Tools overview
For the full builder catalog, independent block packs and version requirements, see Page builder integrations. The reference below covers the Elementor tools, the Gutenberg and theme-building tools, the WordPress tools, EMCP’s own modules and the plugin integrations.
EMCP Tools ships 526 MCP tools (231 of them free): the full Elementor page-building workflow, a Gutenberg block toolset, a builder-agnostic theme builder (EMCP Themer), general WordPress management beyond Elementor, tools for EMCP’s own modules, and integrations for popular plugins. How many actually register on your site depends on which of those plugins you run, which builder you pick on EMCP Tools → Page Builders, and which modules are on in EMCP Tools → Modules. See Requirements for the breakdown.
Every tool name in MCP is prefixed with emcp-tools/. The WordPress MCP Adapter converts the slash to a dash when exposing tools to clients, so the internal ability emcp-tools/list-widgets shows up in your AI client as emcp-tools-list-widgets.
Elementor categories
Section titled “Elementor categories”These register only while Elementor is active and selected as the standalone builder on EMCP Tools → Page Builders. Their switches are on the Elementor tab of EMCP Tools → Tools. “Pro adds” counts tools that need Elementor Pro (Templates & Theme Builder, Custom Code, add-pro-widget) or EMCP Pro (Brand Kits, SEO & Accessibility, Widget Builder).
| Category | Free | Pro adds | E4.0 adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Query & Discovery | 7 | ||
| Page Snapshot | 1 | ||
| Page Management | 6 | ||
| Layout & Structure | 11 | ||
| Widgets (catalog-backed) | 4 | 1 | |
| Templates & Theme Builder | 2 | 6 | |
| Global Settings | 2 | ||
| Composite | 1 | ||
| SVG Icons | 1 | ||
| Custom Code | 1 | 3 | |
| Brand Kits | 4 | ||
| SEO & Accessibility (Pro, opt-in) | 8 | ||
| Widget Builder (Pro, opt-in) | 8 | ||
| Atomic Elements (E4.0+) | 18 | ||
| Global Variables (E4.2+) | 6 |
The Widgets row includes list-widgets and get-widget-schema, which are also counted in Query & Discovery. The stock image tool add-stock-image also needs Elementor; it is listed with the other stock image tools below.
Gutenberg & theme building
Section titled “Gutenberg & theme building”These register regardless of Elementor.
| Category | Tools | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Gutenberg blocks | 10 | enabled (always-on), Gutenberg tab |
| Custom Gutenberg blocks (Pro) | 8 | off, Gutenberg tab (Block Builder section) |
| EMCP Themer (theme builder) | 9 | enabled, but they register only while the EMCP Themer module is on, and the module is off by default on new installs since 3.18.0 |
| Themer PHP templates | 5 | off, and the feature itself starts off |
WordPress categories (beyond Elementor)
Section titled “WordPress categories (beyond Elementor)”General WordPress management over MCP, built on WordPress core (these never touch _elementor_data). Their switches are on the WordPress tab of EMCP Tools → Tools.
| Category | Tools | Default |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress Content | 9 (+3 core) | enabled |
| WordPress Settings | 2 | enabled |
| Navigation Menus | 2 | enabled |
| Plugins & Themes | 13 | 4 read enabled · 9 writes off |
| Stock Images | 4 | enabled (search needs a free stock image API key) |
| Media Library | 4 | get/update/upload on · delete-media off |
| WordPress Users | 4 | reads on · writes off |
| Performance Analyzer | 1 | enabled |
| Security & Malware Scanner | 1 | enabled |
| Filesystem | 6 | 3 read enabled · 3 writes off |
| Database | 6 | 3 read enabled · 3 writes off |
| WP-CLI execution | 4 | off |
EMCP Modules
Section titled “EMCP Modules”Tools that belong to EMCP’s own features. Their switches are on the EMCP Modules tab of EMCP Tools → Tools. Where a row names a module, the tools register only while that module is on in EMCP Tools → Modules.
| Category | Tools | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Redirects (Redirect Manager module) | 5 | 2 reads on · 3 writes off |
| Backup & Migrate (Pro, Backup & Migrate module) | 7 | migrate-site, sync-to-live and sync-content-item off |
| Changes & Rollback | 3 | enabled |
| Content Search | 2 | enabled |
| Content Mirror (Git) | 3 | enabled |
| PHP Snippets (Sandbox) | 6 | off |
| Sandbox Cloud (Export / Import) | 2 | enabled |
| Project Memory (Pro, Project Memory module) | 3 | off |
| EMCP Cloud and Marketplace (EMCP Cloud module, site connected) | 7 | enabled |
| Image Optimization (Image Optimization module) | 1 | enabled (resize-media) |
The EMCP Themer and Themer PHP templates sections sit on this tab too; they are listed in the Gutenberg & theme building table above.
