How to Connect ChatGPT or Claude to WordPress Using Jetpack AI

Jetpack can now connect ChatGPT, Claude and other MCP clients to a self-hosted WordPress site. On a paid Jetpack AI or Jetpack Complete plan, an AI assistant can read and change your posts, pages, design and plugins, and read your site settings. The connection doesn't run on your server. Your site connects to the WordPress.com MCP server through Jetpack, and the assistant talks to that server. This guide covers what that means in practice, what it costs, how to set it up, and when a standalone WordPress MCP plugin is the better choice.

Everything here comes from Jetpack, WordPress.com, Anthropic and OpenAI documentation and listings, checked on 8 October 2026. We did not connect a real site or AI account. Setup steps are based on documentation, not tested. We mark claims as verified in docs, vendor claim, our analysis or not verified where the difference matters.

Quick answer

• What it is: an opt-in "MCP access" feature inside Jetpack AI. It plugs a Jetpack-connected site into Automattic's hosted WordPress.com MCP server. It is not the Jetpack AI writing tools in the block editor.
• Requirements: Jetpack 15.8 or later (current version: 16.3), a paid Jetpack AI or Jetpack Complete plan, and a WordPress.com account connected through Jetpack. On 8 October 2026, an Irish visitor saw Jetpack AI at €4.95/month for the first year, then €8.95/month, billed yearly.
• Assistants: Claude (web, desktop and Claude Code), ChatGPT and Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Continue, and any other MCP client that supports OAuth.
• Is it the easiest route? For the Claude and ChatGPT apps, yes on the evidence. It uses OAuth 2.1, listed connectors in both apps, and needs no server setup. The trade-off is that every request goes through WordPress.com and you pay per site.
• Pick a standalone plugin instead if you don't want WordPress.com in the request path, need tools only your plugins provide, or want something free on every site.

1. What Jetpack's AI-agent integration does

Jetpack doesn't give this a separate product name. In WP Admin it is Jetpack → Jetpack AI → MCP and Connectors, with a switch labelled Enable MCP access under "External AI agent access". Jetpack's marketing calls it connecting "ChatGPT, Claude & more via MCP".

The key fact is in Jetpack's MCP support guide: "When you connect an AI agent, it connects to the WordPress.com MCP server." WordPress.com's developer docs add that a Jetpack-connected site "gets the same catalog of MCP tools as a site hosted on WordPress.com" and that there is "no separate Jetpack MCP server to set up". So connecting a self-hosted site through Jetpack gives you the WordPress.com MCP server.

Jetpack AI now covers three different things, and they are easy to mix up:

Feature	What it does	Where it runs
Jetpack AI writing and image tools	AI Assistant block, titles, excerpts, alt text, image generation, feedback	In the block editor, using Jetpack's own AI requests
WordPress Agent	Jetpack's built-in assistant in WP Admin	Inside Jetpack
MCP access (this guide)	Lets your own Claude, ChatGPT or other agent act on the site	Your AI client → WordPress.com MCP server → your site

The first two generate content with Jetpack's AI. The third doesn't generate anything itself. It hands your site's tools to an assistant you already use.

Timeline: the brief said "September 2026", which is partly right

• October 2025: WordPress.com launches its MCP server, read-only at first (The Repository).
• 22 January 2026: OAuth 2.1 support (WordPress.com blog). The Claude directory listing says the connector was added in January 2026, and WordPress.com announced it on 5 February.
• 20 March 2026: write capabilities for WordPress.com sites (press release).
• 5 May 2026: Jetpack 15.8 adds the "MCP settings admin page and REST endpoint for managing external AI agent access" (Jetpack changelog).
• 24 August 2026: WordPress.com ChatGPT plugin (WordPress.com blog).
• 10 September 2026: Jetpack 16.2 renames the admin page to Jetpack AI and adds the Overview and AI Features tabs.
• 16 September 2026: Jetpack publishes "Build a WordPress Site with ChatGPT or Claude", tagged Product news. This is the announcement aimed at self-hosted users.
• 6 October 2026: Jetpack 16.3 adds ChatGPT and Codex setup instructions to the MCP setup page.

