Bricks AI on a live site
Updated October 31, 2026
Bricks 2.4 shipped Bricks AI abilities, and the Bricks docs tell you to keep them off your production site while they're experimental. Their words: "AI abilities can write to your site. Test on a local or staging site first."
That's honest advice, and it leaves a gap for anyone whose real work happens on live client sites. Kitepod is built for the live site: every Bricks edit is staged on a preview, checked after it goes out, and undoable for 90 days.
What Bricks 2.4 gives you
Bricks didn't put an AI writer inside the builder, at least not one the Bricks Academy docs describe as of October 2026. Instead it registered a set of abilities, the WordPress-wide format for actions a plugin exposes, so any MCP client can call them.
The list is properly Bricks-specific. There's bricks/get-design-context, bricks/get-page-elements and bricks/set-page-elements, global settings, media and custom font uploads, an opt-in bricks/execute-php, and a bricks/convert-html-css-to-bricks-data converter that turns HTML and CSS into Bricks elements. Kitepod has no equivalent of that converter. If you prototype in plain HTML, it's a real reason to turn Bricks' abilities on, on a staging copy.
You switch them on under Bricks > AI > Configuration. They need the Abilities API (Bricks recommends WordPress 6.9 or later) and the WordPress MCP Adapter plugin, and the client config Bricks generates runs a local npx bridge on your machine.
Why the save path matters on Bricks
A Bricks page is a flat, PHP-serialized array where every element names its parent and its children. Edit it by hand and one wrong string length means the array won't load. Get a parent and its children out of step and the element disappears.
So Kitepod never writes that array directly. It loads Bricks' element controls, runs Bricks' own security check, writes the layout, then saves the post the way the builder does, which is what makes Bricks generate its CSS file. The post is snapshotted first.
And if you've turned Bricks' abilities on anyway, your assistant can run bricks/set-page-elements through Kitepod, which captures it as a builder write you can undo.
On a real site
Say you run the site for Halden Architects, a small practice with a Bricks portfolio.
On the Projects page, add a new card for "Harbour Loft" next to "Riverside House", same layout, using harbour-loft.jpg from my Downloads folder and a two-line description.
Your assistant reads the Projects page, copies the Riverside House card's structure and global classes, gives you an upload link for the image (it lands in the media library with alt text) and inserts the new card beside it. If it asks for an element Bricks doesn't have on your site, Kitepod turns it down. The card sits on a staged preview until you say it can go live.
Change "Request a quote" in the header to "Book a site visit" and point it at /visit.
The header is a Bricks template that shows on every page, so under the default policy it needs someone's sign-off before going out. After it's live, Kitepod pulls up the site and takes a screenshot to set against the one from before.
The Contact page still lists our old Bristol office. Remove that block and keep the London one.
Removing an element removes everything inside it, so your assistant reads the layout first and tells you exactly which block goes. One task, one change set, and you can undo the lot later if the partners change their minds.
The short version of each
| Bricks 2.4 abilities | Kitepod | |
|---|---|---|
| Meant for | Local or staging sites, while experimental | Live sites |
| Connection | MCP Adapter plugin plus a local npx bridge | A remote URL and an OAuth sign-in |
| HTML-to-Bricks converter | Yes | No |
| Reaches beyond Bricks | No | Plugins, SEO, WooCommerce, theme files |
| Rolling a change back | Not published | Any write, for 90 days |
| Price | Part of Bricks | Free |
Hooking it up
- Upload kitepod.zip as a new plugin. Your site needs WordPress 6.4 or later and PHP 7.4 or later.
- Hit Connect on the Kitepod screen and decide which WordPress account the AI works as. Pick one with Bricks builder access.
- In your AI app, add a connector pointing at
https://kitepod.com/mcpand sign in. WordPress MCP shows where that lives in each app.
The Bricks theme, or a child of it, has to be active. The builder doesn't run without it.
Permissions, code and CSS files
- The connected user needs Bricks builder access for that post type (Bricks > Settings > Builder Access). Without it the write lands empty.
- Bricks strips code elements,
{echo:…}tags and query-editor PHP for users without its code-execution permission. Kitepod leaves that check in place. - With external CSS files on, a warning that no CSS file was generated means one save in the Bricks editor, or a regenerate under Bricks > Settings > Performance.
- Bricks only edits the post types enabled in its settings, pages by default.
Finer points
Does Bricks have a built-in AI writer?
Not one the Bricks Academy docs describe as of October 2026. Bricks 2.4 added experimental abilities for outside AI clients instead.
How do Bricks' abilities reach Claude or Cursor?
Through the WordPress MCP Adapter plugin, which turns registered abilities into MCP tools. The MCP Adapter guide explains the setup.
Can I use Bricks' abilities and Kitepod together?
Yes. Your assistant can run Bricks' abilities through Kitepod, and bricks/set-page-elements writes are captured for undo.
Which assistants work?
Any MCP client that can add a remote server: Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code Copilot, Codex and others. Claude and WordPress covers the Claude side.
Until Bricks drops the experimental label, a sensible split is Bricks' abilities on your staging copy and Kitepod on the live site.