Disabling individual tools

The Tools screen in EMCP Tools lets you toggle any individual MCP tool on or off. The choices apply globally. Every MCP client that connects sees the filtered list.

How to use it

1. WordPress admin → EMCP Tools → Tools
2. Find the tool you want to disable
3. Toggle the switch off (gray, no fill)
4. Click Save Changes at the top or bottom of the page

The next MCP request from any client (Claude, Cursor, Antigravity, etc.) will see the updated tool list.

What’s stored

A single WordPress option, emcp_tools_disabled_tools, holding an array of disabled tool slugs (e.g. ["emcp-tools/add-form", "emcp-tools/add-popup"]). Empty array = nothing disabled.

The form submits the enabled list. The plugin computes “disabled = all known − enabled” on save. This handles dynamic tool registration (atomic tools only when Elementor 4.0+, Pro widgets only when Pro is active) without breaking when the available set changes.

Why this matters

Before v1.6.0, the disabled-tools filter was registered inside the admin class, which only loads on is_admin() requests. MCP clients connect via the REST endpoint, not admin context, so the filter never fired and disabled tools were still exposed.

That bug is fixed in v1.6.0+. The filter now lives in EMCP_Tools_Plugin (always loaded) and runs on every request: admin pages, REST endpoint, WP-CLI bridge, everywhere.

Pro widgets are disabled by default

On fresh installs, the opt-in tool groups (SEO & Accessibility, Widget Builder, PHP Snippets, the Plugins & Themes write tools, delete-media, and the Users write tools) are added to the disabled list automatically. This keeps the active tool surface lean out of the box; enable any of them from the Tools screen.

The default-disable is gated by a one-time marker (emcp_tools_defaults_applied), runs once per site, never re-applies. Your subsequent toggle choices stay intact across plugin updates.

If you want Pro widgets enabled by default for all your sites, just toggle them on after install. The setting persists per site.

Bulk actions

The Tools page has bulk-action buttons:

• Enable All: flips every toggle on
• Disable All: flips every toggle off (saves nothing until you click Save Changes)

Per-category bulk actions live in each category header, “All” and “None” buttons that affect only that category’s tools.

Interaction with Compact tool mode

Compact tool mode doesn’t change which tools are enabled. It only changes how they’re exposed. Instead of registering one MCP tool per ability, the server surfaces 3 dispatcher meta-tools (list-tools, get-tool-schema, call-tool) and the agent reaches every tool through call-tool.

Your per-tool toggles still govern what’s allowed:

runnable_via_call-tool = NOT in emcp_tools_disabled_tools
                       AND caller passes the tool's own capability check

Practical effect: a tool you disable here is refused by call-tool too, and list-tools won’t advertise it. Compact tool mode is a delivery mechanism; your disabled list is still the source of truth for what an agent can run.