The September date is correct for the consumer announcement. The feature itself shipped in Jetpack 15.8 in May 2026.

2. Requirements and pricing

Verified in docs:

• Jetpack version: Jetpack says ChatGPT and Claude access needs "Jetpack 15.8 or later". The current release is 16.3 (6 October 2026), which requires WordPress 7.0 and PHP 7.4. The menu path in the support docs (Jetpack → Jetpack AI with tabs) matches 16.2 and later, so update before you follow them.
• Plan: "MCP access requires a Jetpack Complete or Jetpack AI plan." The free Jetpack AI tier gives 20 editor requests and does not include MCP.
• Connection: Jetpack must be connected to WordPress.com. Jetpack's pricing FAQ says it needs "a publicly-accessible site with XML-RPC enabled". Each user who wants to use Jetpack AI must connect their own WordPress.com account, and the MCP settings page asks you to do this if you haven't.
• Host opt-outs: hosts can disable Jetpack AI with the WP_AI_SUPPORT constant. From 16.2, Jetpack AI is a module called ai, so sites that filter Jetpack modules must allow it.
• Multisite: Jetpack's FAQ says "each site requires its own paid subscription" on a network. If you have five or more sites, Jetpack's licensing platform offers "up to 80%" off.
• AI client: you need a Claude, ChatGPT or other client that can use connectors or MCP servers. WordPress.com's current ChatGPT guide doesn't say which ChatGPT plans can install plugins, so check OpenAI's terms for your plan (not verified).

Prices as shown on 8 October 2026 (jetpack.com from an Irish IP address, EUR, tax treatment not stated):

Plan	First year	Renewal	Billing	Includes MCP
Jetpack AI	€4.95/mo (45% off)	€8.95/mo	Yearly	Yes
Jetpack Complete	€22.95/mo (50% off)	€45.95/mo	Yearly	Yes, plus Backup, Scan, Search and more

Jetpack says discounts apply to the first year only and renewals are at full price. By our arithmetic, Jetpack AI is €59.40 for the first year and €107.40 a year after that, per site. Complete is €275.40, then €551.40. Yearly plans have a 14-day refund window and monthly plans 7 days, but monthly prices weren't shown. Prices are shown in your local currency, and we didn't check USD or GBP.

The Jetpack AI plan advertises "high request capacity" under a fair-use policy. We found no statement on whether MCP tool calls count against Jetpack AI requests (not verified).

3. How the connection works

A request travels like this:

1. You ask Claude or ChatGPT to do something, such as "update the hero text on my homepage".
2. The AI client, running in Anthropic's or OpenAI's service, calls a tool on the WordPress.com MCP server at https://public-api.wordpress.com/wpcom/v2/mcp/v1. It authenticates with an OAuth 2.1 token for your WordPress.com account.
3. WordPress.com checks the tool toggles and your role on the target site. It then carries out the operation on your self-hosted site through the Jetpack connection.
4. The result goes back to the AI client, which passes it to the model to write its reply.

Three things follow from this design:

• One login reaches every site. WordPress.com says "One connection reaches every site on your account". Jetpack calls managing several sites from one prompt "a unique feature". MCP still has to be switched on for each site.
• Settings live in two synced places. The toggles under Jetpack → Jetpack AI are "the same settings shown in your WordPress.com account preferences". WordPress.com also has account-level defaults and site-level overrides. A tool turned off at site level is unavailable to everyone on that site.
• WordPress.com is always in the path. If the Jetpack connection breaks, or your firewall blocks WordPress.com, the agent loses access. This is our analysis based on the architecture.

Jetpack doesn't document the exact transport between WordPress.com and your site for MCP calls. The changelog mentions MCP "actor" fields in Jetpack sync and backup attribution, which suggests actions are attributed to the MCP client, but we haven't verified how (not verified).

