates or generic guidance.

For example:

• “Show me my site’s traffic for the last 30 days.”: Identify traffic insights for your site in just a sentence.
• “Summarize recent comments across my site.”: See what readers are responding to and where conversations are happening.
• “Which posts haven’t been updated in over a year?”: Surface content that may need refreshing based on publish and update history.
• “Show me pages with high traffic but low engagement.”: Spot opportunities for improvement using real site data.
• “Looking at my last 10 posts, generate a document reflecting my writing style.”: Create a style guide you can reference to keep your voice consistent.
• “Based on my last 10 posts and recent trends online, what should I write about next?”: Spot content gaps where your unique perspective meets current demand.
• “Read my last post and suggest resources I can link to.”: Tighten your narrative with relevant supporting articles.
• “Find posts with broken external links or outdated information.”: Keep your content credible and your readers’ trust intact by catching link rot before they do.
• “Which posts mention topics I’ve written about elsewhere but don’t link to them?”: Build internal links and surface old content to your readers.

These prompts are grounded in the same data and tools you already use in WordPress.com — they’re now all easily surfaced through the Claude interface.

For more ideas, explore the set of example prompts in our documentation.

What’s next for WordPress.com and AI?

We’re thrilled to share this partnership with you, and we encourage you to connect Claude to your WordPress.com sites today for easier site analysis and site-specific insights.

And because this connector is built and supported in partnership, it’s designed to evolve alongside both platforms.

You can connect Claude to your WordPress.com site now, explore the documentation to get started, or share feedback with us as we continue building deeper AI integrations into WordPress.com.

You bring the idea — AI makes it real

Use our AI website builder for free today.

Try it now

In earlier releases, the Studio CLI focused mainly on creating and managing preview sites. 

With version two, it becomes a full-featured command-line companion for much of your Studio workflow, including creating and managing local sites, running WP-CLI in the right context, connecting to WordPress.com, and more.

In this post, we’ll review what’s new and share practical ways to incorporate the Studio CLI into AI-assisted workflows. 

For the full command reference and advanced options, see the updated Studio CLI documentation included with this release.

What is a CLI?

A CLI (command-line interface) lets you control tools and applications by typing commands into a terminal, instead of clicking through menus. Developers tend to like CLIs because they’re:

• Fast: Spin up, change, or remove environments with a single command
• Repeatable: Run the same commands on any machine, or bake them into scripts
• Automatable: Let build systems and AI agents run commands for you

Even if you don’t typically work in the terminal, the Studio CLI is still worth paying attention to. 

It’s the common “language” automation tools can use to interact with Studio. Once it’s enabled, your editor, scripts, or AI coding assistants can do things like create a new site, run database upgrades, or publish a preview without you having to navigate through multiple screens in the Studio application.

Getting started with the Studio CLI

To begin using the Studio CLI, complete the following steps:

1. Open the WordPress Studio application on your machine.
2. From the main menu, open the Settings modal. You can also click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the app.
3. Enable the Studio CLI option and click Save.
4. On macOS, you’ll be prompted for your computer password to allow installation.

Once the Studio CLI is enabled, you will have access to a global studio command from your preferred terminal application:

studio <area> <command> [options]

In Studio 1.7.0, the CLI now covers four main areas:

• Authentication: Manage your WordPress.com account for features that require it
• Preview sites: Create and update WordPress.com hosted preview sites
• Local site management: Create, start, stop, configure, and delete Studio-managed local sites
• WP-CLI integration: Run WP-CLI commands inside correctly configured Studio environments, without installing WP-CLI yourself

You can see an overview at any time by running studio --help:

Most commands are designed to be run from the root folder of a Studio-managed site. 

For quick access, you can open that folder directly in your terminal by clicking the Terminal button on the site’s Overview tab.

Managing local Studio sites

One of the biggest upgrades in Studio CLI v2 is end-to-end local site management from the terminal. 

Rather than switching back to the Studio user interface for routine tasks, you can create a site, check its status, start or stop it, and clean it up when you’re finished. 

