MCP Setup

Add the server address to your client, then approve the connection in your browser. Nothing to copy or paste. Every client on the MCP Config screen supports it: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Claude.ai, Cursor, ChatGPT, Codex (app or CLI) and the npx mcp-remote bridge.

Be logged in to WordPress in that browser, with an account allowed to manage Design Pages. When you approve, choose Design and edit or Read only. A read-only connection can't see the tools that change anything, so the assistant never offers to. Either way, a connection can never do more than your own WordPress role allows.

Sign-ins expire on their own and can be revoked from MCP Config → Live connections.

Claude.ai and ChatGPT run on their makers' servers, so they can only reach a site that is public on the internet. For a local or private site, use Claude Desktop, Claude Code or Cursor.

After generating a token, download the .mcpb bundle and double-click it. Claude Desktop installs the connection itself: no config file to find, no JSON, nothing to install first. Fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop afterwards.

The bundle carries the token, so it can only be downloaded at the moment the token is created.

Copy the whole entry from MCP Config into your Claude Desktop config, including the env block. That block holds the token the ${PPD_AUTH_HEADER} reference stands in for. Dropping it sends an empty login.

The config launches the bridge via npx -y mcp-remote. You need Node installed; verify with:

node --version

npm install -g mcp-remote is optional: npx fetches it on demand.

Add ?tools=compact to the end of the MCP address, for example:

https://example.com/wp-json/noleemits-ai-design/v1/mcp?tools=compact

The assistant then starts with three tools: find_tools (search by task), get_tool_schemas (the arguments of a tool) and call_tool (run it). Everything else works the same, with the same permissions. It saves about 50,000 tokens at the start of each conversation. Connector links take it too.

Make it the default for the whole site. To give every connection the three compact tools without changing its address, have the assistant run update_plugin_settings with mcp_tool_mode: "compact". A connection can still ask for the full list by adding ?tools=full to its address.

Symptom	Cause and fix
The server never appears, and there is no error	The entry landed outside the mcpServers object. The file is still valid JSON, so nothing complains. Check the nesting.
Server disconnected in Claude Desktop	Almost always a wrong address or a stale config. Re-copy the config from MCP Config; your token stays valid.
Server disconnected or nothing happens after a sign-in	Revoke the connection in MCP Config → Live connections and sign in again.
The assistant says it can't make changes	The connection was approved as Read only. Revoke it and reconnect choosing Design and edit.
status 404 in the MCP log	The address doesn't exist on your site. Quick test: if /feed/ and /wp-sitemap.xml also 404, no pretty URL works on the site and it's a site-wide permalink problem, not an MCP one.
spawn mcp-remote ENOENT / 'mcp-remote' is not recognized	The bridge was launched bare. It must be launched as npx -y mcp-remote. Re-copy the config.
spawn npx ENOENT	Node isn't installed or isn't on PATH. Install the LTS build and restart your computer.
not valid MCP server configurations	The entry declares a server type Claude Code doesn't accept. It must be http, not url.
401 Unauthorized with a freshly generated token	Some servers strip the Authorization header before PHP can read it, so every request looks anonymous. Add RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}] to .htaccess, or the equivalent for your server.
rest_forbidden	The token's owner doesn't have Design Page access. Check Settings → Access.
Bad Request on a local site over plain HTTP	Add --allow-http to the bridge arguments.
Invalid URL from mcp-remote --help	Not a fault. mcp-remote treats its first argument as the server URL, so --help always fails. Verify your install with node --version instead.

After changing a Claude Desktop config, quit the app fully from the tray. Closing the window is not enough.