4. Setup walkthrough (based on documentation)

These steps come from the Jetpack and WordPress.com support docs current on 8 October 2026. We did not run them against a live site.

Step 1: Enable MCP on the site

1. Update Jetpack (16.2 or later for the menu layout below) and make sure the site and your user are connected to WordPress.com.
2. Buy or activate a Jetpack AI or Jetpack Complete plan for the site.
3. Go to Jetpack → Jetpack AI and open the MCP and Connectors tab. Under External AI agent access, turn on Enable MCP access. It is off by default.
4. Click Read and Write and turn off any groups you don't need before you connect anything. The reason is in step 2 below.
5. Click Connect external AI agent and choose Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT/Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Continue or "Other MCP client". Then follow the instructions Jetpack shows.

Step 2: Understand the access choice

During authorisation, WordPress.com shows three options:

• Full access turns on every Read and Write tool.
• Read only turns off every Write tool.
• Keep existing access leaves your settings unchanged. It only appears if you have customised them.

This choice "changes the MCP tool settings for your whole WordPress.com account, so it applies to every AI agent you connect". If you customised tools in step 1.4, choose Keep existing access. That is our recommendation, based on how the docs describe the options.

Claude (claude.ai or Claude Desktop)

From WordPress.com's Claude guide:

1. In a browser, go to claude.ai/customize/connectors. In Claude Desktop, click Admin in the bottom-left corner, then go to Settings → Connectors.
2. Click Add, then Browse connectors. Search for "WordPress.com" and select the official connector, made by Automattic.
3. Click Connect, choose the access level on the WordPress.com page, and click Allow.

The Claude directory listing names Automattic as the developer and says the connector is available on "any Jetpack AI or Complete-connected site". The tool list on that listing uses older tool names than WordPress.com's current reference, so treat the reference as the authority.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http wpcom-mcp https://public-api.wordpress.com/wpcom/v2/mcp/v1

Then run /mcp in Claude Code to sign in with your WordPress.com account.

ChatGPT

From WordPress.com's ChatGPT guide:

1. Click Plugins in the ChatGPT sidebar and search for "WordPress.com".
2. Click Install plugin, choose the access level and click Allow.
3. Type @WordPress.com in a chat to use it.

Codex, Cursor and other clients

• Codex: codex mcp add wpcom-mcp --url https://public-api.wordpress.com/wpcom/v2/mcp/v1. The OAuth flow starts automatically, or you can run codex mcp login wpcom-mcp.
• Cursor: run /add-plugin wordpress-com in Cursor chat, or use the WordPress.com plugin on the Cursor Marketplace.
• Other MCP clients: add the server URL above. The client handles OAuth through your browser.

Disconnecting

Revoke a client in your WordPress.com account under Security → Connected applications. WordPress.com notes that disconnecting inside the AI client doesn't remove that entry, and that a client can appear more than once. After changing tool toggles, restart the client so it reloads the tool list.

5. What Claude or ChatGPT can actually do

The WordPress.com MCP tools reference (updated 6 October 2026) is the authority here. Tools are grouped into "facade" tools that list, describe and execute operations. WordPress.com says the same catalog serves Jetpack sites, and that what a given user sees depends on the site's plan, hosting, user permissions and tool settings.

Tool group	Read	Write (all need confirmation)
Content Authoring	Posts, pages, custom post types, comments, media, terms, patterns, search	Create and edit posts and pages, block-level edits, media upload and AI image generation, comments, terms, synced patterns, deletes
Site Editor Context	Theme presets, styles, allowed blocks	None (read-only)
Site Editing	Templates, template parts, menus, widgets, global styles	Edit all of those
Site	Settings, stats totals, plugin list, activity log, Backup and Scan status	Settings, theme switch, queue a Scan, Monitor, Newsletter and Account Protection toggles
Plugin Management	Installed plugins and updates	Search, install, upload a ZIP, activate, deactivate, update, uninstall
User Management	Collaborators, pending invites	Invite, change role, remove access
Account (WordPress.com)	Profile, domains, subscriptions, security status	Profile, auto-renewal, remove payment method, domain and DNS changes