It’s a faster day-to-day workflow, and it also makes automation much easier, whether you’re writing scripts yourself or using an AI agent to do it for you.

At the center of it all is the studio site command. The available options include:

studio site status    # Get status of site
studio site create    # Create a new site
studio site list      # List sites
studio site start     # Start site
studio site stop      # Stop site(s)
studio site delete    # Delete site
studio site set       # Configure site settings

Create local sites with a single command

Use studio site create to spin up a new site in your current directory or at a specific path. Here are a few examples of what you can do:

# Create a new site with default options in the current folder
studio site create
# Create a new site with a custom domain and HTTPS
studio site create --https --domain hello.wp.local
# Create a site in a different directory
studio site create --path /path/to/site

The CLI will:

• Set up a local WordPress environment.
• Start the WordPress server.
• Open WP Admin in your browser when it is ready.

You can run this from an empty folder, or from a directory that already contains a WordPress site that is not yet registered within the Studio app.

List, inspect, start, and stop local sites

When you are working with multiple local sites, the `list` and `status` commands make management much easier:

studio site list       # Show all local sites known to Studio
studio site status     # Status of the site in the current directory

Status output includes:

• Whether the site is running
• The local URL, for example http://localhost:PORT
• Key configuration details such as PHP version and login information

Starting and stopping sites is also straightforward:

studio site start      
studio site stop

This works well in scripts that need to start a site, run tests or content operations, and then stop it again.

Delete and configure sites safely

When you are finished with a project, you can remove it from Studio and, if needed, delete all the associated files from your machine with the following commands:

studio site delete          # Remove the site from Studio
studio site delete --files  # Remove the site and files

For configuration changes, studio site set lets you adjust settings for a specific local site:

studio site set [options]

You can, for example:

• Change the PHP or WordPress version.
• Update the local domain or port.
• Toggle features that affect how the local environment runs.

Tip: Run studio site set --help for the full list of available options.

Authentication from the terminal

Some Studio features, such as creating or updating preview sites, require a logged-in WordPress.com account. 

Studio CLI v2 gives you dedicated studio auth commands so you can manage this from the terminal:

• studio auth login launches a browser flow and gives you a token to paste back into your terminal to complete the login.
• studio auth status tells you whether you are authenticated and which account is active.
• studio auth logout disconnects the CLI from your WordPress.com account and clears stored credentials.

If you run a command that needs authentication while logged out, such as studio preview create that we will review next, the CLI will guide you to log in.

Preview sites from the CLI

Preview sites are temporary, shareable environments hosted on WordPress.com that mirror your local Studio site. They are ideal for sharing work with others who do not have a local environment.

The CLI provides a complete set of commands:

studio preview create          # Create a preview site
studio preview list            # List all your preview sites
studio preview update <host>   # Redeploy changes to a preview
studio preview delete <host>   # Remove a preview site

Tip: Run studio preview list to see all previews associated with your WordPress.com account, then use the host value from that output with studio preview update or studio preview delete.

Built-in WP-CLI, configured for you

WP-CLI is the official command-line interface for WordPress itself. Studio CLI v2 integrates it directly through a dedicated studio wp command, so you do not need to install or configure WP-CLI on your own:

studio wp [<wp-cli-command>] [<wp-cli-arguments>...]

From your site’s root directory, you can run common WP-CLI tasks like:

• studio wp core version shows the WordPress version for the current site.
• studio wp plugin list lists installed plugins (and their status).
• studio wp core update-db runs any required database updates after a WordPress update.

Studio sets the environment variables, paths, and credentials for you, so these commands run against the correct database and files with no extra setup.

Using Studio CLI with AI coding tools

One of the biggest advantages of Studio CLI v2 is how naturally it fits into AI-assisted development workflows, especially with tools like Claude Code and Cursor. 

These agents read the code in your local project (including themes and plugins) and run commands in your environment, which makes it possible to offload much of the repetitive work. For example, they can:

• Use studio site commands to create, start, stop, and manage local environments.
• Run studio wp for diagnostics, database tasks, and content management.
• Create and update WordPress.com preview sites for review without leaving your editor.

