Setup Guide · Claude + WordPress
Let Claude work on
your website
for you
Follow these steps to connect Claude directly to your WordPress site. Once connected, you can ask Claude to fix your header, style your course pages, manage content — all in plain English.
⏱ Takes about 20–30 minutes
· No coding required
1
Install
Node.js
Node.js
2
Get Claude
Desktop
Desktop
3
WordPress
Password
Password
4
Config
File
File
5
Test the
Connection
Connection
Before you start — what you'll need
Your WordPress site must be live on the internet(not just on your computer), running on WordPress 5.6 or newer, and you need to be able to log in as an Administrator. That's it.
1
Install Node.js on your computer
This is a behind-the-scenes engine that Claude needs — you won't use it directly
🍎 Mac
- Go to nodejs.org
- Click the big green LTS download button
- Open the downloaded .pkg file
- Click through the installer — all defaults are fine
- Restart your Mac when done
🪟 Windows
- Go to nodejs.org
- Click the big green LTS download button
- Open the downloaded .msi file
- Click through — keep "Add to PATH" checked
- Restart your computer when done
How to check it worked
On Mac, open Terminal(search for it in Spotlight). On Windows, open Command Prompt(search for "cmd"). Type node -v
and press Enter. If you see a version number like v24.14.0
, you're good to go.
2
Download Claude Desktop
This is the app you'll use to talk to Claude and work on your site
1
Go to claude.ai/download
Download Claude Desktop for your operating system (Mac or Windows).
2
Install and open the app
On Mac, drag it to your Applications folder. On Windows, run the installer.
3
Sign in or create a free account
A free Claude account works for this. If you already use Claude on the web, use the same login.
Claude Desktop is different from the website
This setup only works with the downloadable Claude Desktop app
— not the claude.ai website in your browser. Make sure you've downloaded the app from claude.ai/download.
3
Create a special password in WordPress
This lets Claude log into your site securely — it's separate from your regular password
1
Log into your WordPress dashboard
Go to your site's /wp-admin
page and log in as usual.
2
Go to Users → Profile
In the left sidebar, click Users, then click your own username to open your profile.
3
Scroll all the way down to "Application Passwords"
It's near the very bottom of your profile page. You'll see a field that says "New Application Password Name."
4
Type "Claude Desktop" in the name field and click Add
The name is just for your own reference — it helps you remember what this password is for.
5
Copy the password that appears — right now!
WordPress shows this password only once. It will look something like: abcd EFGH 1234 ijkl MNOP 5678
— spaces included. Copy the whole thing and paste it somewhere safe like a notes app.
Don't close that WordPress screen yet!
If you close the page before copying your new password, it disappears forever and you'd need to create a new one. Copy it now, then continue.
Don't see "Application Passwords"?
Some security plugins (like Wordfence or iThemes Security) disable this feature. Check your security plugin settings and look for "Application Passwords" or "REST API" options and make sure they aren't blocked. Your site also needs to be running on https://
— not http://.
4
Add your site to Claude Desktop
This is the one slightly technical step — copy and paste carefully
1
Open Claude Desktop's settings
On Mac: press Cmd + ,
or go to Claude menu → Settings.
On Windows: press Ctrl + , or click the menu.
On Windows: press Ctrl + , or click the menu.
2
Click "Developer" then "Edit Config"
This opens a text file on your computer. Don't worry — we're just going to paste something into it.
