## Connect Claude or another AI assistant to your site
URL: https://hub.jkdevstudio.com/knowledge-base/jkd-toolkit/connect-ai-assistant-mcp
Updated: 2026-11-12
Summary: Paste one address into Claude, Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code, approve it on your site, and let the assistant work on your theme settings within limits you set.
You want Claude, Cursor or another AI assistant to work on your site directly: read your theme settings, change colors and fonts, switch on an integration, or set up a child theme. This page connects one.
The connection uses MCP (Model Context Protocol), the open standard assistants use to reach other tools. The theme's Pro plugin runs an MCP server on your site. You give your assistant one address, approve it once in WordPress, and it can use the tools you allowed.
**The assistant uses its own AI account, not your site's.**
Nothing here needs an AI provider key in WordPress. The model runs in your assistant app, under your plan with Anthropic, OpenAI or whoever makes it. Your site only answers the assistant's tool calls.
## What you need
**The theme's Pro plugin.** The MCP server is part of it. The free edition shows the MCP tab locked.
**WordPress 6.9 or newer.** The tools are built on the Abilities API that ships with WordPress 6.9.
**An administrator account.** Only an administrator can approve a connection, and the assistant works with that account's permissions.
**HTTPS and readable links.** Signing in by address needs the site on HTTPS and any permalink setting except Plain ([[Settings > Permalinks]]). A site that runs on your own computer through a local development tool usually works without HTTPS.
**An app that can add a remote MCP server.** Claude (the app and claude.ai), Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code all can. Claude on claude.ai and in the desktop app connects from Anthropic's servers, so the site has to be reachable from the internet. Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code connect from your computer, so they also reach a site that runs on it.
## Connect an assistant
:::steps
### Open the MCP tab
In the theme dashboard, open **AI Features** and switch to the **MCP** tab.
### Install the MCP Adapter plugin
The first time, the tab asks for the free MCP Adapter plugin from WordPress.org. Click **Install and activate**. The page reloads and the tab shows the setup steps.
### Turn it on
Switch on **Allow AI assistants to connect**. The badge next to the title changes to **On**.
### Choose what the assistant may do
Each group (Design and content, Plugins and setup, Maintenance, Site info, and anything your theme or integrations add) has three levels. **Off** hides the group, **Read** lets the assistant look, and **Change** lets it edit. Start with **Read** if you want to see how it behaves first.
Riskier actions (deleting content, installing plugins, overwriting settings, editing child theme files) have their own switches and stay off until you turn one on.
### Copy the address
Under **Connect your assistant**, copy the address. It looks like `https://example.com/wp-json/jkd-toolkit/mcp`.
### Add it to your app
Paste it into your app. Where it goes in each app is under [Where to paste the address](#where-to-paste-the-address) below.
### Allow it on your site
Your browser opens your site. Sign in if it asks, check that the app name is the one you just added, and click **Allow**. The browser returns to the app, and the app lists the site's tools.
### Check the connection
Back on the MCP tab, open **More settings > Check the connection** and click **Check connection**. **Last connected** shows the time your assistant reached the site, and the app appears under **Connected apps**.
:::
## Where to paste the address
:::tabs
=== Claude
Open [[Settings > Connectors]], click **Add custom connector**, give it a name and paste the address. The connector then works in the Claude app and on claude.ai.
=== Claude Code
Run this in a terminal, with your own address:
```bash
claude mcp add --transport http my-site https://example.com/wp-json/jkd-toolkit/mcp
```
Then type `/mcp` in Claude Code, pick the site and choose **Authenticate**.
=== Cursor
Save this as `.cursor/mcp.json` in your project, or as `~/.cursor/mcp.json` for every project:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"my-site": {
"url": "https://example.com/wp-json/jkd-toolkit/mcp"
}
}
}
```
=== VS Code
Save this as `.vscode/mcp.json` in your project folder:
```json
{
"servers": {
"my-site": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://example.com/wp-json/jkd-toolkit/mcp"
}
}
}
```
:::
## What you can ask it
Ask in plain words, the way you would ask a developer who has the site open. A few things that work:
- "Make the accent color #E11D48 and use Inter for headings."