Provide context

The AI tool you’re using may not automatically understand WordPress Studio or the Studio CLI. To get useful results, start by giving the AI agent a bit of context about what it’s looking at and what tools it can use.

For example, imagine you’ve opened a local Studio site folder in your terminal. 

Begin by telling the AI agent what this directory is, and that it can run the Studio CLI. 

In this example, we’ll use Claude Code and explicitly note that it can invoke the CLI via studio.

“This is the folder for a WordPress Studio site. You have access to the Studio CLI, which can be invoked by running studio. Start by exploring the available options.”

From there, you should get a response that looks like this:

With a simple prompt, the AI now has a solid understanding of the Studio CLI. This example was generated using Opus 4.5.

Automate environment setup

Once the AI understands what Studio can do, you can start handing off routine setup tasks. For instance, you might tell your agent:

“Set up a new local WordPress site using Studio with the name “Nick’s Site””

Behind the scenes, it may run something like:

studio site create --path "../nicks-site" --name "Nick's Site" --skip-browser

Here’s an example of the output from Claude Code, again using Opus 4.5.

Debugging and verification with WP-CLI

Studio also makes it easy to troubleshoot issues using WP-CLI — especially when you’re staring at an error and don’t want to manually hunt down the cause.

You might say:

“Use the Studio CLI to run WP-CLI checks and figure out why this site is failing, then propose fixes.”

From there, the agent can:

• Run studio wp commands (for example, plugin list, theme list, or core update-db) to collect diagnostics.
• Suggest (or apply) code and configuration changes based on what it finds.
• Re-run the same WP-CLI checks to confirm the issue is resolved.

If you haven’t already, check out this great overview of WP-CLI to get a sense of what it can do.

Creating preview sites

Preview sites are one of the most popular features in WordPress Studio, but creating them and keeping them updated can feel a bit tedious if you’re doing it through the Studio user interface. 

The CLI streamlines the workflow, and it becomes even easier when you pair it with an AI agent.

When you’re ready to share your work with a client or teammate, you can simply ask your AI to create a preview site:

“Can you spin up a preview site for me?”

If you’re not already authenticated, the agent will prompt you to log in, then it will create the preview and return the URL. The output should look something like this:

As you continue working locally, you can periodically ask the agent to update the preview site. 

If you’re also using the AI to help build the site, theme, or plugin, you can even add a rule like: after any major change, update the preview site automatically so your shared link stays current.

Best practices when using AI with Studio CLI

AI agents can be incredibly effective copilots when you pair them with the Studio CLI. They can speed up setup, troubleshooting, preview deployments, and run real commands against your environment. 

That said, a little structure up front helps you get the benefits while avoiding unpleasant surprises.

• Work from the Studio site root (or use `–path`). This ensures commands run against the project you actually intend, especially if you have multiple sites on your machine.
• Set clear boundaries in your prompts. For example: “Do not delete sites,” “Only run read-only studio wp commands,” or “Ask before running database migrations.”
• Double-check destructive operations. For commands like studio site delete and studio preview delete, have the agent show you the exact commands it plans to run before it executes anything.

Used thoughtfully, AI plus Studio CLI can remove much of the repetitive setup, testing, and deployment friction, so you can focus more on designing and building great WordPress experiences.

Start building with Studio CLI

Studio CLI v2 makes WordPress Studio more scriptable and automation-friendly for everyday development, whether you’re running commands yourself or working with an AI agent.

If you want to go further, the Studio CLI documentation walks through everything you can do and how to fit it into your workflow.

If you haven’t tried WordPress Studio yet, or it’s been a while, this is a great time to jump in. Download Studio, spin up a site, and take the updated CLI for a quick test drive.

Today, WordPress.com supports OAuth 2.1, making MCP integrations simpler. 

MCP clients work natively with OAuth 2.1, so authorizing the AI tools you already use is as straightforward as adding a URL and approving access — no workarounds or manual configuration required.

With MCP, AI agents can help with everyday tasks on your WordPress.com site, such as finding posts, pulling site details, or drafting new content, while you control what they can access.

