Teach BuildPress any plugin or theme on your site: studied once, approved by you, and proven to work before the AI relies on it.
A custom ability is a set of tools BuildPress AI writes for a plugin or theme it does not ship a built-in ability for. It studies the plugin on your site once, works out what it can safely do with it, and saves the result so every later session starts from those tools instead of working the plugin out again.
Custom abilities live on the Custom tab of the Abilities screen (BuildPress -> Abilities). The tab lists every plugin and your active theme, with the ability each one has, its health, and the plugins that could have one. Built-in abilities are covered in the abilities overview.
How an ability is written
1
Ask your AI to study the plugin
Open the plugin's row on the Custom tab and copy the prompt, or just ask in your AI client. BuildPress judges a plugin by what it actually registers: REST endpoints, database tables, published operations, and its code, not its name.
2
The AI works out safe tools
It writes read tools and, where it makes sense, tools that make changes, along with notes on ordering and safety rules. Those notes reach the AI in every later session so it follows them.
3
BuildPress checks every tool on your site
Every read tool is run for real. A tool that fails is kept away from the AI until it is fixed, so the ability the AI sees is only what works.
4
You approve changes
Read tools work straight away. Tools that make changes stay off until you approve them, and approval is tied to the exact tools you reviewed. A rewritten tool has to be approved again.
Abilities
What BuildPress AI can work with on this site.
Built-in7Custom2
Make BuildPress work with any plugin or theme
BuildPress learns a plugin or theme once and saves what it can do as tools. Nothing changes on your site until you approve it.
CreateImport
Your plugins and theme
Plugins and your theme that a built-in ability does not cover.
Rank Math SEOv1.0.277.113 operations it publishes about itself, 40 REST endpoints and 9 database tables.
Choose the plugins to learn. Pick several and the AI covers them in one session.
Rank Math SEO
13 operations it publishes about itself, 40 REST endpoints and 9 database tables.
TranslatePress - Multilingual
4 REST endpoints, 2 content types and 6 stored settings.
Contact Form 7
5 REST endpoints, 1 block and 2 shortcodes.
Hello Elementor
4 REST endpoints, 6 registered settings and 2 admin actions.
LiteSpeed Cache
13 REST endpoints, 2 database tables and 1 admin action.
1 plugin selectedCancelCopy prompt
✓Prompt copied. Paste it into your AI assistant.×
Create ability on the plugin you want, add any others to the same session, and copy the prompt BuildPress writes for you.
Claude DesktopConnected to BuildPress
studio-site.com · https://studio-site.com · BuildPress MCP Study Rank Math SEO and TranslatePress on this site and write BuildPress abilities for them. Read tools first; propose change tools separately and wait for my approval.
✓buildpress_study_plugin · Rank Math SEO — 13 operations, 40 REST endpoints, 9 tables
Rank Math SEO and TranslatePress abilities are now created on studio-site.com. Reading works right away. When you are ready, switch on changes for each one from the Custom tab.
Ask Claude…
The prompt in your AI client: it studies each plugin on the site, writes the tools, and checks the read tools before it reports back.
Plugins with their own AI layer
When a plugin publishes its own operations, through an MCP layer or the WordPress Abilities API, BuildPress starts from what the vendor exposes rather than rediscovering it. A plugin that describes itself can be switched on with a single toggle on its row, no study step needed.
Two different things called abilities
A BuildPress ability is what BuildPress can do with a plugin. The WordPress Abilities API is a separate WordPress feature that lets a plugin publish its own operations. BuildPress reads the second to build the first.
Abilities prove they work
BuildPress does not take the AI's word for it. Every read tool is run on your site by BuildPress itself, and every tool that makes changes reads its own change back the moment it runs. A change that quietly did nothing is caught instead of reported as done, and the AI can no longer mark its own work as verified.
Health you can read
Each custom ability carries one status: All working, Not working, Not checked, or Check due. The tools panel lists every tool with its own state, and three buttons keep the ability healthy:
Check runs the read tools and changes nothing on your site. A tool a check finds not working is kept away from the AI until it is fixed.
Fix copies one prompt for everything that needs attention, ready to paste into your AI client.
Update ability re-studies the plugin and also asks what the plugin can do that the ability does not cover yet.
When a plugin updates past the version its ability was checked against, reading keeps working and changes pause until the ability has been checked again. That is what Check due means.
Abilities
What BuildPress AI can work with on this site.
Built-in7Custom2
Make BuildPress work with any plugin or theme
BuildPress learns a plugin or theme once and saves what it can do as tools. Nothing changes on your site until you approve it.
CreateImportExport all
Your plugins and theme
Plugins and your theme that a built-in ability does not cover.
Rank Math SEOv1.0.277.1Custom13 tools 7 not checked
Show tools
TranslatePress - Multilingualv3.2Custom4 tools All working
Show tools
Contact Form 7v6.1.55 REST endpoints, 1 block and 2 shortcodes.
Each custom ability carries its tool count and one health chip, and changes stay off until you switch them on.
Move an ability between sites
Export a custom ability from its row and import it on another site. It waits quietly until the plugin it works with is installed, then goes through the same checks before the AI gets to use it. Writes still need your approval on the new site.
Choose a .bpint file exported from BuildPress. One file can hold several abilities.
Imported abilities are read-only until you approve them.
No file chosenChoose file
CancelImport
✓2 abilities imported. Check them before your AI makes changes.×
Export all on one site, import the file on the next. The abilities arrive unchecked and read-only until they are checked there.
Trigger the AI
Every prompt BuildPress hands you to paste opens with the site, its address, and the MCP server, so an AI client connected to several sites never works on the wrong one. Paste any of these:
"Study WooCommerce on this site and write an ability for it."
"Check the Rank Math ability and fix whatever is not working."
"Update the Gravity Forms ability. It should also cover form entries."
"List the custom abilities this site has and their health."
Requirements
The plugin or theme installed and active on the site. An imported ability waits until its plugin is present.
Writes approved by you on the Custom tab before the AI can make changes through the ability.
Your own WordPress capabilities still apply: an ability never lets your AI do anything your account cannot do.
