No tools appear in my MCP client

Connection succeeded (no “server unreachable” error), but your AI client says zero tools are available. Walk through this list in order.

1. Are the plugin’s tools registered at all?

Check EMCP Tools → Tools in WordPress admin. The stats bar at the top shows “Active”. If it’s zero, no tools are registered. See Plugin not registering tools below.

If it’s non-zero (e.g. 113), the plugin is fine. The issue is between the plugin and your AI client. Continue.

2. Test the REST endpoint directly

curl -X POST https://your-site.test/wp-json/mcp/emcp-tools-server \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -u "username:application-password" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"test","version":"1.0"}}}'

If you get a 200 with an initialize response, the server is reachable and tools should be discoverable. If not, see the matching status code below.

3. List tools directly

After initialize, follow up with tools/list. Save the session ID from the Mcp-Session-Id header in the initialize response, then:

curl -X POST https://your-site.test/wp-json/mcp/emcp-tools-server \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Mcp-Session-Id: <session-id-from-initialize>" \
  -u "username:application-password" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list"}'

If you get a non-empty tools array back, the server is working perfectly. The issue is in your AI client’s handling of the response. See Client-side issues.

4. Plugin not registering tools

Causes, in order of likelihood:

• Elementor isn’t active. Check Plugins → Installed Plugins.
• The WordPress MCP Adapter plugin isn’t active. Same place.
• WordPress is < 6.9 and the Abilities API isn’t installed. Update WordPress, or install the Abilities API plugin separately.
• A PHP error during plugin init. Check wp-content/debug.log (after enabling WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_LOG).
• Every tool got disabled. Check the Tools page. If every toggle is off, you’ll see “0 of 207 tools enabled.” Click Enable All at the top, save.

5. Compact tool mode

If Compact tool mode is on, your client should see exactly 3 tools (list-tools, get-tool-schema, call-tool), not zero. That’s expected, and the agent reaches every other tool through call-tool. If you’re seeing zero even in this mode, the connection itself is failing rather than a tool-count issue. Work back through steps 2–4. If your client doesn’t cap tool counts, turn Compact tool mode off and reconnect to expose the full list directly.

Client-side issues

If the curl test returns a non-empty tools array but your AI client shows zero:

• Wrong server URL in client config. Double-check the URL has /wp-json/mcp/emcp-tools-server at the end (some examples show just the site URL; that’s not enough).
• Missing Mcp-Session-Id header handling. Most clients handle this correctly. If yours doesn’t, use the Node.js proxy (npx -y @msrbuilds/emcp-proxy@latest). It handles session lifecycle for clients that can’t.
• Client cached an old empty response. Restart the client.
• Tool cap exceeded. See Tool cap exceeded. Antigravity drops servers over 100 tools silently.

Still stuck?

Open an issue at github.com/msrbuilds/elementor-mcp/issues with:

• Plugin version (EMCP Tools → Tools shows it in the header)
• MCP client name and version
• The curl output from step 2 and 3
• Any errors from wp-content/debug.log