How OAuth 2.1 powers MCP integrations

When an AI assistant (like Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, or a custom AI tool) wants to access your WordPress.com content, OAuth 2.1 now handles the secure connection:

1. The MCP client requests authorization.
2. You’re redirected to WordPress.com to approve the connection.
3. After approval, the client receives secure tokens.
4. The client uses those tokens to access the WordPress.com MCP.
5. Tokens refresh automatically as needed.

All of this is protected by PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange). 

Even if someone intercepts the authorization code, they can’t use it without the secret verification code that stays on your device.

Simple setup: Just add a URL

WordPress.com provides an MCP server that AI tools can connect to using OAuth 2.1.

All you’ll need to do is:

• Create a custom connector or app in your AI tool
• Add the WordPress.com MCP server URL
• Authenticate and approve access through WordPress.com using OAuth 2.1

That’s it. 

WordPress.com handles authentication and permissions, so there’s no manual credential setup and no passwords to share.

Tip: View the MCP connection guide in the developer documentation for Claude Desktop and ChatGPT–specific instructions.

What MCP clients can do with WordPress.com

Once authenticated, MCP clients can interact with your WordPress.com sites through the MCP API:

• Search and retrieve posts: Find content across your sites
• Read post details: Access full post content, metadata, and comments
• Access site information: Get site settings, statistics, and user data

All of this happens with the permissions you’ve explicitly granted, and you can revoke MCP access at any time from your WordPress.com MCP settings.

Get started with MCP and OAuth 2.1

OAuth 2.1 is available now for all AI agents to connect to WordPress.com. 

Whether you’re building a custom integration or using existing MCP-compatible AI tools, it provides the secure authentication foundation for your work.

If you haven’t already, enable MCP on your WordPress.com account to start connecting your AI assistants.

Useful resources

• WordPress.com MCP documentation
• Available MCP tools reference
• MCP prompt examples
• Model Context Protocol documentation

Share Your Feedback

We’d love to hear how you’re using OAuth 2.1 and MCP with WordPress.com. Have questions or suggestions? Drop a comment below or share your experience in the developer forums.

Today, I’m happy to announce the launch of the second stage of that effort: introducing the new and improved Code block.

This is not a new block. It’s an enhancement to the current Code block that you’ve likely already been using, which includes several improvements over the original:

• Syntax highlighting: Supports color-based syntax highlighting for over 100 common languages.
• Configuration: Decide to show the filename, language name, line numbers, and even include a copy button for visitors.
• Drag-and-drop: Dragging a code file from your computer to the editor will automatically transform it to the Code block with the language set.
• Transforms: Transform other code-supported blocks on WordPress.com, such as Syntax Highlighter, to the new Code block.
• Styles: Customize syntax colors directly from the editor or via ‘theme.json’ if you’re a developer.

Using the enhanced Code block

You do not have to enable anything to begin using the new version of the Code block. It’s already available to use. Just insert the Code block anywhere in the block editor and add your code.

By default, when adding a Code block and inserting code, you will see your code in Plain Text:

Of course, Plain Text doesn’t include any syntax highlighting since it’s not a language. To change this, choose a code language from the Settings → Language dropdown in the sidebar:

Syntax highlighting will then be applied based on the language that you selected, making the code much more readable for both you and your visitors!

Pro tip: If you type three backticks followed by the language name (e.g., ```php) and then hit Enter, the editor will automatically create a new Code block instance and auto-fill the Language setting.

If you want to kick your Code block’s features up a notch, you can also configure several other settings besides the language:

• Filename: Add a custom filename to display in the top left of the code block (useful when walking readers through tutorials).
• Show language name: Displays the language name in the top right corner of the block.
• Show copy button: Inserts a Copy button in the top right of the block, allowing site visitors to copy the entirety of the code.
• Show line numbers: Displays line numbers next to your code on the left.
• Line numbers start at: Choose a starting line number.

This will make your site’s code examples much more reader friendly:

Customizing the Code block colors

There are multiple ways to customize the syntax highlighting and colors shown with the enhanced Code block. In this section, I’ll walk you through each from the quickest/simplest to the more advanced techniques.

Selecting a block style

The Code block ships with four block styles out of the box:

• Default: Will use the default styles and colors from your theme.
• No Highlight: Disables syntax highlighting.
• Solarized Light: A light color scheme.
• Solarized Dark: A dark color scheme.

Themes can also register additional styles. Selecting one of these styles is the quickest way to change how your Code block is output:

Customizing colors from the editor

You can also customize the colors directly from the editor via the Styles → Color panel in the block sidebar. The block has an extensive array of color options for customizing every aspect of the syntax highlighting:

You are not limited to only colors either. You can customize any of the other available styles, such as Typography, Border, and more. These options haven’t changed with the latest enhancement.

Customizing the Code block via theme.json

If you’re a developer or theme author, you’ll most likely want to define default syntax colors and other styles for the default output of the block. theme.json support is included with this batch of enhancements.

Here’s what my custom Code block styles look like after a few tweaks in theme.json:

Because the WordPress software itself doesn’t support custom colors via theme.json, the developers at WordPress.com built in custom support for this feature.

You can customize any of the syntax colors via settings.custom.core/code in theme.json. This is an object where each key is the syntax color name and the value is the color itself.

Here’s an example snippet that you can use to customize your own colors:

{
	"$schema": "https://schemas.wp.org/trunk/theme.json",
	"version": 3,
	"settings": {
		"custom": {
			"core/code": {
				"comment": "#94a3b8",
				"keyword": "#8b5cf6",
				"boolean": "#f59e0b",
				"literal": "#10b981",
				"string": "#06b6d4",
				"specialString": "#ec4899",
				"macroName": "#8b5cf6",
				"variableDefinition": "#3b82f6",
				"typeName": "#14b8a6",
				"className": "#f97316",
				"invalid": "#ef4444"
			}
		}
	}
}

Any valid CSS color is supported, so you’re not limited to hex color codes. Use CSS custom properties, RGBA, and more.

If you want to borrow my full theme.json customizations, copy and paste the following code. It includes additional custom styles to make the Code block even nicer:

{
	"$schema": "https://schemas.wp.org/trunk/theme.json",
	"version": 3,
	"settings": {
		"custom": {
			"core/code": {
				"comment": "#94a3b8",
				"keyword": "#8b5cf6",
				"boolean": "#f59e0b",
				"literal": "#10b981",
				"string": "#06b6d4",
				"specialString": "#ec4899",
				"macroName": "#8b5cf6",
				"variableDefinition": "#3b82f6",
				"typeName": "#14b8a6",
				"className": "#f97316",
				"invalid": "#ef4444"
			}
		}
	},
	"styles": {
		"blocks": {
			"core/code": {
				"border": {
					"color": "#e2e8f0",
					"style": "solid",
					"width": "1px",
					"radius": "8px"
				},
				"color": {
					"background": "#f1f5f9",
					"text": "#1e293b"
				},
				"typography": {
					"fontSize": "15px"
				}
			}
		}
	}
}

Start sharing code now.

Whether you’re publishing snippets or full-blown tutorials, the enhanced Code block makes sharing and styling code in WordPress.com smoother and more customizable than ever before. 

Syntax highlighting, block styles, and custom color options put you in full control of how your code appears. 

With these improvements, you can focus less on formatting and more on writing great content that helps your readers learn and build.

The updates to the Abilities API, Interactivity API, Block Bindings, DataViews, and DataForm make the platform more connected and easier to customize.

This release also puts developers in a better position to build interactive and intelligent features as WordPress moves into an AI-assisted future.

Read on to learn about key updates, see what’s possible, and get excited to start building with WordPress 6.9.

1. Register AI‑ready functions with the Abilities API and MCP

One of the most exciting additions to WordPress 6.9 is the new Abilities API. 

When paired with the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the Abilities API opens the door to AI orchestration — intelligent agents that can understand, extend, and act inside WordPress itself.

Abilities API

The Abilities API makes it possible to expose the capabilities of plugins, themes, and WordPress core to AI agents and automation tools in a standardized, machine-readable format.

