When I write on this blog, it’s just me. No editorial team, no second set of eyes, no one to push back on a buried lede or flag a missing citation. So for a while now, I’ve given that role to Claude.
My workflow: I’d paste the post content into Claude Cowork with my editorial prompt, and run it there. Claude would tell me where my intro buried the point, whether my subheadings earned their place, where I was making a claim that needed a citation, and what looked like a fact worth checking. Then I’d jump back to WordPress, edit, and repeat.
It worked, but it was a lot of back and forth.
Then WordPress 7 dropped, with AI built into the platform. My first reaction, before I’d read what was actually in the release, was concern: would this mean even more AI-generated content on the web? Once I dug in, I saw the opportunity. WordPress was opening up its editor to AI, and I could bring the expert-prompt approach right into where I actually write.
So I built the plugin I wanted.
What WP Editorial Assistant does in the post editor
It’s called WP Editorial Assistant. It puts three Claude-powered editorial tools right in the WordPress post editor sidebar:
- Headline analysis with suggested alternatives.
- Excerpt analysis with suggested alternatives.
- An E-E-A-T review (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) on the full draft.
You pick a tool, run it, and read the analysis. Each suggestion has its own apply button, so you take what fits and skip the rest.
Here’s a quick demo:
What it is, and what it won’t do
It’s an editorial assistant. It reads what you’ve already drafted and offers targeted, one-click suggestions. The writing is still yours.
Two limits that matter as much as the features:
- It won’t write articles for you.
- It won’t publish posts automatically.
Why I rewrite every suggestion
The most useful detail from running this on my own posts: I almost never take a suggestion verbatim. What I take is the signal.
Claude will flag an H2 that doesn’t follow SEO and E-E-A-T best practices, a buried intro, or a claim that needs a citation. The suggested fix is usually close, but not exactly mine. So I rewrite, in my voice, using the diagnosis as the starting point. Same with headlines and excerpts. The tool tells me where to look. My judgment decides what to do.
That’s the model I wrote a whole book about: The Expert Prompt. Expert leads, AI assists. WP Editorial Assistant is that idea in code.
The plugin is the second set of eyes I don’t otherwise have. It doesn’t make changes automatically. Voices stay intact, judgment stays human. The same philosophy holds whether I’m using it here or with an editorial team.
How this fits with WordPress 7’s AI platform
James LePage led the AI work at Automattic that turned WP7 into a real AI-aware platform. Thanks, James.
WordPress 7’s announcement inspired me to build this. The plugin itself runs on WordPress 6.6 or later and connects directly to Anthropic’s API, giving me full control over prompts, model choice, and behavior. Wiring it into WP7’s shared AI infrastructure is on the list for a future release, so the API key can sit alongside other AI features on the site. WordPress’s AI push at WP7 is what made this the right time to build it.
WP Editorial Assistant on GitHub
WP Editorial Assistant is on GitHub as an MIT-licensed, open-source project.
The bundled prompts are example starting points, intentionally generic. To get effective results, you need to do the work of writing your own. There’s no shortcut. Your three prompts (one each for headline, excerpt, and E-E-A-T) need to reflect your content, voice, and editorial standards.
The cleanest way to use them is via Gists on GitHub. You’ll need three Gists, one per prompt. Click the Raw button on each to copy the URL, and paste those three URLs into the plugin’s settings. If you’d rather not use Gists, you can edit the three prompt files directly in the plugin folder, but you’ll need to edit the plugin files every time you make a change.
It’s Claude-only for now. I’m not sure I’ll add support for ChatGPT and Gemini myself, but the license means anyone can. If that’s the contribution you want to make, please do.
Why I’m open-sourcing a tool I built for myself
I built this plugin because I needed it. I’m sharing it because if it helps your writing, too, that makes me happy.
To me, this is what AI in your work should look like: a second set of eyes, on your terms, in your voice.
