Troubleshooting

An ability I expected doesn't appear in the table

The abilities table lists everything registered with WordPress's Abilities API at the moment the settings page loads. If an ability is missing:

1. Confirm the plugin that should register it is active (Plugins screen).
2. Reload the Settings → Inhale: MCP Abilities page. Abilities are not cached.
3. Check the registering plugin's documentation, some plugins register abilities conditionally (only when a feature is enabled or a specific role is in use).
4. Run wp ability list from WP-CLI to see the raw registration set. If your ability isn't there either, the issue is upstream of Inhale: MCP Abilities.

The plugin doesn't appear under Settings

Inhale: MCP Abilities registers itself with add_options_page(), which requires the manage_options capability. If you're logged in as a role that doesn't have it (Editor, Author), the menu item is hidden.

If you're an administrator and still don't see it:

1. Confirm the plugin is active on the Plugins screen.
2. Confirm the WordPress MCP Adapter is installed and active, Inhale: MCP Abilities refuses to register its settings page if the Adapter is missing, and shows an admin notice explaining why.
3. Clear your wp-admin page cache if you're behind a caching layer.

"MCP Adapter not detected" admin notice

Inhale: MCP Abilities depends on the official WordPress MCP Adapter plugin. If the Adapter is not active, Inhale: MCP Abilities shows a yellow admin notice on every screen with a direct install link.

To resolve:

Plugins → Add New → search "MCP Adapter" → Install Now → Activate

Or via WP-CLI:

wp plugin install mcp-adapter --activate

Once the Adapter is active, the notice disappears and Settings → Inhale: MCP Abilities becomes available.

The browser confirmation doesn't fire when I inhale a destructive ability

Inhale: MCP Abilities calls the native window.confirm() dialog. If you don't see it:

1. Confirm the ability is actually annotated destructive in the Annotations column. Some abilities you might expect to be destructive (core/delete-post for example) may not be annotated if the registering plugin didn't add the metadata.
2. Check your browser's site settings. Some browsers and most ad blockers can suppress confirm() dialogs site-wide if you've previously opted out. Re-enable dialogs for the site.
3. Check your browser console for JavaScript errors. A console error elsewhere on the page can prevent the Inhale: MCP Abilities plugin's JS from binding the confirmation handler.

Dark mode doesn't persist across reloads

The dark mode preference is stored in localStorage under the key inhale-theme. If it's not persisting:

1. Confirm localStorage is enabled in your browser. Some private-browsing modes wipe it on tab close.
2. If you're behind a corporate proxy that strips browser storage, the preference will reset every load.
3. Without a stored preference, Inhale: MCP Abilities falls back to your WordPress admin color scheme: dark schemes (Midnight, Ectoplasm, Coffee, Sunrise, Modern) default to dark; the others to light. Change your admin scheme under Users → Profile if you want a different default.

Bulk inhale "doesn't seem to work" on destructive abilities

When you bulk-inhale a selection that includes destructive abilities, Inhale: MCP Abilities fires one window.confirm() per destructive ability. If you click Cancel on any of them, that specific ability stays exhaled but the rest of the selection still inhales. There is no batch "skip all destructive" option by design, the safety story of Inhale: MCP Abilities rests on every destructive inhale being deliberate.

If you don't want to see the prompts at all, narrow the selection before bulk-inhaling.

My change saved but the MCP client still doesn't see the ability

The MCP Adapter caches its capability list per request. If your client is holding a long-lived connection:

1. Disconnect and reconnect the client to your WordPress server.
2. If using Claude Desktop, restart the app.
3. If you're still seeing stale results, confirm the abilities option was actually written: run wp option get inhale_mcp_abilities_visible from WP-CLI and check the array.

Still stuck?

Open an issue on GitHub with:

• WordPress version
• PHP version
• MCP Adapter version
• A list of other plugins active on the site
• The exact behavior you're seeing