Native AI in WordPress: No MCP, No Middleware

Nick d

So Benjamin Intal, he, he posted this demo of a new experiment called Ahentic AI workspace. And, and someone literally gave it the most vague prompt, like, hey, swap these two book covers on the live store. And without any external MCP servers, no external middleware, just native WordPress APIs, it, it figured out the WooCommerce product IDs, went into the page, and performed the visual swap right there in the browser.

Ben cohen

Wait, no external MCP servers at all? Just, just straight browser to WordPress core APIs?

Nick d

Yeah, exactly. Benjamin Intal built it using pure WordPress APIs. And, and what makes that so fascinating is the architecture split we are seeing right now. On one side, you have CLI tools like Novamira CLI connecting things like Claude Code or Codex CLI through raw terminal shell commands on the server. On the other side, you have Ahentic operating natively in the browser through the new WordPress Abilities APIs.

Ido

That, that distinction between raw server terminal execution and browser state manipulation is massive! Because if an AI agent tries to do raw database insertions on the server side, what happens? You open the block editor the next morning and boom, every single block gives you that terrifying invalid block, attempt block recovery warning.

Ben cohen

Oh yeah, block validation errors! Because raw SQL edits completely bypass Gutenberg's client side JavaScript rendering pipeline and parsing rules.

Nick d

Exactly. I mean, I, I tested some terminal workflows last week, and I have to tell you, running raw CLI SQL commands through an AI agent gave me complete, pure anxiety. You are essentially handing a super intelligent bot a direct line to your database tables. But when an agent operates through native WordPress Connector permissions and Abilities APIs inside the admin UI, it respects the hook hierarchy, it respects user capability checks, and it updates block states without corrupting the content structure.

Ido

It is the difference between letting a mechanic dismantle your engine while you are driving down the highway versus having them use the dashboard controls!

Ben cohen

And, and when you look at how fragile the traditional plugin ecosystem currently is, this native API approach changes everything. Look at the data from the WP Goldmine analysis that came out recently. Twenty four percent of plugins in the ten thousand to one hundred thousand active install band have not been updated in over two years!

Nick d

Twenty four percent? That is over twelve hundred popular plugins sitting completely abandoned with real users on live sites.

Ben cohen

Twelve hundred and nine plugins, to be precise. And even in the one hundred thousand to one million active install band, ten point two percent are abandoned. We are talking about everyday utility plugins, like basic layout blocks, downgrade managers, simple bulk editors.

Ido

And this is why native core APIs like the WordPress Connector API and the Abilities API are going to trigger a massive collapse in utility plugins. Why would a site builder install fifteen unmaintained single purpose utility plugins for bulk edits, meta tag adjustments, or custom field tweaks, when a single native AI workspace can hook into core APIs and execute all those tasks safely?

Nick d

Right, instead of hunting down a random bulk editing plugin that was abandoned in twenty twenty four, you just ask the native site agent to run a bulk update through authenticated core schema endpoints.

Ben cohen

Think about what that does to agency retainers! For the last decade, agencies charged clients five hundred dollars a month mostly to click update on twenty five plugins and manually tweak settings pages. That model is dead. The new agency retainer is all about architecture: configuring structured AI agent permissions, defining security boundaries, and setting up clean endpoint schemas so autonomous systems can manage the site safely.

Ido

It completely shifts what site builders need to learn right now. For fifteen years, developer value meant building elaborate, custom admin settings pages with endless toggles and dropdowns for human eyes. Now, developer value is publishing clean, self-describing, agent-readable API definitions that an AI can read and invoke.

Nick d

It really turns the whole design pattern on its head. You build for machine execution first, with human permission guardrails, rather than building fancy visual controls for repetitive human clicking.

Ben cohen

Exactly. The user interface becomes conversational and programmatic, while the backend becomes a tightly regulated set of capabilities. That is the actual future of WordPress development.