- "Which settings control the header? Make it sticky."
- "Install the cookie consent integration and switch it on."
- "Create a child theme and activate it."
- "The cookie banner needs a link to our privacy policy. Change its template."
- "Import the demo and tell me what it added."
- "Run the site check and tell me what is wrong."
- "How do I change the blog layout in this theme?" (it reads the theme's documentation and links the page it used)
Before the assistant changes an area, it reads a short guide the theme ships for that area, so it knows which values are valid. A save is all or nothing: if one value is wrong, nothing is saved and the assistant gets the name of the field to fix.
## What it will never do
The assistant never edits the files of the theme, its Pro plugin or an integration. Updates replace those files, so an edit there would be lost or break the site. Template, style and code changes go into a child theme instead. If you ask for one and there is no child theme yet, the assistant offers to create it.
Integration templates follow the same rule. A copy in the child theme, in a folder named after the integration, replaces the integration's own file, and the integration itself stays untouched.
## Keep it safe
Everything an assistant can do is set on the MCP tab, and you can change it while it is connected.
:::deflist
Allow AI assistants to connect
: The main switch. Off cuts every assistant at once, and the address stops answering.
Levels and riskier switches
: What each group allows. An assistant that asks for something switched off is refused and tells you so.
Connected apps
: Every app you allowed, who allowed it and when it was last used. **Disconnect** signs it out for good; it has to ask again.
Recent activity
: Every tool call with its result, including refused ones. Changes to child theme files are listed too.
Allowed IP addresses
: Optional. Only requests from these addresses get through.
:::
The app never receives your WordPress password. It gets a key that works only for the MCP address, expires after an hour and is renewed by the app in the background. Disconnecting the app, removing your administrator role or turning MCP off stops it.
**A connected assistant acts as you.**
With **Change** on, it can do what you could do on those screens, without asking first. Back up the site before you turn on a riskier switch, and keep the connection on an administrator account that is yours.
## Apps that cannot sign in by address
Some apps only connect through a configuration file with a username and password. For those, open **More settings > Connect with an application password** on the MCP tab. It walks you through creating an application password in your profile and gives you the file for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code. That method runs a small connector on your computer and needs Node.js.
The same section appears in place of the address steps when your site cannot sign in by address yet (no HTTPS, or Plain permalinks).
## Common questions
The browser never opened
Your app did not get an answer it understood from the address. Check that you pasted the whole address, ending in `/wp-json/jkd-toolkit/mcp`, and that **Allow AI assistants to connect** is on. In Claude Code, the sign-in starts only after you pick the site in `/mcp`.
The tab says sign-in by address is not available
The message names the reason. With no HTTPS, install a certificate (most hosts do it from their control panel), then reload the tab. With Plain permalinks, pick any other option in [[Settings > Permalinks]] and save.
Claude cannot reach my local or staging site
Claude on claude.ai and in the desktop app connects from Anthropic's servers, which cannot open a site on your computer or behind a password. Use Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code for those sites, or open the site to the internet.
It connected, then every request fails
Some servers drop the `Authorization` header the app sends with each request. WordPress puts a rule for it in `.htaccess` on Apache; on other servers your host can pass the header through. The same problem stops application passwords from working, so a host that knows one fix knows the other.
The assistant says a tool is switched off
That group or switch is off on the MCP tab. Turn it on if you want the assistant to do it, or tell the assistant to work without it.
Does the assistant see my visitors' data?
It sees what the tools you turned on return: theme settings, fonts, integrations, the site check and, if you allow demo export, your pages and posts. Turn a group off to keep it out of reach.
Can two people connect their own assistants?
Yes. Each administrator allows their own app, and each connection shows under **Connected apps** with their name.