This lets AI systems such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other assistants understand precisely what a particular WordPress site can do.

For example, users could give an AI assistant a natural language request to complete a range of tasks, such as:

• Create a post: An AI assistant, together with external tools, could generate and schedule content, leveraging the site’s full capabilities. 
• Audit site content: Using a site’s SEO plugin and connected tools, an AI assistant would analyze content and suggest updates.
• Generate sales reports: Using the ecommerce solution, an AI assistant could review sales data and produce reports.

See the Abilities API in WordPress 6.9 post for more information. 

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

The Abilities API works in conjunction with the Model Context Protocol (MCP). 

MCP is an open standard that lets AI assistants and apps, including WordPress, understand each other. 

It allows a WordPress site’s functionality, exposed by the Abilities API, to connect to AI assistants and other servers and tools in the MCP ecosystem.

Developers can install the MCP Adapter plugin to bridge their Abilities API registry with AI providers, paving the way for intelligent agents that can create posts, audit content, or generate reports from within WordPress.

Learn more about the MCP adapter for WordPress.

The AI building blocks vision

The Abilities API and the MCP Adapter are part of the AI Building Blocks initiative to allow users and developers to create powerful AI implementations within WordPress.

While AI features aren’t yet visible in the interface, the foundations being built mean WordPress is now intelligible to AI systems.

It’s still early days, but it’s the start of something meaningful. 

Looking ahead, this could enable AI agents to perform real actions within WordPress, such as generating content, automating workflows, and dynamically connecting to external data sources, all through standardized APIs.

Besides, using MCP future-proofs WordPress for an AI-driven world. It allows for quick adaptation to new AI systems and protocols without requiring a restructuring of core functionality. 

From that perspective, WordPress 6.9 doesn’t just set the stage for 7.0; it begins to redefine what the platform can become.

2. Build custom dashboards with DataViews and DataForm

WordPress 6.9 also strengthens the data‑management infrastructure in WordPress. 

While there are no visible changes for end users, the updates to DataViews, DataForm, and the Fields API give plugin developers more control and flexibility when building custom dashboards or admin interfaces.

DataViews: more robust data displays

The DataViews component has gained several powerful enhancements:

• Infinite scroll
• Locked filters
• Filtering with type-specific operators (e.g., less than, contains)
• Alignment and action column pinning for table layouts

These improvements make it easier for developers to create consistent, flexible interfaces that display data from any source. 

If you’re not yet familiar with DataViews, the component provides a powerful API for plugin developers to create interfaces that display items from a data source. 

For example, an e‑commerce plugin can use it to display orders inside WP Admin. You choose which fields appear, and whether to show them as a table, grid, or list. 

Users can then filter, search, paginate, and act on that data, and WordPress 6.9 adds finer control over those interactions through features like infinite scrolling and locked filters.

If you’re interested in getting started with the DataViews component, read this article on how to display and interact with data in plugins.

DataForm: flexible layouts and real‑time validation

In 6.9, updates to DataForm allow developers to choose from a number of new layout options. 

These new layouts, including a new modal panel and customizable card designs, give developers more control over how complex forms are structured and presented.

Here’s what’s new:

• New card and row layouts: display form fields in cards or side‑by‑side rows, rather than a single long list.
  
• Modal or dropdown panels: choose how secondary panels open—either as dropdowns or modal dialogs.
  
• Asynchronous validation: real‑time, rule‑based field validation means you can validate inputs both synchronously and asynchronously.

These updates give developers more control over how forms look and behave, making interfaces cleaner and more intuitive.

DataViewsPicker: easier item selection

A new DataViewsPicker component extends the DataViews API with selection management and action buttons.

It’s ideal for building media pickers or any interface where users need to choose multiple items from a dataset. 

End users can browse, filter, and select items in one place, improving usability.

Fields API enhancements

Finally, the Fields API has been expanded from three to 13 field types, adding support for arrays, booleans, colors, dates, email addresses, media, numbers, passwords, telephones, and URLs.

Validation is now rule‑based and supports both synchronous and asynchronous checks, making it easier to build and verify custom forms. 

