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name: elementor-mcp description: Helps with WordPress + Elementor work via the elementor-mcp MCP server — building new pages, editing existing ones, inspecting site state, or exploring what's possible. Asks what the user wants before acting. Use when the user references the Elementor MCP, invokes /elementor-mcp, or runs mcp__elementor__elementor-mcp-* tools. Also covers initial install of the MCP Adapter + elementor-mcp plugins, app-password auth wiring, schema-loading discipline, and the widget-vs-HTML decision tree. SKIP for Bricks, Divi, Beaver Builder, or non-Elementor WordPress builds.

Elementor MCP Skill

You are operating against a WordPress site with the elementor-mcp server (https://github.com/msrbuilds/elementor-mcp) connected via the WordPress MCP Adapter. This skill captures everything I learned the hard way the first time through, so subsequent sessions start at expertise level.

🛑 First Action Protocol — ASK BEFORE DOING

When this skill is invoked, do not start running tools. Ask the user what they want first.

If the user's invocation message already contains a clear task — "build me a hero section from index.html", "show me my current global colors", "change the burgundy to navy" — proceed with that task directly.

Otherwise (invocations like /elementor-mcp alone, or "use the Elementor MCP" with no follow-up), respond with this menu and wait for the user to pick:

What would you like to do with your Elementor site?

  1. Build       — create new pages or sections from a design
  2. Edit        — change something on an existing page
  3. Reference   — inspect current state (pages, colors, fonts, content)
  4. Explore     — show me what's possible / what can the MCP do here

Do not silently default to "build" — that's the most destructive action and forces a path the user may not want. Wait for the user to choose 1/2/3/4 (or describe their task in their own words) before invoking any MCP tool other than the harmless read-only ones at the bottom of this section.

Read-only "smoke test" calls that are always safe to run

When the user picks any option, you can run these before asking follow-up questions, since they help frame the next response:

• mcp__elementor__elementor-mcp-list-pages — confirms auth + lists what's there
• mcp__elementor__elementor-mcp-get-global-settings — current colors/fonts kit

That's it for unprompted tool calls. Anything that creates, modifies, or deletes data requires the user to have explicitly asked for it.

When this skill applies

• The user mentions Elementor MCP, types /elementor-mcp, or says "use the Elementor MCP"
• A .mcp.json in the project registers an MCP server pointing at wp-json/mcp/elementor-mcp-server
• The user asks to build, edit, inspect, or troubleshoot an Elementor page
• Tools beginning with mcp__elementor__elementor-mcp-* are available

First-session setup (when MCP not yet connected)

If the user has a WordPress site but no .mcp.json and no elementor MCP loaded:

1. Check whether they're using Local-by-Flywheel or a live host. Setup paths differ.
2. Run the bundled setup script at ~/.claude/scripts/setup-elementor-mcp.sh — it handles plugin install, auth wiring, and .mcp.json generation interactively for both flavors.

   bash ~/.claude/scripts/setup-elementor-mcp.sh
   

3. After the script completes, instruct the user to quit and reopen Claude Code in the project directory so the new .mcp.json is picked up.
4. On reopen, the deferred MCP tools will be exposed via ToolSearch — load the ones you need with select: queries.

If something fails, see "Setup gotchas" below.

Working session conventions

Always do this first

mcp__elementor__elementor-mcp-list-pages   # confirms auth + lists existing pages
mcp__elementor__elementor-mcp-get-global-settings   # see existing colors/fonts kit
mcp__elementor__elementor-mcp-get-container-schema  # ground truth on flex_* key names

The container schema is large (~50KB). Read it once, then write down the keys you'll use in your reply text so you don't need to re-fetch it. Critical keys:

• flex_direction, flex_justify_content, flex_align_items, flex_gap, flex_wrap — note the flex_ prefix on justify/align (issue #32 was about these being written under wrong keys in older versions)
• content_width: "boxed"|"full" + boxed_width: {unit, size, sizes}
• min_height: {unit, size, sizes} — use unit vh for full-screen heroes
• padding/margin: {unit, top, right, bottom, left, isLinked} — isLinked: false when sides differ
• background_background: "classic"|"gradient"|"video" — must be set first or other background_* keys are ignored
• background_overlay_* — separate parallel set for overlays. background_overlay_opacity: {unit:"px", size: 0.5} (yes, the unit is px even for opacity — quirk of the schema)

