Joomla Articles MCP server

The Joomla MCP Server enables AI assistants to interact with Joomla websites through the Joomla Web Services API. It provides tools for AI assistants like Claude to manage articles, categories, and content on your Joomla website without requiring direct access to the admin interface.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11 or higher
• Joomla 4.x or 5.x with Web Services API plugin enabled
• Joomla API Bearer token for authentication

Installation

Setting Up Your Joomla Website

Before using the MCP server, you need to generate an API token in your Joomla admin panel:

1. Log in to the Joomla Administrator interface
2. Navigate to Users → Manage
3. Find and click on your Super User account (or desired user)
4. Go to the "Joomla API Token" tab
5. Click the "Generate" button
6. Copy the displayed token for later use

Installing the MCP Server

git clone https://github.com/nasoma/joomla-mcp-server.git
cd joomla-mcp-server

Install dependencies using uv (a Python dependency manager):

uv sync

Configuring for Claude or Other AI Assistants

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Joomla Articles MCP": {
      "command": "{{PATH_TO_UV}}",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "{{PATH_TO_PROJECT}}",
        "run",
        "main.py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "JOOMLA_BASE_URL": "<your_joomla_website_url>",
        "BEARER_TOKEN": "<your_joomla_api_token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace:

• {{PATH_TO_UV}} with the path to your uv installation (run which uv to find it)
• {{PATH_TO_PROJECT}} with the full path to the joomla-mcp-server directory
• <your_joomla_website_url> with your Joomla website URL
• <your_joomla_api_token> with the token you generated earlier

Using the MCP Server

Available Tools

Retrieving Articles

Use the get_joomla_articles() function to retrieve all articles from your Joomla website. This returns a formatted list of articles including their IDs, titles, and other metadata.

Retrieving Categories

Use the get_joomla_categories() function to get all content categories from your Joomla website in a readable format.

Creating Articles

Create new articles using the create_article() function:

create_article(
    article_text="This is my new article content.",
    title="My New Article",
    category_id=8,
    convert_plain_text=True,
    published=True
)

Parameters:

• article_text (required): Content of the article (plain text or HTML)
• title (optional): Article title (will be inferred from content if not provided)
• category_id (optional): Category ID for the article
• convert_plain_text (default: True): Automatically converts plain text to HTML
• published (default: True): Whether to publish the article immediately

Managing Article State

Change the publication state of articles using manage_article_state():

manage_article_state(
    article_id=42,
    target_state=1  # 1=published
)

Parameters:

• article_id (required): ID of the article
• target_state (required):
  • 1 = published
  • 0 = unpublished
  • 2 = archived
  • -2 = trashed

Deleting Articles

Delete an article using delete_article():

delete_article(article_id=42)

Updating Articles

Update an existing article with update_article():

update_article(
    article_id=42,
    title="Updated Article Title",
    introtext="This is the introduction text that appears before the 'Read more' break.",
    fulltext="This is the full content that appears after the 'Read more' break.",
    metadesc="Meta description for SEO purposes"
)

Parameters:

• article_id (required): ID of the article to update
• title (optional): New title
• introtext (required): Introduction text (before "Read more" break)
• fulltext (required): Full content (after "Read more" break)
• metadesc (optional): Meta description for SEO

Security Considerations

• Treat your Joomla API Token like a password
• The server sanitizes HTML content to prevent XSS attacks
• Use HTTPS for your Joomla website to secure API communications

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "Joomla-Articles-MCP" '{"command":"{{PATH_TO_UV}}","args":["--directory","{{PATH_TO_PROJECT}}","run","main.py"],"env":{"JOOMLA_BASE_URL":"<your_joomla_website_url>","BEARER_TOKEN":"<your_joomla_api_token>"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "Joomla Articles MCP": {
            "command": "{{PATH_TO_UV}}",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "{{PATH_TO_PROJECT}}",
                "run",
                "main.py"
            ],
            "env": {
                "JOOMLA_BASE_URL": "<your_joomla_website_url>",
                "BEARER_TOKEN": "<your_joomla_api_token>"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "Joomla Articles MCP": {
            "command": "{{PATH_TO_UV}}",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "{{PATH_TO_PROJECT}}",
                "run",
                "main.py"
            ],
            "env": {
                "JOOMLA_BASE_URL": "<your_joomla_website_url>",
                "BEARER_TOKEN": "<your_joomla_api_token>"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect