# How to Connect Claude to WordPress **Claude never gets more power than the WordPress user you pick.** That one choice in wp-admin is the part worth slowing down for. Connecting Claude to WordPress takes about two minutes and has three parts: a plugin on your site, a sign-in in wp-admin, and one URL pasted into Claude. No API key, application password or config file anywhere. Once it's done, Claude can read and edit your posts, pages, menus, media, theme and plugins from the chat you already use: on the web, in the desktop app, on your phone and in Claude Code. 1. [Before you start](#before-you-start) 1. [Step 1: Install the plugin](#step-1-install-the-plugin) 1. [Step 2: Connect the site in wp-admin](#step-2-connect-the-site-in-wp-admin) 1. [Step 3: Add the connector in Claude](#step-3-add-the-connector-in-claude) 1. [Claude Code](#claude-code) 1. [Or ask your assistant](#or-ask-your-assistant) 1. [Other ways to connect Claude to WordPress](#other-ways-to-connect-claude-to-wordpress) 1. [What goes wrong](#what-goes-wrong) 1. [Finer points](#finer-points) ## Before you start You need a self-hosted WordPress site running WordPress 6.4 or newer on PHP 7.4 or newer. Any host works as long as the server can make outgoing HTTPS requests, which is nearly all of them. You also need a Claude account. As of October 2026, custom connectors work on Free, Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise, but **Free accounts are limited to one custom connector**, so if you've already used yours on something else, that's the catch. A WordPress.com site on a plan that can't install plugins won't work. The plugin has to run on the site. ## Step 1: Install the plugin 1. Download the plugin zip from https://kitepod.com/downloads/kitepod.zip. 1. In wp-admin, go to Plugins → Add New, click Upload Plugin, choose the zip and click Install Now. 1. Click Activate Plugin. That's the only thing you install. Kitepod is a remote [WordPress MCP](/wordpress-mcp) server, so nothing runs on your computer and there's no Node or Python to set up. ## Step 2: Connect the site in wp-admin Open the Kitepod screen in wp-admin and click Connect. You'll sign in to Kitepod (or create a free account at https://kitepod.com/login) and pick which WordPress user Claude acts as. Pick an Editor account and Claude can edit content but can't install plugins or touch the theme. Pick an administrator and it can do what an administrator can. You can change it later by reconnecting. ## Step 3: Add the connector in Claude The connector you add once on claude.ai shows up in the desktop app and the mobile apps too, so do this part on the web or in Claude Desktop. ### Free, Pro, Max and Ultra 1. Open the add-connector dialog directly at https://claude.ai/new?modal=add-custom-connector#customize/connectors, or go to Customize → Connectors, click + Add, then Add custom connector. 1. Name it `Kitepod`, paste `https://kitepod.com/mcp` as the URL and click Continue. 1. Claude checks the server and shows the authentication settings it detected. Click Continue again. 1. Under Authentication, choose Sign in now. Kitepod uses OAuth, so leave Request headers empty. 1. Click Add. 1. Click Connect, sign in to Kitepod in the window that opens, and click Allow. ### Team and Enterprise On Team plans only Owners and Primary Owners can add custom connectors. On Enterprise, so can anyone with a custom role that includes Manage access to Libraries. Everyone else asks one of them first. 1. The owner goes to Organization settings → Connectors, clicks Add, hovers over Custom and picks Web. 1. They name it `Kitepod`, paste `https://kitepod.com/mcp` and click Continue until it's added. 1. Each member then goes to Customize → Connectors, finds Kitepod and clicks Connect, signs in and clicks Allow. ### Claude on your phone There's no separate step. Once the connector is added and connected on the web or desktop, open a chat in the Claude app and it's there. Anthropic's docs don't say you can add a new custom connector from the phone itself, so add it on a computer first. ## Claude Code Claude Code is one command and one sign-in. In your terminal: ```bash claude mcp add --transport http --scope user kitepod https://kitepod.com/mcp ``` Then start Claude Code, run `/mcp`, pick `kitepod` and sign in in the browser window that opens. The `--scope user` part makes it available in every project, not just the folder you're in. Drop it and Claude Code only loads Kitepod in the current project, which is the default and almost never what you want for a WordPress site. If you log in to Claude Code with your claude.ai account, you may not need the command at all. Connectors you've added on claude.ai show up in Claude Code automatically, so the Kitepod connector from Step 3 is already there. ## Or ask your assistant Make the first request a read-only one, so you can see the connection working before anything changes: ```prompt List my WordPress sites, then tell me which plugins on each one have updates waiting. ``` Claude calls Kitepod, Kitepod asks your site, and the answer comes back in chat. Nothing is written. If the list shows the wrong sites, or a site's missing, you'll find out here rather than halfway through an edit. Then try updating one of those plugins. Under the default approval policy, plugin updates wait for you to approve them, and **Claude can't approve its own work**, so you'll see what that looks like before it matters. ## Other ways to connect Claude to WordPress You don't have to use Kitepod. WordPress has an official [MCP Adapter](/learn/wordpress-mcp-adapter) that turns abilities plugins register through the Abilities API into MCP tools. You connect to it over WP-CLI (STDIO) or point an HTTP client at your site's own MCP endpoint, and abilities are private until a developer marks them public. It's a good pick if you're a developer who wants everything on your own server and is happy wiring it up. It's a worse pick if you want undo, previews and approvals out of the box, because those aren't part of it. If you've seen guides about editing `claude_desktop_config.json`, that's for local servers that run on your machine. A remote server like this one goes in as a custom connector, so you can skip the JSON. ## What goes wrong ### Claude doesn't use Kitepod in a chat Connectors can be switched on and off per conversation. Click the + button at the bottom left of the chat box, open Connectors and switch Kitepod on. ### "Add custom connector" is missing You're on a Team or Enterprise plan without owner rights, or on Free with your one custom connector already used. Ask an owner, or remove the old connector. ### Claude can see the site but can't install plugins You connected it as a non-admin user in Step 2. Reconnect in wp-admin and pick an administrator, or keep it as is if that limit is the point. ### The plugin installs but won't connect Kitepod needs your server to make outgoing HTTPS requests. A few locked-down hosts block them; ask yours to allow it. ### You changed the WordPress user's role later Claude's powers change with it, in both directions. If Claude suddenly can't do something it did yesterday, check that user in Users first. ## Finer points ### Is it free to connect Claude to WordPress? Kitepod is free, with unlimited sites and unlimited tool calls, no card and no trial. You still need a Claude plan, and Claude's Free plan allows one custom connector. ### Does it work with Claude Desktop? Yes. Add the connector in Claude Desktop or on claude.ai and it's in both. No config file needed. ### Can I connect more than one WordPress site? Yes. Install the plugin and click Connect on each site. They all show up in the same Claude chat, so "update the plugins on all three sites" is one request. ### Does Claude get my WordPress password? No. You sign in to Kitepod with OAuth and pick a WordPress user in wp-admin. No password or API key is pasted into Claude, and every request between Kitepod and your site is signed. ### Can I use ChatGPT instead? Yes, the same server works with ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code Copilot, Codex, Gemini CLI and any MCP client. The plugin and wp-admin steps are identical; only Step 3 changes. Your second site skips Step 3 entirely: Claude's already connected, so it's just the plugin and the Connect button.