You want to point Hermes at your WordPress archive and say add a meta description to every post that is missing one, fix inconsistent titles, and replace the old product name wherever it still appears. What stops you is the live site. WordPress has real traffic, a bulk-edit plugin writes straight to the database, and there is no per-field undo once a change is in. One careless pass means restoring from a backup.
Scratch pulls your posts, pages, and custom types into a folder Hermes opens on your machine. Hermes edits the files, not the database, and reports back with every change ready to inspect. The first time it runs, Hermes builds a reusable skill from the job. The next time you run the same kind of edit, it starts from that skill rather than from scratch, and the whole pass is faster. What goes live is still yours to decide. Nothing publishes until you have seen the change and approved it.
How it works
- Scratch pulls your content into files. Posts, pages, and any custom post types land in a folder on your machine, auto-discovered, one file each.
- Hermes edits the content. Point Hermes at the Scratch folder and give it the instruction. It works through the archive using its built-in tools, builds a skill from what it learns, and hands you the result as a set of changes to read. Add a meta description under 158 characters to every post that is missing one. Hermes edits the files, never the live site.
- You review every diff and publish. Scratch shows each change beside the original, word by word. Approve what ships, and Scratch writes only those posts back over the REST API.
What people use it for
The archive cleanup that never happens because editing posts one at a time is too slow:
- Add a meta description to every post missing one, each under the character limit.
- Fix inconsistent title case and formatting across the whole archive.
- Refresh older posts that still name a product, price, or policy you have moved on from.
- Write alt text across the media library.
- Tidy excerpts, categories, and tags so archives and feeds read cleanly.
Run it on 50 posts to feel the loop, then point Hermes at the full archive.
Why not an MCP server?
A WordPress MCP server wires an agent straight to your live database. The publish button is part of the connection, so an edit that goes wrong is an edit that has already gone live. You are restoring from a backup, not reviewing a diff.
Scratch keeps the connection but moves the publish step out of the agent's hands. Hermes gets full read and write access, but against a local copy of your content. The step that writes back to the live site is separate, manual, and per-post. On a site with real traffic, that gap is the whole point.
What Hermes edits in WordPress
- Post and page bodies, with block content preserved
- Titles, slugs, excerpts, and publication status
- Custom post types and taxonomies, auto-discovered
- Advanced Custom Fields and image alt text across the media library
Templates and template parts are excluded, and post meta is hidden by default so plugin-owned SEO fields stay safe. Validators check length, required fields, and any rule you set. For the full picture, see Scratch for WordPress.
Questions people ask
Will anything go live before I approve it?
No. Hermes edits a local copy of your content. Nothing reaches the live site until you open Scratch, review each diff, and approve the individual posts you want to publish.
Does Hermes remember what it did last time?
Yes, that is one of its design goals. After the first Scratch session it builds a reusable skill for your content and your site. The next pass starts from that skill, which means less setup time and more consistent output across runs.
Will it overwrite the SEO fields my plugin owns?
No. Post meta is hidden by default, so fields managed by Yoast, Rank Math, or similar plugins are not in scope unless you explicitly expose them. Templates and template parts are excluded entirely.
Can I roll back a post after it publishes?
Yes. Scratch keeps the original beside the rewrite after publishing, per row. You decide which version stays live.
Does Hermes need a terminal to run?
Hermes is a CLI agent, so yes, it runs from a terminal. If the terminal is not where you want to be, the same Scratch loop works with other agents in a desktop interface. See Connect Claude to WordPress for that path.
See it on your own archive
The fastest way to trust it is to watch it run on your posts. See it run on your WordPress site, or download Scratch free and take the first pass yourself.