3
Replace everything in the file with the code below
Select all the text in the file ( Cmd+A
on Mac, Ctrl+A
on Windows), delete it, then paste this in its place:
claude_desktop_config.json — paste this entire block
{ "mcpServers"
: { "wordpress"
: { "command"
: "npx"
, "args"
: [ "-y"
, "@cavort-it-systems/wordpress-mcp"
], "env"
: { "WORDPRESS_SITE_URL"
: "https://YOURSITE.com"
, "WORDPRESS_USERNAME"
: "your-wordpress-username"
, "WORDPRESS_PASSWORD"
: "xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx"
}
}
}
}
⬆ The pink items are placeholders — replace them with your real details (keep the quote marks)
4
Fill in your three details
Replace the pink placeholder values with your real information:
YOURSITE.com → your actual website address (e.g. https://janesmith.com )
your-wordpress-username → the username you use to log into WordPress
xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx → the Application Password you copied in Step 3
YOURSITE.com → your actual website address (e.g. https://janesmith.com )
your-wordpress-username → the username you use to log into WordPress
xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx → the Application Password you copied in Step 3
5
Save the file
Cmd+S
on Mac · Ctrl+S
on Windows
6
Completely quit Claude Desktop and reopen it
On Mac: right-click the Claude icon in the Dock → Quit. On Windows: right-click the taskbar icon → Quit. Then reopen the app. This is important — just closing the window isn't enough.
Example of what it should look like filled in
"WORDPRESS_SITE_URL": "https://myphotoschool.com"
"WORDPRESS_USERNAME": "janeadmin"
"WORDPRESS_PASSWORD": "Ab12 Cd34 Ef56 Gh78 Ij90 Kl12"
"WORDPRESS_USERNAME": "janeadmin"
"WORDPRESS_PASSWORD": "Ab12 Cd34 Ef56 Gh78 Ij90 Kl12"
5
Test your connection
Make sure everything is working before you ask Claude to do real work
1
Start a new chat in Claude Desktop
Click the pencil/new chat icon to start fresh.
2
Type this exact message and press Enter
List my 5 most recent WordPress posts
3
Watch for a permission prompt
Claude will ask if it can access your WordPress site. Click Allow. This only happens the first time.
4
You should see a list of your actual posts
If Claude lists real content from your site — congratulations, you're connected! 🎉
You're connected — here's what to try first
Start with something small and safe. Ask Claude to describe what's on a page before asking it to change anything. This builds your confidence in how it works.
✦
What you can ask Claude to do
Say these in plain English — exactly like you'd ask a person
Fix my header — the logo is too big on mobile
Look at my homepage and tell me what CSS is controlling the navigation
Create a new page called "Photography Basics" and leave it as a draft
Change the button color on my course pages to match my brand color #E85D26
My course cards don't line up properly — can you look at the CSS and fix it?
Add a custom CSS snippet to make my course titles bold and larger
What plugins do I have installed? Are any of them out of date?
Write me a welcome message for my homepage hero section
Tip: Be specific about what you want
The more detail you give, the better the result. Instead of "fix my header," try: "My header logo is overlapping the navigation menu on mobile phones — can you look at the CSS and fix that?" Claude will ask follow-up questions if it needs more info.
?
If something isn't working
Most issues come from one of these three things
Claude doesn't seem to know about my site
Make sure you completely quit and reopened Claude Desktop after editing the config file. Just closing the window doesn't reload the settings — you need to fully quit the app.
I get an "authentication error" or "connection refused"
Double-check your three details in the config file: your site URL (make sure it starts with https://), your WordPress username (not your email — the actual username), and your Application Password copied exactly. Also check that no security plugin is blocking Application Passwords.
I can't find the Application Passwords section in WordPress
Your site needs to be on https:// (not http://) for this feature to appear. Some security plugins hide it — check your security plugin settings. If you're on certain managed hosts, you may need to contact your host to enable it.
The config file looks garbled or Claude gives a JSON error
Every quote mark and bracket matters. Make sure you haven't accidentally deleted any curly braces { } or quote marks " ". The safest fix is to select all the text in the config file and paste the template fresh from Step 4, then carefully fill in your details again.
I'm stuck and can't figure it out
That's completely fine — this is the one step where having a technical person help you for 15 minutes saves a lot of frustration. Take a screenshot of your config file (with your password hidden) and send it to whoever set up your WordPress site — they'll be able to spot the issue quickly.
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