Desktop app, Native OAuth
Codex app WordPress MCP. Add it under MCP servers.
Codex app WordPress MCP setup happens in the desktop app's Settings, not in a file. OpenAI's current documentation describes the Codex desktop app as part of the ChatGPT desktop app. MCP servers are added from its Settings, under MCP servers, and are shared with the Codex CLI and IDE extension on the same computer, so a WordPress server added once is available in all three.
Checked against Codex desktop app's documentation on 29 September 2026, entries from GoBuildWP Free 1.18.6
Type Remote MCP server
Name gobuildwp-your-site-com
URL https://your-site.com/wp-json/mcp/wppilot-oauth- Add in
- Settings, MCP servers, Add server
- Transport
- Streamable HTTP
- Shared with
- Codex CLI and IDE extension
Setup
Add WordPress in the desktop app
Settings opens from the app menu, or with Cmd+, on macOS and Ctrl+, on Windows.
Open MCP servers
In Settings, select MCP servers, then Add server. If your app still shows the older Codex branding, the same screen is reached from Settings in the account menu.
Choose Streamable HTTP
The form offers STDIO or Streamable HTTP. WordPress is a remote server, so pick Streamable HTTP, give it the name GoBuildWP suggests, and paste the OAuth URL.
Save and restart the server
The app asks you to restart the server after saving. The list then marks servers that need OAuth.
Authenticate
Select Authenticate beside the WordPress server. Your site's login and consent screen opens; approve as the WordPress user the app should act as.
Use it from a task
Start a Codex task and ask it to list the WordPress server's tools before you give it anything to do.
Verify the connection before allowing changes
Select Read Only explicitly; the default is Production Safe. Use a dedicated identity with manage_options on a single site, or superadmin on multisite. Match the named tool call, site URL and returned record ID against WordPress.
Use the gobuildwp-your-site-com MCP server in Codex desktop app. Do not change anything.
1. Report the active GoBuildWP safety profile.
2. List the abilities this connection can see.
3. Call wppilot/get-site-settings and report the site URL and locale.
4. Call wppilot/list-content for the five newest pages,
then wppilot/get-content on one of them.
5. Name every ability you called and each WordPress ID you read.These setup instructions are not a recorded live-client test. Keep credentials out of repositories, logs and shared files.
Inside Codex desktop app
Signs that the app and the site agree
The MCP servers list shows each server's state and whether it still needs authentication. A server stuck at needs authentication after you signed in usually means the browser completed the WordPress side but the callback did not return to the app; authenticate again from the list.
Because the configuration is shared, the CLI is a useful second opinion: codex mcp list in a terminal shows the same server, and /mcp verbose inside the CLI prints startup errors the app does not display.
On macOS, the app writes logs under ~/Library/Logs/com.openai.codex in dated folders. OpenAI's troubleshooting page does not give a Windows path.
Signs it worked
- The server shows no pending authentication
- codex mcp list in a terminal shows the same server
- A task lists wppilot/ tools
- The WordPress sign-in happened on your own domain
Troubleshooting
Codex desktop app errors and their causes
| Symptom | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| No MCP servers item in Settings | The app predates the current layout. Update it; OpenAI now documents the screen as Settings, MCP servers. |
| Authenticate never finishes | Check that the site answers on one canonical HTTPS URL and that /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server returns JSON. A redirect between www and the apex is one way the round trip breaks; a blocked callback or a security plugin rejecting the request are others, so check the error before changing URLs. |
| The server works in the CLI but not in the app | The CLI may be reading a trusted project's .codex/config.toml that the app does not use. Put the server in ~/.codex/config.toml so both see it. |
| The site cannot be reached | GoBuildWP's generated setup marks public HTTPS, while official desktop MCP documentation also supports local configuration and execution. Test reachability from the actual app environment; private/local WordPress compatibility has not been verified here. Switching credentials does not change network access. |
First task
A first task for the desktop app
The app is often used to review work across a project. This asks for a site inventory the app can refer back to, and nothing else.
Use the WordPress MCP server and change nothing.
1. wppilot/get-site-settings: name, URL, locale.
2. wppilot/list-menus and wppilot/list-menu-locations:
which menu sits in which location.
3. wppilot/list-content: the ten newest pages.
