WordPress Elementor

Edit Elementor pages and manage templates on existing WordPress sites. Produces updated page content via browser automation (for visual/structural changes) or WP-CLI (for safe text replacements).

Prerequisites

• Working WP-CLI connection or admin access (use wordpress-setup skill)

• Elementor installed and active: wp @site plugin status elementor

Workflow

Step 1: Identify the Page

List Elementor pages

wp @site post list --post_type=page --meta_key=_elementor_edit_mode --meta_value=builder
--fields=ID,post_title,post_name,post_status

Editor URL format: https://example.com/wp-admin/post.php?post={ID}&action=elementor

Step 2: Choose Editing Method

Change Type Method Risk

Text content updates WP-CLI search-replace Low (with backup)

Image URL swaps WP-CLI meta update Low (with backup)

Widget styling Browser automation None

Add/remove sections Browser automation None

Layout changes Browser automation None

Template application Browser automation None

Rule of thumb: If you're only changing text or URLs within existing widgets, WP-CLI is faster. For anything structural, use the visual editor via browser.

Step 3a: Text Updates via WP-CLI

Always back up first:

wp @site post meta get {post_id} _elementor_data > /tmp/elementor-backup-{post_id}.json

Pre-flight checklist:

• Back up the postmeta (above)

• Dry run the replacement

• Verify the dry run matches expectations (correct number of replacements)

• Execute

• Flush CSS cache

• Verify visually

Simple text replacement:

Dry run

wp @site search-replace "Old Heading Text" "New Heading Text" wp_postmeta
--include-columns=meta_value --dry-run --precise

Execute (after confirming dry run looks correct)

wp @site search-replace "Old Heading Text" "New Heading Text" wp_postmeta
--include-columns=meta_value --precise

After updating, clear Elementor's CSS cache:

wp @site elementor flush-css

If the elementor WP-CLI command isn't available:

wp @site option delete _elementor_global_css wp @site post meta delete-all _elementor_css

What's safe to replace:

Safe Risky

Headings text HTML structure

Paragraph text Widget IDs

Button text and URLs Section/column settings

Image URLs (same dimensions) Layout properties

Phone numbers, emails CSS classes

Addresses Element ordering

Step 3b: Visual Editing via Browser Automation

For structural changes, use browser automation to interact with Elementor's visual editor.

Login flow (skip if already logged in via Chrome MCP):

• Navigate to https://example.com/wp-admin/

• Enter username and password

• Click "Log In"

• Wait for dashboard to load

Open the editor:

• Navigate to https://example.com/wp-admin/post.php?post={ID}&action=elementor

• Wait for Elementor loading overlay to disappear (can take 5-10 seconds)

• Editor is ready when the left sidebar shows widget panels

Edit text content:

• Click on the text element in the page preview (right panel)

• The element becomes selected (blue border)

• The left sidebar shows the element's settings

• Under "Content" tab, edit the text in the editor field

• Changes appear live in the preview

• Click "Update" (green button, bottom left) or Ctrl+S

Edit heading:

• Click the heading in the preview

• Left sidebar > Content tab > "Title" field

• Edit the text

• Optionally adjust: HTML tag (H1-H6), alignment, link

• Save

Change image:

• Click the image widget in the preview

• Left sidebar > Content tab > click the image thumbnail

• Media Library opens

• Select new image or upload

• Click "Insert Media"

• Save

Edit button:

• Click the button in the preview

• Left sidebar > Content tab: Text (label), Link (URL), Icon (optional)

• Style tab: colours, typography, border, padding

• Save

Using playwright-cli:

playwright-cli -s=wp-editor open "https://example.com/wp-admin/"

Login first, then navigate to Elementor editor

playwright-cli -s=wp-editor navigate "https://example.com/wp-admin/post.php?post={ID}&action=elementor"

Or Chrome MCP if using the user's logged-in session.

Step 4: Manage Templates

List saved templates:

wp @site post list --post_type=elementor_library --fields=ID,post_title,post_status

Export a template (browser):

• Navigate to: https://example.com/wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=elementor_library

• Hover over the template > "Export Template"

• Downloads as .json file

Import a template (browser):

• Navigate to: https://example.com/wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=elementor_library

• Click "Import Templates" at the top

• Choose file > upload .json

• Template appears in the library

Apply a template to a new page:

• Create the page: wp @site post create --post_type=page --post_title="New Page" --post_status=draft

• Open in Elementor via browser

• Click the folder icon (Add Template)

• Select from "My Templates" tab

• Click "Insert"

• Customise and save

Duplicate an existing page via WP-CLI:

Get source page's Elementor data

SOURCE_DATA=$(wp @site post meta get {source_id} _elementor_data) SOURCE_CSS=$(wp @site post meta get {source_id} _elementor_page_settings)

Create new page

NEW_ID=$(wp @site post create --post_type=page --post_title="Duplicated Page" --post_status=draft --porcelain)

Copy Elementor data

wp @site post meta update $NEW_ID _elementor_data "$SOURCE_DATA" wp @site post meta update $NEW_ID _elementor_edit_mode "builder" wp @site post meta update $NEW_ID _elementor_page_settings "$SOURCE_CSS"

Regenerate CSS

wp @site elementor flush-css

Apply template between pages via WP-CLI:

Get source data

SOURCE=$(wp @site post meta get {source_id} _elementor_data) SETTINGS=$(wp @site post meta get {source_id} _elementor_page_settings)

Apply to target

wp @site post meta update {target_id} _elementor_data "$SOURCE" wp @site post meta update {target_id} _elementor_edit_mode "builder" wp @site post meta update {target_id} _elementor_page_settings "$SETTINGS"

Clear cache

wp @site elementor flush-css

Step 5: Verify

Check the page status

wp @site post get {post_id} --fields=ID,post_title,post_status,guid

Get live URL

wp @site post get {post_id} --field=guid

Take a screenshot to confirm visual changes:

playwright-cli -s=verify open "https://example.com/{page-slug}/" playwright-cli -s=verify screenshot --filename=page-verify.png playwright-cli -s=verify close

Critical Patterns

Elementor Data Format

Elementor stores page content as JSON in _elementor_data postmeta. The structure is:

Section > Column > Widget

Each element has an id , elType , widgetType , and settings object. Direct manipulation of this JSON is possible but fragile -- always back up first and prefer search-replace over manual JSON editing.

CSS Cache

After any WP-CLI change to Elementor data, you must flush the CSS cache. Elementor pre-generates CSS from widget settings. Stale cache = visual changes don't appear.

wp @site elementor flush-css

OR if elementor CLI not available:

wp @site option delete _elementor_global_css wp @site post meta delete-all _elementor_css

Global Widgets

Global widgets are shared across pages. Editing one updates all instances.

List global widgets

wp @site post list --post_type=elementor_library --meta_key=_elementor_template_type
--meta_value=widget --fields=ID,post_title

Caution: Replacing text in a global widget's data affects every page that uses it.

Elementor Pro vs Free

Feature Free Pro

Basic widgets Yes Yes

Theme Builder No Yes

Custom fonts No Yes

Form widget No Yes

WooCommerce widgets No Yes

Dynamic content No Yes

Theme Builder templates (header, footer, archive) are stored as elementor_library post type with specific meta indicating their display conditions.

Common Elementor WP-CLI Commands

If the Elementor CLI extension is available:

wp @site elementor flush-css # Clear CSS cache wp @site elementor library sync # Sync with template library wp @site elementor update db # Update database after version change