Together, these enhancements mean developers can define richer forms with less boilerplate and ensure data quality more easily.

3. Inject dynamic data and interactions with Block Bindings and the Interactivity APIs

Updates to the Block Bindings API and the Interactivity API in WordPress 6.9 give developers more power and flexibility to build dynamic, interactive experiences. 

Block Bindings API improvements 

Another change is that WordPress developers can now control which block attributes are eligible for data binding.

The Block Bindings API introduces a new filter, which lets you specify the bindable attributes of any block:

block_bindings_supported_attributes_{$block_type}

Beyond that, the API has been expanded in three important ways:

• Custom binding sources in the editor: You can now register your own data sources by adding a getFieldsList() method to your source registration. This method returns an array of objects (each with a label, type, and args) to populate the binding dropdown.

• More blocks support binding: Binding can now be enabled for additional core blocks, including the Date block and the Image block caption, extending the range of dynamic data you can inject into content.

• Simpler UI for switching sources: The updated interface in the block editor makes it easy for users to switch between data sources and bind or unbind attributes with a single click.

Interactivity API updates

The Interactivity API has been significantly enhanced in WordPress 6.9, making interactive features faster and more reliable.

Updates include:

• Reusing shared stylesheets: 6.9 speeds up client-side navigation. Loaded stylesheets are reused where possible, with new stylesheets only loaded when needed. 
• Script modules for interactive blocks: JavaScript modules for interactive blocks are dynamically loaded, and dependencies are automatically managed, ensuring blocks stay fast and responsive. 
• Support for router regions: Interactive blocks can now include nested router regions and can dynamically render overlays anywhere on the page. This makes interactive features like modals, pop-ups, and dropdowns more flexible and reliable.
• Improved getServerState and getServerContext functions: These functions now reset properly between page transitions to ensure interactive blocks start with the correct data. 
• New TypeScript helpers: AsyncAction and TypeYield have been introduced to help developers address potential TypeScript issues when working with asynchronous actions.

Want to jump in and start experimenting with 6.9? Try binding a custom field to a caption of an Image block or using the Interactivity API to load comments or search results without reloading the entire page.

4. Style your themes faster with form controls and border-radius presets

Finally, WordPress 6.9 brings a set of practical updates for theme developers.

You get better form styling, button typography that now inherits correctly, and new options for setting border-radius size presets.

Together, these changes give you more flexibility when designing and refining themes.

Theme.json form styling

Theme.json now supports styling for form elements.

With the styles.elements property, you can target inputs and select fields to set colors, borders, and typography.

These styles apply across the entire site — including third-party plugins — giving theme developers much more control and consistency.

For more information on styling these form elements, read this blog post on how WordPress 6.9 gives forms a theme.json makeover. 

Border-radius size presets

Theme creators can now define border-radius presets using human-readable names like Small, Medium, and Large.

Users can then choose these presets from a dropdown in the Block Editor and apply them to supported blocks.

This replaces repeated manual input with simple, reusable options, making designs more consistent.

Explore a step-by-step guide to creating these presets in the WordPress Developer Blog post Border radius size presets in WordPress 6.9.

Button typography inheritance

Buttons can now inherit typography from their parent styles when defined in theme.json, making it easier to maintain a consistent look across a site.

When users adjust typography in Global Styles — such as font style, text transform, letter spacing, or font weight — the wp-element-button class now picks up those changes automatically.

The before-and-after image below demonstrates how the button text has inherited the typography styles:

Try out 6.9 and help shape the future of WordPress

WordPress 6.9 brings a range of useful updates for developers — from the Abilities and Interactivity APIs to improvements in DataViews and more.

Here’s a video recap of all key updates:

The best part: It’s easy to start experimenting with them.

The fastest way to start is with WordPress Playground, a browser-based sandbox with no setup required.

Alternatively, use WordPress Studio to quickly spin up new local sites that can sync with the developer-ready managed hosting from WordPress.com. Business and Commerce plans include staging sites, SFTP/SSH access, WP-CLI, and GitHub Deployments. 

Let us know how you get on and help shape the future of WordPress.