4. Summarize the site's structure in a short table.Connect screen
The Codex desktop app entries GoBuildWP writes
GoBuildWP gives the app a short form rather than a file: remote server, a name, and the OAuth URL, then the browser sign-in. It lists the app as OAuth-only because the add-server screen has no header field in the steps GoBuildWP follows. Since the configuration is shared, a token placed in ~/.codex/config.toml through the CLI guide is also visible to the app.
| OAuth 2.1 | Add server, choose Streamable HTTP, paste the OAuth URL, save, restart the server, then Authenticate. |
|---|
Endpoints on your site: /wp-json/mcp/wppilot-oauth for OAuth, /wp-json/mcp/wppilot for tokens and passwords. Through the optional GoBuildWP Cloud instead, every client uses https://app.gobuildwp.com/mcp with the server name gobuildwp, and a personal Cloud token is read from GOBUILDWP_TOKEN where the client supports environment variables.
Related
Other OpenAI routes
- Codex CLI: the shared config.toml and the login command
- ChatGPT on the web: developer mode and a custom app
- OAuth setup: what the site advertises for sign-in
Codex desktop app documentation read on 29 September 2026
Working from the desktop app
From inventory to a first staging edit in the Codex app
After the inventory task, the desktop app is a comfortable place for small structural changes you want to watch happen, because each task keeps its own thread you can come back to. Navigation is a good first candidate on a staging site: it is easy to inspect and easy to put back. Switch staging to Production Safe, ask Codex to add one item to an existing menu with wppilot/upsert-menu-item, and have it read the menu back with wppilot/list-menu-items so the task ends with evidence rather than a claim.
Then open GoBuildWP's Changes screen in wp-admin, or ask the app to call wppilot/list-changes, and confirm the menu edit is recorded with the app as the client. If you want to rehearse recovery, wppilot/list-sessions shows the plan for that session and wppilot/undo-session reverses it, refusing if someone edited the same menu in the meantime.
A local WordPress install over STDIO
The app's add-server form offers STDIO as well as Streamable HTTP. When WordPress runs on the same computer as the app, GoBuildWP has a process route that needs no credential at all: wp wppilot mcp serve, run through WP-CLI with --path pointing at the install and --user naming the WordPress user to act as. The Connect screen prints this command for the clients it documents; for the Codex app you would enter wp as the command and the same arguments.
That route serves the same abilities and the same safety profile, confirmations and permission checks as the HTTP endpoint. Writes are credited to stdio and the chosen user, and one process counts as one session for undo. It has not been tested with the Codex app here, so treat the first run as an experiment: one read whose result you compare with wp-admin. Ordinary reads are not written to the change ledger, so a missing ledger entry after a read is expected, not a failure.
One Cloud server for the app, the CLI and the IDE extension
Because the three Codex surfaces share configuration, whatever you add once is everywhere. That makes the optional GoBuildWP Cloud link a tidy fit: one remote server in Settings, one sign-in to Cloud, and the sites you allow appear in the app, in a terminal session and in the editor alike. A direct server per site keeps nothing between Codex and WordPress, which is the better choice when only one site is involved.
On a direct connection, sign in as a separate administrator account created for Codex rather than your own; GoBuildWP accepts only users with manage_options, so the separation is about attribution, not a smaller role. When the ledger later shows a change you did not expect, a dedicated user tells you at a glance that it came from a Codex task and not from someone working in wp-admin, and revoking that one user's grant in Connected Apps cuts off every Codex surface on the computer at once without touching anyone else's access.
FAQ
Codex desktop app questions
Is the Codex desktop app the same as the ChatGPT desktop app?
OpenAI's current documentation refers to it as the ChatGPT desktop app and says it shares MCP configuration with the Codex CLI and IDE extension on the same host. GoBuildWP's Connect screen still labels it Codex (desktop app).
Can I use an access token in the app?
Not from GoBuildWP's generated steps, which are OAuth-only for the app. A token configured in ~/.codex/config.toml through the CLI is shared with the app, because the configuration is common.
Does ChatGPT on the web see the same server?
No. The web app does not read local Codex configuration; it has its own custom MCP plugins, covered in the ChatGPT guide.
Add the server once and use it in every Codex surface.
Sign in from the desktop app, check it from the CLI, and keep the site on Read Only for the first task.