Some practical details from the reference:

• Custom post types are reachable if they are registered with show_in_rest in the standard wp/v2 namespace. That includes WooCommerce products and ACF fields passed as parameters.
• New posts and pages are drafts by default. Updating with status publish goes live immediately.
• Plugin updates run one plugin per call. Uninstall returns a preview first.
• Stats are limited. statistics.get returns totals, views and visitors for a date range, and "does NOT include top-posts, referrers, geo, or per-URL breakdowns". Jetpack's announcement suggests prompts like "What were my most popular posts last month?" and the Claude listing suggests "Where is my traffic coming from?". The documented stats tool doesn't support either (vendor claim vs reference).
• "Make sure nothing broke" is a prompt Jetpack suggests for plugin updates. We found no dedicated site-health or regression-check tool in the reference. Any check of that kind depends on what the agent decides to read afterwards (our analysis).
• Not in the reference: arbitrary PHP, file editing, database queries or WP-CLI. If a plugin hasn't registered tools for its own features, the agent can only reach those features through generic tools such as content and settings.

There is one open question for self-hosted sites. Jetpack's own guide lists Write groups only for Content Authoring, Site Editing and Plugin Management. The WordPress.com reference says settings.update works on "self-hosted Jetpack sites", and it lists User Management and Account groups as well. The Jetpack docs don't say whether those extra write groups appear for a Jetpack site (not verified). Ask the agent to run tools/list once connected to see your actual set.

6. Security and permissions

Verified in docs:

• Off by default on the site. You enable it per site and can exclude sites at account level.
• Read and write toggles. Read and write groups can be switched separately. On WordPress.com, individual tools can be toggled too.
• Role-bound. WordPress.com says MCP "respects the user role permissions on your site". Administrators get every tool, editors can manage content and comments but not settings or plugins, and authors and contributors get less. Jetpack's FAQ says the agent "never gets more than your own WordPress permissions". If you connect as an administrator, the agent can install plugins.
• Write confirmation. Every write must include user_confirmed: true, and the reference says writes are "never auto-executed". Trashed posts and pages can be recovered for 30 days. Deleted media, categories, tags and terms are permanent.
• Logging. The MCP and Connectors tab has an Activity log of MCP tool calls. Jetpack says content changes also appear in the site's Activity Log under your account.
• Training. WordPress.com says tool data is not used to train AI models and "is used only once as part of the original request".

Our analysis:

• The confirmation flag comes from the agent. The server requires user_confirmed: true, but the agent is the one that sets it after asking you. It is a protocol rule, not proof that a person approved the action. The real human check is your AI client's tool-approval prompt, so don't set it to always allow write tools on a production site.
• Your WordPress.com account is in scope. Account-level tools cover billing (stopping renewals, removing payment methods) and domains and DNS. If you only want site management, turn off the Account and User Management groups.
• "Full access" during OAuth turns everything on for every connected client. Customise the tools first, then choose Keep existing access.
• Two companies handle your content in transit: Automattic, through the MCP server, and your AI provider, through the conversation. We found no published retention period for MCP request data at WordPress.com in the pages we reviewed (not verified). Your Anthropic or OpenAI data settings also apply.
• Prompt injection. Comments, form entries and imported content are text written by strangers. An agent that reads them while holding write and plugin tools can be steered. Keep write groups narrow, especially Plugin Management.
• Recovery. Jetpack's FAQ points to Jetpack Backup for undoing mistakes. Backup is included in Complete, not in the standalone Jetpack AI plan. On a Jetpack AI plan, you need a separate backup tool.

7. Jetpack versus standalone WordPress MCP plugins

Facts for the standalone plugins come from our WordPress MCP plugin comparison, re-checked on WordPress.org on 8 October 2026.

