MCP server
WPBakery MCP server, with undo on every edit.
Shortcode-aware editing for legacy WPBakery (Visual Composer) sites. Reads nested vc_* shortcodes, writes through duplicate-first.
7 days free. No card. Runs on the AI subscription you already have.
- Support
- Partial
- WPBakery tools
- Core set
- Latest release touching it
- 8.8.20
- Releases touching it
- 21
Respira is an independent MCP server. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by WPBakery.
What works today. What still needs you.
Read from the current MCP server release, core reads and writes work; some edges need a human pass.
Works now
- Shortcode parser walks nested
vc_*shortcodes and preserves attribute order on round-trip. - Per-element edits via
respira_find_element+respira_update_elementwork on individual modules without flattening the surrounding structure. - Full-page text and CTA refresh across estates of legacy WPBakery pages.
- Standard WordPress REST endpoints for media, menus, and options work as on any other site.
Where a human still steps in
- Deeply nested third-party WPBakery shortcodes (4+ levels) can lose attributes on round-trip. Always duplicate first.
- Visual Composer Premium add-on shortcodes are read but not all are write-validated. Use a snapshot.
- Frontend Editor settings are not exposed through the MCP. Edits go through post_content as the Backend Editor expects.
- No design-system or color-palette tooling. WPBakery does not expose one natively, and Respira does not synthesize it.
Hit one of these and the snapshot gives you a clean way back.
WPBakery runs on the universal tools.
Find, update, move and remove elements, build whole pages, snapshot and roll back. Reads return the builder structure and writes keep it intact.
Three prompts you can paste right now.
Each one assumes Respira is connected to a WPBakery site. Paste it into your AI tool and run.
-
Refresh a hero CTA across legacy pages
On every page in the "/services/" path, find the first vc_btn shortcode in the page and update its title to "Book a call". Duplicate each page first, then show me a diff. -
Audit shortcode usage
List every distinct vc_* shortcode used across the site and how many times each appears. Output as a markdown table sorted by frequency. -
Clean up empty rows
Find every vc_row that contains no vc_column children. List them by page so I can decide whether to delete.
More recipes, per builder, in the Prompt Book.
Connect a WPBakery site in two minutes.
Chat apps sign in with the browser. Coding tools take one command. Anything else takes the config below.
One command
Detects Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf and more, and writes the config.
npx add-mcp "npx -y @respira/wordpress-mcp-server"Or paste the config
Get the site URL and key from your setup page.
{
"mcpServers": {
"respira-wordpress": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@respira/wordpress-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"WORDPRESS_URL": "https://yoursite.com",
"WORDPRESS_API_KEY": "respira_your_api_key_here"
}
}
}
}- Claude Desktop on macOS reads
claude_desktop_config.json, notconfig.json. - WPBakery shortcode round-tripping has known edge cases on deeply nested vc_row + third-party shortcodes. Always duplicate a page before the first AI edit on a critical template.
- Prefer no terminal at all? Sign in with your browser from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor.
What changed for WPBakery lately.
The last 5 releases that mention WPBakery, filtered from the same changelog the releases page reads.
-
- Editing any element on a WPBakery page was refused as content loss. The
-
- A WPBakery page lost two headings when an unrelated element was
-
- A site can now hold one design direction, and every builder obeys it. Nine new tools. wordpress_save_design_direction, wordpress_get_design_direction, wordpress_list_design_directions, wordpress_activate_design_direction
-
- Bricks move, reorder and remove now operate on Bricks' real storage shape instead of assuming every builder nests the same way. Bricks stores a page as a flat list where each element points at a parent id and lists its c
-
- Visual Composer moved from read to write. Respira now writes in VC's canonical storage format, so the editor loads the page and the front end renders. Labeled with its caveats (VC recompiles on the next editor save)
- An internal check now runs across the test fleet to confirm that every builder function Respira calls actually exists in that builder. It would have caught several of the silent failures below the day they were written,
Questions people ask about WPBakery and MCP.
Is there an MCP server for WPBakery?
Yes. Respira is an independent MCP server that reads and writes WPBakery in its own format, with core reads and writes work; some edges need a human pass. It is not made by the WPBakery team.
Which tools does it use for WPBakery?
WPBakery runs through the universal tools: find, update, move and remove elements, build pages, snapshot and roll back. Reads return the builder structure, and writes keep it.
What happens when the agent gets an edit wrong?
Nothing on the live page. The agent edits a copy first, you approve it inside WordPress, and every write is snapshotted with 90 days of undo.
Do i need a developer or a terminal?
No. Sign in with your browser from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and approve the connection once. Coding tools get a one-line command.
Does it work with a WPBakery site that also runs WooCommerce?
Yes. The WooCommerce add-on adds 105 store tools on the same connection, with the same duplicate-first approval flow.
The other builders, same server.
Start with one site. Free for 7 days.
Maker is €9 a month after the trial. No card for the trial, and it runs on the AI plan you already have, so there is no extra AI bill.
