Other members of the WordPress community have jumped online to pick apart EmDash as well, while also calling attention to ways that the WordPress project should be improved \u2014 especially when it comes to issues surrounding architecture, security, and AI adoption.<\/p>\n
In its announcement<\/a>, Cloudflare claims to have rebuilt the open-source WordPress project \u201cfrom the ground up,\u201d offering a built-in model context protocol (MCP) server, which allows large language models (LLMs) to connect and interact with the platform\u2019s documentation. It runs on Astro, Cloudflare\u2019s LLM-friendly web building framework, and uses TypeScript, a programming language<\/a> that AI agents can better understand. EmDash even supports x402<\/a>, a tool that web publishers can use to make AI crawlers pay to access their content.<\/p>\n Brian Coords, a developer advocate at WordPress.com owner Automattic, notes<\/a> that one of EmDash\u2019s strengths is in the speed at which you can set up a website, saying, \u201cGetting from zero to a basic design is fast. I mean, really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n EmDash\u2019s interface looks a lot like WordPress. Image: Cloudflare<\/p>\n But it \u201cfeels a bit vibe-coded,\u201d Coords writes. Mullenweg echoes this, writing on his blo<\/a>g that the interface \u201cis in the uncanny valley of being sorta-WordPress sorta-not,\u201d adding that he knows \u201cit wasn\u2019t a weekend vibecode project, but it has some of that smell.\u201d Mullenweg admits that EmDash\u2019s AI-powered skills feature is a nice touch<\/a>, but he doesn\u2019t get into the deeper issues holding WordPress back \u2014 something that other members of the community have been vocal about in light of EmDash\u2019s launch.<\/p>\n Joost de Valk, the creator of the popular Yoast WordPress plugin, calls EmDash<\/a> \u201cthe most interesting thing to happen to content management in years,\u201d as it\u2019s built to work with support for AI agents and comes with structured content that \u201cmachines can parse and manipulate easily.\u201d In his post about EmDash<\/a>, de Valk brings up the structural issues with WordPress that the project continues to treat \u201cas cosmetic.\u201d<\/p>\n De Valk references a post from WordPress developer Hendrik Luehrsen<\/a>, who writes that EmDash \u201cexposes an old weakness\u201d in WordPress\u2019s current editor, Gutenberg, which stores data in an HTML format. Luehrsen argues that this structure becomes a problem when developers have to rework content, process it through different interfaces, or move it into other systems.<\/p>\n \u201cThe real lesson is that content on the web now has to be thought about differently,\u201d Luehrsen says. \u201cAs long as content is understood mainly as output, HTML as a storage format can still seem good enough. But once content moves into new contexts through APIs, multiple frontends, personalization, and AI systems, that logic no longer holds.\u201d<\/p>\n But not everyone agrees with Cloudflare\u2019s claim that EmDash solves a \u201csecurity crisis\u201d surrounding WordPress plugins. Cloudflare cites data from Patchstack<\/a>, which says \u201cmore high-severity vulnerabilities were discovered in the WordPress ecosystem in 2025 than in the previous two years combined.\u201d As outlined by Cloudflare, WordPress plugins run PHP script that \u201chooks directly into WordPress to add or modify functionality,\u201d meaning it theoretically has access to everything on your site. Instead, EmDash plugins use something called Dynamic Workers \u2014 a tool that allows AI agents to execute code in their own isolated environment, shielding the rest of your site in case things go wrong.<\/p>\n Longtime WordPress developer Rhys Wynne explains in a blog post<\/a> that these issues may be exaggerated in order to sell EmDash. He writes, \u201cI should point out that although vulnerabilities get discovered, with systems like Patchstack they are usually patched before they become a problem, and if you actually read the patched notes, the \u2018security crisis\u2019 often is something that requires a login, or means that a subscriber to a blog can tick a checkbox they shouldn\u2019t,\u201d Wynne writes. \u201cSure they are needing a fix, but it is using scary words to scare users.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Mullenweg says the fact that plugins \u201ccan change every aspect of your WordPress experience is a feature, not a bug.\u201d De Valk pushes back on Mullenweg\u2019s take<\/a>, saying that it\u2019s like \u201carguing that because some mobile apps need camera access, every app should get root access to the phone.\u201d On his own blog, he says there\u2019s an argument for a \u201cgranular permission system\u201d within WordPress, not for \u201ccontinuing to give every plugin the keys to the entire database.\u201d<\/p>\n EmDash is already trying to draw users from WordPress by making it easy to import sites from the platform. But, as noted by Wynne, if things go south, it doesn\u2019t look like there\u2019s a way to export your site from EmDash and untangle a site from Cloudflare\u2019s proprietary infrastructure. \u201cThere\u2019s no intention that Cloudflare right now would abandon EmDash, but it could at a later date. What would happen then if it\u2019s abandoned?\u201d Wynne tells The Verge.<\/p>\n While some WordPress members, including de Valk, say they\u2019re going to build on EmDash, concerns remain about whether EmDash actually has the community to support new users. WordPress is backed by thousands of volunteers, along with developers at Automattic, to create new features for the platform. \u201cWhen something breaks, there are forums, documentation, tutorials, and developers everywhere who know how to fix it,\u201d Miriam Schwab, the head of WordPress at Elementor, writes<\/a>. \u201cThanks to all these decades of content, contribution and usage, LLMs have all the knowledge needed to design, build and troubleshoot WordPress sites.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf WordPress starts making the right architectural decisions now, it can still catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Schwab acknowledges that EmDash \u201cpushes the WordPress ecosystem to look honestly at how it does things\u201d \u2014 and that\u2019s exactly what it\u2019s doing now. Just one day before the launch of EmDash, Automattic\u2019s Matias Ventura announced<\/a> that the project is pushing back the launch of WordPress 7.0 for a \u201cfew weeks to finalize key architectural details.\u201d Along with support for real-time collaborative editing, this update<\/a> will include an AI client and an API that will allow WordPress to communicate with AI models.<\/p>\n Even WordPress\u2019s more skeptical members are hopeful about the prospect of change. \u201cIf WordPress starts making the right architectural decisions now, it can still catch up,\u201d de Valk writes. That could make EmDash more like a catalyst for WordPress, rather than a true competitor.<\/p>\n Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Emma RothClose Emma Roth<\/p>\n Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All by Emma Roth<\/a><\/p>\n ReportClose<\/p>\n Report<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Report<\/a><\/p>\n TechClose<\/p>\n Tech<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n![\"EmDash\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/emdash-interface.png\"\/)
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