Widget call convention — flat params, NOT nested in settings

This bit me hard the first time. The add-* shortcut tools take their settings as top-level parameters, not inside a settings: {} object:

// ✓ CORRECT
mcp__elementor__elementor-mcp-add-heading({
  post_id: 11,
  parent_id: "abc123",
  title: "where estates <em>are entrusted</em>",
  header_size: "h1",
  title_color: "#FFFFFF",
  typography_typography: "custom",       // ← required to enable typography
  typography_font_family: "Cormorant Garamond",
  typography_font_size: {size: 110, unit: "px"},
  typography_font_weight: "300",
  typography_line_height: {size: 0.98, unit: "em"},
})

// ✗ WRONG — silently fails or returns "title is required"
mcp__elementor__elementor-mcp-add-heading({
  post_id: 11,
  parent_id: "abc123",
  settings: {title: "...", typography_font_family: "..."}
})

add-container is the exception — it takes a settings: {} object. Don't generalize from one to the other.

Always set typography_typography: "custom"

Without this, the other typography_* keys are ignored. Same applies to css_filters_css_filter: "custom" for image filters, etc. — these "enable" flags are how Elementor knows you want to override defaults.

Italic emphasis pattern

Display headings often need a single italic-emphasized word. Don't use a separate widget — just inline <em> in the title:

title: "A <em>quiet</em> practice for an <em>uncommon</em> clientele."

Cormorant Garamond and most luxury serifs have italic variants that auto-load when <em> appears. Confirm via the rendered page; if italics fail, the global typography needs the italic variant explicitly enabled.

The widget-vs-HTML decision — DEFAULT TO NATIVE WIDGETS

🚨 CRITICAL ANTI-PATTERN — read this first.

Do NOT paste an entire HTML page into one HTML widget. Do NOT build a homepage that is "1 container with 3 HTML widgets inside." That is not building with Elementor — that is using Elementor as a wrapper around a static webpage. The user cannot edit it in the Elementor visual editor, cannot reuse the design tokens, and cannot iterate on it without going back to source code.

If you find yourself thinking "I'll just dump this section as HTML, it's faster," STOP. Break it into native widgets.

Always default to native widgets

For every section the user wants, build it from native Elementor widgets:

• Headings → add-heading widget (supports inline <em> for italic emphasis)
• Body copy → add-text-editor widget
• Images → add-image widget (NOT an <img> tag inside an HTML widget)
• Buttons / CTAs → add-button widget (NOT an <a> styled as a button)
• Layout / spacing → add-container with proper flex_* settings (NOT <div>s with CSS flex)
• Lists → add-icon-list widget
• Tabs → add-tabs widget
• Accordions / FAQs → add-accordion widget
• Forms → Fluent Forms shortcode via add-shortcode widget
• Nav menu in headers → UAE Nav Menu widget (uael-nav-menu)

When HTML widget IS allowed (narrow list — exceptions only)

Only reach for an HTML widget in these specific cases. Anything not on this list goes through native widgets.

1. Tab/accordion content with rich layout. add-tabs only accepts tab_content as a string of HTML, so a multi-card grid inside a tab MUST be HTML. (But the wrapping Tabs widget itself is still native.)
2. Decorative-only flourishes with no native equivalent — a thin gold rule with a CSS-pseudo-element flourish, an animated underline that grows on hover, a gradient overlay on a child element. Even then, prefer to pair it with a native widget rather than replacing one.
3. Form HTML as a flagged placeholder when no real form plugin is wired up yet — and you must explicitly tell the user "form is visual only, doesn't capture submissions."
4. Site-wide CSS overrides scoped to a specific Elementor element ID (e.g., styling the tab strip of an add-tabs widget that the widget controls don't expose). These should be small style blocks, not whole sections of markup.

What about card grids of 4+ items?

Earlier versions of this skill said "use one HTML widget for card grids — it's faster than 50 widget calls." That advice was wrong because it led to non-editable pages.

The correct path for card grids:

• Build the first card with native widgets (Container → Image → Heading → Text Editor → Button)
• Use duplicate-element to copy it 3+ more times
• Use update-element to change the copy/image on each duplicate
• Wrap them in a parent Container with flex_direction: row and flex_wrap: wrap

This is more widget calls, yes, but the result is a real Elementor card grid the user can edit, restyle globally, or reuse as a template.

Cross-widget styling — <style>-only HTML widgets

When you need to style a native widget from outside (e.g., overriding the Tabs widget tab strip styles that the widget controls don't expose), use a <style>-only HTML widget: it contains ONLY a <style> block — no markup, no rendered content. Scope every selector to the parent Elementor element ID:

<style>
.elementor-element-f8d1545 .elementor-tab-title {
  text-transform: uppercase !important;
  letter-spacing: .26em !important;
}
.elementor-element-f8d1545 .elementor-tab-title.elementor-active {
  border-bottom-color: #171615 !important;
}
</style>

The f8d1545 is the element_id returned when you created the tabs widget. Always grab and remember these IDs — they're the only stable selector across page reloads.

⚠️ An HTML widget used for cross-widget styling MUST contain only <style>. If you find yourself adding HTML markup (divs, anchors, spans with text content) alongside the style block, you're falling back into the anti-pattern at the top of this section. Stop. That markup belongs in native widgets.

When the user asks to BUILD — building order

Use this section only when the user has explicitly asked you to build something. Do not run this flow on a bare /elementor-mcp invocation.

For a new page, build top-down section by section, in small commits, verifying after each:

1. update-global-colors + update-global-typography — establish design tokens
2. create-page({title, status: "publish", template: "elementor_canvas"}) — Canvas template removes theme header/footer chrome so your design is the only thing on the page
3. (Via WP-CLI) Set as static front page: wp option update show_on_front page; wp option update page_on_front <id>
4. Build sections — outer container → inner content container (boxed, max-width 1360px-ish) → content
5. After each section: get-page-structure(post_id) to verify nesting, or just curl the front page
6. Pause for human review before building header/footer (which use Header Footer Elementor templates, a different flow)

When the user asks to EDIT

Approach existing pages surgically — don't rebuild what you don't have to:

1. list-pages to find the page they're editing
2. get-page-structure(post_id) to see the current widget tree and grab element IDs
3. For a specific element they describe ("the hero headline", "the third listing card"), use find-element if needed, then update-element with only the fields that change
4. Verify the edit by re-reading get-page-structure or curling the rendered page
5. Never delete a section unless they explicitly ask — even when restructuring. Use move-element or update-element first.

When the user asks to REFERENCE / INSPECT

Read-only tools, no writes. Useful for "show me", "tell me", "what's", "list" requests:

• list-pages — what pages exist
• get-global-settings — colors, typography, layout settings
• get-page-structure(post_id) — what's on a page
• get-element-settings(element_id) — exact settings of one widget
• find-element(post_id, ...) — locate a widget by content/type

Format the response as a clear summary, not a JSON dump. The user wants understanding, not raw data.

When the user asks to EXPLORE / "what can you do?"

Give a short menu (don't dump all 75 tools). Point them at the four modes from the First Action Protocol with concrete examples:

• "Build a homepage from this HTML mockup" → mode 1
• "Make the hero text 20% smaller" → mode 2
• "Show me what colors are currently set globally" → mode 3
• "What pages exist on the site?" → mode 3

Then ask which mode they want.

Header/Footer notes

The MCP plugin's create-theme-template tool requires Elementor Pro. With Elementor Free, headers and footers are built using Ultimate Addons for Elementor (UAE) by Brainstorm Force (the kit's setup wizard auto-installs this; alternatively the lighter Header Footer Elementor (HFE) plugin from the same company also works — both share the same elementor-hf post type).

Building a site-wide header

1. Create the WordPress menu first. Tell the user to go to WP Admin → Appearance → Menus, name it (e.g. "Main"), add the pages they want, and save. The MCP cannot create WP nav menus directly — this step is a one-minute manual action.