	Jetpack (WordPress.com MCP)	MCP Adapter 0.7.0	Royal MCP 1.5.7	WPVibe 1.20.3	AI Engine 3.8.4	Sokket 1.4.1
Runs on	WordPress.com	Your site	Your site	Vendor relay	Your site	Your site
Auth	OAuth 2.1	App Passwords / STDIO	OAuth, API key	Email + relay	OAuth, token	Tokens, OAuth
Claude/ChatGPT apps	Listed in both	No documented route	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tool scope	Broad, fixed catalog	Registered abilities	Broad, plugin integrations	Broad, WP-CLI-style	Pro for plugins and themes	Content and design
Multi-site	One login	Per site	Per site	One account	Per site	Per site
Cost	Paid per site	Free	Free; Pro	Free tier; paid	Free; Pro	Free; Pro
Main caveat	WordPress.com in path	No built-in OAuth	Past CVEs	Third-party relay	Past CVEs	Very new

Differences from the official MCP Adapter, specifically:

• Where it runs. The adapter runs inside your WordPress install, over HTTP at /wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server or over STDIO through WP-CLI. Jetpack routes everything through Automattic's servers.
• Authentication. The adapter's docs use Application Passwords through the @automattic/mcp-wordpress-remote proxy, or WP-CLI with --user, and it has no built-in OAuth server. Claude's custom connectors and ChatGPT expect OAuth or no auth, so the adapter has no documented route into the Claude.ai or ChatGPT apps. Jetpack's OAuth 2.1 setup does.
• What it exposes. The adapter exposes only abilities that core and plugins register and mark public. Version 0.7.0 provides three meta-tools, and WordPress 7.1 adds three read-only core abilities. Jetpack gives you a large fixed catalog straight away. The adapter grows with whatever your plugins register, and Jetpack's catalog grows when Automattic adds tools.
• Cost and licence. The adapter is free (GPL-2.0-or-later) and has been on WordPress.org since 2 October 2026, with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, VS Code and Cursor documented as clients. Jetpack needs a paid plan per site.

8. Who should choose Jetpack

• A good fit: site owners who use the Claude or ChatGPT apps and want a supported connection without setting up OAuth themselves. People already paying for Jetpack Complete, where MCP is included. Small portfolios where one login across sites saves time.
• Think twice: agencies whose client contracts rule out routing site management through a third party. Sites with strict data-residency rules. Anyone who needs an agent to drive plugin-specific features that aren't in the WordPress.com catalog.
• Not a fit: local or private staging sites that WordPress.com can't reach (Jetpack needs a public site with XML-RPC). Large fleets where a per-site plan adds up. Developers who want to register their own tools, for whom the MCP Adapter is the natural base.

If you mainly want to manage many sites, compare this with dedicated management tools such as MainWP or ManageWP. Jetpack's agent route is conversational, while those tools focus on bulk updates, reporting and backups.

9. WPResources recommendation

There is no single best choice for every case, so here is our recommendation by use case:

• You use the Claude or ChatGPT app and want the least setup on a self-hosted site: choose Jetpack AI (or Complete if you'll use the rest of it). It is the only option here with official listings in both apps, OAuth 2.1 and no server-side setup. Customise the tool groups before you connect, and keep Account and User Management off.
• You want nothing between your agent and your site: choose the official MCP Adapter with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code. If you need the Claude.ai or ChatGPT apps without a relay, Royal MCP is the in-site option we covered in our comparison, but read its CVE history first.
• You already pay for Jetpack Complete: MCP is included, so try it read-only first.
• You manage many client sites: compare the per-site cost of Jetpack and the third-party data path against WPVibe's relay or a management dashboard. Then decide which tools you actually want an agent to have.
• You host on Pressable: it has its own Pressable MCP for hosting-level tasks, included with its plans. That is a different layer from Jetpack's site-content tools.

Whichever you choose, give the agent a WordPress user with the narrowest role that still works, leave write tools behind your client's approval prompt, and log what changes. A general audit plugin such as WP Activity Log records changes whichever MCP route made them. Keep a backup you can restore, such as UpdraftPlus if your plan doesn't include Jetpack Backup.

More AI coverage is in our AI section, and side-by-side reviews are in Compare.