Plugin integrations
Section titled “Plugin integrations”These speak to a specific third-party plugin, and each registers only when that plugin is active, so you only ever see tools for what you actually run. Most follow a two-dispatcher pattern: one Read tool and one Write tool, each taking an operation and an arguments object.
| Integration | Tools | Default |
|---|---|---|
| ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) | 2 | acf-read on · acf-write off |
| WooCommerce | 2 | read on · write off |
| Forms (8 plugins) | 16 | reads on · writes off |
| SEO (7 plugins) | 14 | reads on · writes off |
| Elementor Addons (3 plugins) | 4 | reads on · uae-write off |
Elementor Addons deliberately breaks the two-dispatcher pattern: Essential Addons and Premium Addons get a discovery tool only, because their widgets register into Elementor’s own registry and are placed with the ordinary add-free-widget. Ultimate Addons for Elementor is both a widget pack and a template plugin, so it keeps the full pair.
Finding the right widget: discover → inspect → act
Section titled “Finding the right widget: discover → inspect → act”As of v3.0.0 the 62 per-widget convenience tools and the old universal add-widget were replaced by a catalog-backed model, five tools that reach every widget without bloating the per-turn tool list:
- Discover:
list-widgetsreturns a compact catalog index; filter bytier/category/search. - Inspect:
get-widget-schemareturns curated params for a widget (or atypes[]batch); passfull: truefor the raw control schema. - Act:
add-free-widget/add-pro-widget(Pro only) create the widget with catalog defaults merged in;update-widgetedits an existing one.
No capability is lost. Every widget and every curated parameter is still reachable, and any valid Elementor control passes straight through. See Widgets.
Disabled-by-default tools
Section titled “Disabled-by-default tools”377 of the 526 tools ship off by default, leaving 149 enabled, and they are opt-in from EMCP Tools → Tools. The pattern is consistent: anything that writes, deletes, or renders site-wide starts disabled. That covers SEO & Accessibility (Pro), Widget Builder and Block Builder (Pro), Project Memory (Pro), PHP Snippets, the Plugins & Themes write tools, delete-media, the Users write tools, the Filesystem and Database write tools, WP-CLI, the Redirect write tools, the Global Classes and Global Variables write tools, regenerate-css, the destructive Backup & Migrate tools, the Themer PHP templates, and the write dispatcher of every plugin integration (ACF, WooCommerce, Forms, SEO, Elementor Addons). On a new install, the other tools that need Elementor Pro (the Elementor Pro template tools, and the Custom Code tools other than add-custom-js) also start off. add-pro-widget is the exception: it starts on, because it only adds widgets.
So your active surface is always smaller than the installed count until you deliberately turn things on. On the Tools screen, the Status filter set to Disabled lists everything that is currently off, and Bulk Actions → Reset to defaults puts every switch back to these defaults (nothing is written until you save).
Permission model
Section titled “Permission model”Every tool runs a WordPress capability check before executing. Read tools require edit_posts; write tools add an ownership check on the target. Global settings, WordPress settings, and code snippets require manage_options; user tools require list_users / create_users / edit_users; plugin & theme tools each check their matching *_plugins / *_themes cap.
The full permission matrix is documented in the plugin’s AGENTS.md on GitHub.
Disabling tools
Section titled “Disabling tools”You can switch individual tools on or off from EMCP Tools → Tools in the WordPress admin. The platform tabs run in this order: the standalone builder you selected on EMCP Tools → Page Builders (for example Elementor; there is none when you chose Gutenberg only), one tab for each Gutenberg block plugin you enabled there (Spectra, Kadence Blocks, GenerateBlocks, Blocksy Blocks, Otter Blocks), then WordPress, Plugins, Themes, Gutenberg and EMCP Modules (EMCP’s own subsystems: the theme builder, backup and migrate, redirects, changes and rollback, content search, content mirror, PHP snippets, project memory, cloud and marketplace, image optimization). Each tab shows its enabled and total counts.
Use the search box, the risk filter (All / Read-only / Writes / Destructive) and the Status filter to find a tool. Each category section has Enable and Disable buttons for all of its tools, and the Bulk Actions menu offers Enable all visible, Disable all visible and Reset to defaults. Changes are not saved straight away: a save bar appears at the bottom of the screen with the number of unsaved changes, Discard and Save changes. After saving, reconnect your AI client so it picks up the new tool list.
The choices persist in the emcp_tools_disabled_tools option and apply to every MCP request, including the REST endpoint that AI clients use. See Disabling tools for more.
For clients with strict tool caps (Antigravity, Gemini API), switch on the Compact tool mode card at the top of the same screen. It collapses the whole surface to 3 dispatcher meta-tools, and the per-tool switches still apply. See Compact tool mode.