2. Create the header template post. Use create-page with post_type: "elementor-hf" and a title like "Site Header". Then set the following post meta via WP-CLI or the update-element flow:

   • ehf_template_type = "type_header" (or "type_footer" for footers)
   • display-on-canvas = "yes" (displays site-wide; alternative meta keys like ehf_target_include_locations may apply for narrower scopes)

3. Build the layout. A row container with three children:

   • Left: logo (Heading widget with brand name in display serif, OR Site Logo widget if UAE is installed)
   • Center: UAE Nav Menu widget (uael-nav-menu) pointed at the WordPress menu by name. UAE's nav menu widget is free and handles mobile hamburger, dropdowns, hover states, active-page highlighting automatically — much cleaner than rendering nav as raw HTML.
   • Right: Button widget with "Contact" or "Get In Touch" CTA

4. Verify display. After building, instruct the user to check WP Admin → Appearance → Header Footer Builder → confirm the Display On rule is set to "Entire Website."

When UAE Nav Menu isn't available

If only HFE (the lighter plugin) is installed without UAE: use the Shortcode widget calling [wp_nav_menu menu="Main" container=""] — WordPress's built-in shortcode renders the menu as a real <ul> with all the right classes for active-page highlighting and responsive styling.

Do not fall back to manually listing the menu items inside an HTML widget — that hard-codes the navigation in two places (the WP menu AND the Elementor template) which means future menu edits won't reflect in the header. Always render the menu through [wp_nav_menu] or the UAE widget.

Footer pattern

Identical post type (elementor-hf) but ehf_template_type = "type_footer". Layout is typically a 4-column container (brand block + 3 link columns) on a dark background, with a bottom row containing copyright + social icons.

Forms — Fluent Forms (the recommended path)

Elementor's native Form widget is Pro. The kit's wizard auto-installs Fluent Forms as the free workaround. The flow is split: the user builds the form, then Claude wires it into the page and styles it.

The split — what Claude does vs. what the user does

The user does (manual, ~2-3 min in WP Admin):

1. Fluent Forms → New Form → pick the Contact Form template (pre-built with Name / Email / Subject / Message) OR start from blank
2. (optional) Drag in extra fields — Phone, dropdown, etc.
3. Save Form — note the form ID at the top of the page (usually 1 for the first form)
4. Settings → Email Notifications → confirm the To address (default: {admin_email})

Claude does:

1. Replace any placeholder form (HTML widget) in the contact section with add-shortcode widget containing [fluentform id="<ID>"]
2. Add a small <style> block (in an HTML widget alongside, NOT replacing the shortcode widget) that scopes Fluent Forms styling to match the site's design

Wiring the form

// Drop the shortcode widget where the form should appear
mcp__elementor__elementor-mcp-add-shortcode({
  post_id: <page_id>,
  parent_id: <contact_section_container_id>,
  shortcode: '[fluentform id="1"]'
})

Styling — verified Fluent Forms class structure (Fluent 6.x)

.fluentform                            ← outer wrapper
.fluentform_wrapper_<formId>           ← per-form wrapper (e.g. .fluentform_wrapper_1)
  .ff-default                          ← default skin marker
    form.frm-fluent-form
      .ff-el-group                     ← each field block
        .ff-el-input--label            ← label
          label                        ← actual <label> tag
        .ff-el-input--content
          input.ff-el-form-control     ← text inputs
          textarea.ff-el-form-control  ← textareas
      .ff-t-container                  ← two-column row (e.g. first/last name)
        .ff-t-cell                       ← each cell
      .ff_submit_btn_wrapper
        button.ff-btn.ff-btn-submit    ← submit button
      .ff-el-is-required               ← required field marker

CSS variables (the easiest override path)

Fluent Forms exposes these custom properties on :root. Redefine them on the per-form wrapper to restyle the whole form without specificity battles:

.fluentform_wrapper_1 {
  --fluentform-primary: #5C1A1B;          /* submit button bg + focus accent */
  --fluentform-secondary: #171615;        /* body text in inputs */
  --fluentform-border-color: #C9C2B3;     /* input borders */
  --fluentform-border-radius: 0px;        /* hairline-square inputs */
}

That alone gets you ~80% of the way to a custom design.

Full styling pattern (when CSS vars aren't enough)

For the remaining 20% (typography overrides, hairline-only borders, custom button feel), use scoped selectors with the per-form wrapper class. Specificity (0,2,0) matches Fluent's defaults; load order wins because your styles come after.

/* Scope EVERYTHING to .fluentform_wrapper_<id> so you don't bleed into other pages. */

.fluentform_wrapper_1 .ff-el-form-control {
  font-family: 'Inter Tight', sans-serif;
  font-size: 14px;
  border: none;
  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--fluentform-border-color);
  border-radius: 0;
  padding: 14px 0;
  background: transparent;
  color: #171615;
}

.fluentform_wrapper_1 .ff-el-form-control:focus {
  border-bottom-color: #171615;
  box-shadow: none;
}

.fluentform_wrapper_1 textarea.ff-el-form-control {
  font-family: 'Cormorant Garamond', serif;
  font-size: 17px;
  min-height: 100px;
}

.fluentform_wrapper_1 .ff-el-input--label label {
  font-family: 'Inter Tight', sans-serif;
  font-size: 11px;
  letter-spacing: 0.2em;
  text-transform: uppercase;
  color: #8A857E;
}

.fluentform_wrapper_1 .ff-btn-submit {
  background: #5C1A1B;
  color: #fff;
  border: 1px solid #5C1A1B;
  border-radius: 0;
  padding: 16px 26px;
  font-family: 'Inter Tight', sans-serif;
  font-size: 11px;
  font-weight: 500;
  letter-spacing: 0.28em;
  text-transform: uppercase;
}

.fluentform_wrapper_1 .ff-btn-submit:hover {
  background: #3F1011;
  border-color: #3F1011;
}

/* Two-column rows — turn into a CSS grid with consistent gap */
.fluentform_wrapper_1 .ff-t-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;
  gap: 22px;
}
@media (max-width: 640px) {
  .fluentform_wrapper_1 .ff-t-container {
    grid-template-columns: 1fr;
  }
}

/* Asterisk marker on required fields */
.fluentform_wrapper_1 .ff-el-is-required label::after {
  color: #5C1A1B;
}

Where to inject the styles

Two options:

1. Drop an HTML widget right above (or below) the Shortcode widget with the <style> block inside. Wrap selectors in .fluentform_wrapper_<id> to keep them scoped. (Recommended — keeps styles co-located with the form.)
2. Add to Customizer → Additional CSS (Appearance → Customize) — site-wide, persists across page rebuilds. (Better for production sites where the form appears on multiple pages.)

Common gotchas

• Find the form ID by looking at the form's URL in WP Admin — /wp-admin/admin.php?page=fluent_forms&route=editor&form_id=1 → ID is 1. Or query the DB: SELECT id, title FROM wp_fluentform_forms.
• Do NOT remove the .ff-default class by overriding class attributes — Fluent's submit button styling cascades from it.
• Fluent's CSS loads after page render via enqueue_scripts. If your overrides aren't applying, check that your <style> block lives in a widget that renders inside the page body (not the head).
• Asterisks for required fields are pseudo-elements (::after) — color them via .ff-el-is-required label::after { color: ... }, not color: ... on the label itself.

Other form options (when Fluent Forms isn't available)

1. Contact Form 7 — same shortcode pattern: [contact-form-7 id="..."]. Less polished default look, but free and works.
2. Styled HTML <form> with a JS-alert handler — only as a flagged visual placeholder for early builds. Tell the user explicitly: "form is visual only — submissions don't go anywhere yet. Wire to Fluent Forms before going live."

Setup gotchas (what bit me last time)

• The application password's label is not the username. A user creates an Application Password and gives it a name like "Claude MCP", but the actual WP username remains admin or test or whatever they set up. If curl -u "ClaudeMCP:..." returns 401, try curl -u "admin:..." or check GET /wp-json/wp/v2/users to find the real slug.
• Local-by-Flywheel wp-config.php says DB_HOST=localhost but the real MySQL is on a per-site Unix socket. WP-CLI fails with "Error establishing a database connection" until you pass -d mysqli.default_socket=/path/to/mysqld.sock. The setup script handles this; if doing it manually, find the socket via find ~/Library/Application\ Support/Local/run -name mysqld.sock.
• Neither MCP plugin is on wordpress.org. Cannot install via REST API by slug — must download zips from GitHub Releases.
• The elementor-mcp release zipball has an ugly auto-generated folder name (msrbuilds-elementor-mcp-<sha>/). WordPress uses the folder name as the plugin slug. Repack with a clean elementor-mcp/ folder before installing.
• Claude Code only loads .mcp.json at startup — after writing one, the user must quit and reopen.
• The detect-elementor-version tool errors with a schema validation bug in v1.5.0 (elementor_pro_version is null but schema says string). Don't rely on it; use list-pages for the auth-works check instead.

Live-host vs Local differences

Local-by-Flywheel: Plugin install via the bundled WP-CLI binary at /Applications/Local.app/Contents/Resources/extraResources/bin/wp-cli/posix/wp with PHP at ~/Library/Application Support/Local/lightning-services/php-*/bin/darwin-arm64/bin/php and the per-site MySQL socket. The setup script automates all of this.

Live host (cPanel/Cloudways/Kinsta/etc.): Plugin install via WP Admin → Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin (manual upload of the two zips). Auth is the same — REST API + Application Password. MCP URL changes to https://<live-domain>/wp-json/mcp/elementor-mcp-server. Important: if the live site is HTTPS (it should be), make sure curl/Claude Code can reach it from your local machine — some hosts block non-browser User-Agents on /wp-json/. The setup script's "live" path tests this with a single curl before writing .mcp.json.

Tool-loading discipline

The MCP exposes ~75 deferred tools. Don't load them all at once — fetch schemas lazily as you build:

• First call: list-pages (no schema needed — pre-loaded by ToolSearch when triggered)
• Before building containers: load get-container-schema, add-container, update-container
• Before placing widgets: load add-heading, add-text-editor, add-button, add-image, add-html in one batch
• Before specific widgets: load add-tabs, add-icon-list, add-divider, add-spacer as needed

Use ToolSearch query format select:tool1,tool2,tool3 to load multiple in one call.

What the MCP cannot do (set expectations)

• Install plugins or themes (use WP-CLI or WP Admin instead)
• Set the static front page (use wp option update)
• Build a custom header/footer on Elementor Free without the HFE plugin
• Auto-translate arbitrary HTML/CSS into Elementor widgets — you read the source design and emit widget calls
• Pixel-perfect parity with hand-coded HTML — Elementor's flexbox container model is the ceiling

Quick reference — the build flow that works (mode 1 only)

Use this flow only after the user has explicitly chosen "Build" or asked to build a new site/page. Do not run this flow as a default response to /elementor-mcp — see the First Action Protocol at the top.

1. setup-elementor-mcp.sh          # one-time, ~3 minutes
2. Quit + reopen Claude Code       # picks up .mcp.json
3. list-pages                      # confirm auth
4. get-global-settings             # see current kit
5. update-global-colors + typography
6. create-page (Elementor Canvas template)
7. Set as front page via WP-CLI
8. Build sections top-down, one at a time
9. After each: get-page-structure or curl the front page
10. Pause for human review before header/footer

When working from a designed HTML mockup, map the source design to Elementor like this:

• Brand colors → update-global-colors
• Brand fonts → update-global-typography
• Section copy → add-heading + add-text-editor widgets
• Card grids (4+ identical items) → build one card with native widgets, then duplicate-element and update-element per copy
• Tabs/accordions → native add-tabs/add-accordion widgets (HTML allowed inside tab_content strings only — see anti-pattern section)
• Forms → real Fluent Forms shortcode via add-shortcode widget (see Fluent Forms section)
• Headers/footers → elementor-hf post type with UAE Nav Menu widget for nav

🚨 Final reminder: Default to native widgets. The HTML widget is only for the four narrow cases listed in the anti-pattern section. Never paste a complete page section as raw HTML — the user must be able to edit the result inside Elementor.