Using ZipWP MCP with AI Tools

Imagine telling your AI assistant, “Create a new site for my bakery” and just watching it happen. No clicking around dashboards, no hunting through menus. That’s exactly what ZipWP’s new MCP integration makes possible.

ZipWP now supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard that lets AI tools like Claude connect directly to your ZipWP account and manage your WordPress sites through plain conversation. It’s kind of like giving your AI a backstage pass to your account.

So What Exactly Is MCP?

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol, and while that sounds technical, the idea is simple: it’s a secure bridge between your AI assistant and the apps you use. Once connected, your AI can list your sites, spin up new ones, clone templates, and more, all from a chat window.

You talk, it acts. That’s really it!

Permissions & Tools

When you authorize ZipWP, you choose exactly what your AI assistant is allowed to do. It includes actions from listing sites to creating or deleting them. Below is a full breakdown of the available permissions and the tools each one unlocks.

Scope	What it allows	Default
Read (mcp:read)	List your sites, templates, and blueprints	Required — always on
Write (mcp:write)	Create and clone sites	On by default
Delete (mcp:delete)	Permanently delete sites	Off by default â€” you must opt in

Tool	What it does	Scope needed
list-sites	List and search your sites	mcp:read
get-site-progress	Check live build progress	mcp:read
list-templates	Browse templates by category or keyword	mcp:read
list-blueprints	Browse your saved blueprints	mcp:read
create-blank-site	Create a blank site with optional plugins & themes	mcp:write
create-ai-site	Generate a site from a template + your business info	mcp:write
create-site-from-blueprint	Build a new site from one of your blueprints	mcp:write
clone-site	Clone an existing site	mcp:write
delete-site	Permanently delete a site (requires confirmation)	mcp:delete

How to Get Started

ZipWP MCP uses OAuth for authentication. Follow the steps below to connect to any of the AI tool you’re using!

When authorizing, ZipWP requests the following scopes:

Claude Code (CLI)

Configuration type: Terminal command

Run the following command in your terminal from any directory:

claude mcp add zipwp --transport http https://api.zipwp.com/mcp/zipwp

Steps

1. Run the command above in your terminal.
2. Start Claude Code by running claude in your terminal.
3. Type /mcp and select zipwp from the list.
4. Click Authenticate â€” your browser will open the ZipWP authorization page.
5. Select a team, review permissions, and click Authorize.
6. Return to Claude Code — ZipWP tools are now available.

Claude Desktop

Configuration type: JSON

Config file location:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zipwp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote@latest",
        "https://api.zipwp.com/mcp/zipwp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Steps

1. Open the config file at the location shown above (create it if it doesn’t exist).
2. Paste the configuration and save the file.
3. Restart Claude Desktop.
4. When you use a ZipWP tool for the first time, your browser will open the ZipWP authorization page.
5. Select a team, review permissions, and click Authorize.

ChatGPT

Configuration type: JSON

{
  "url": "https://api.zipwp.com/mcp/zipwp"
}

Steps

1. Open ChatGPT Settings Tools & Integrations (Connectors).
2. Click Add MCP Server and paste the server URL.
3. Your browser will open the ZipWP authorization page.
4. Select a team, review permissions, and click Authorize.
5. Return to ChatGPT — ZipWP tools are now available.

Cursor

Configuration type: JSON

Config file location:

• Project-scoped: .cursor/mcp.json in your project root
• Global: ~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zipwp": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://api.zipwp.com/mcp/zipwp"
    }
  }
}

Steps

1. Open or create the config file at the location shown above.
2. Paste the configuration and save the file.
3. Restart Cursor.
4. When you use a ZipWP tool for the first time, your browser will open the ZipWP authorization page.
5. Select a team, review permissions, and click Authorize.

Windsurf

Configuration type: JSON

Config file location: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zipwp": {
      "serverUrl": "https://api.zipwp.com/mcp/zipwp"
    }
  }
}

Steps

1. Open or create the config file at ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json.
2. Paste the configuration and save the file.
3. Restart Windsurf.
4. When you use a ZipWP tool for the first time, your browser will open the ZipWP authorization page.
5. Select a team, review permissions, and click Authorize.

Cline (VS Code Extension)

Configuration type: JSON

Config file location: Cline MCP Settings (via the VS Code extension sidebar)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zipwp": {
      "url": "https://api.zipwp.com/mcp/zipwp"
    }
  }
}

Steps

1. Open the Cline panel in VS Code and navigate to MCP settings.
2. Paste the configuration and save.
3. When you use a ZipWP tool for the first time, your browser will open the ZipWP authorization page.
4. Select a team, review permissions, and click Authorize.
5. Return to VS Code — ZipWP tools are now available.

Other / Generic MCP Clients

For any other MCP-compatible client, use the following standard configuration:

MCP Server URL: https://api.zipwp.com/mcp/zipwp

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zipwp": {
      "url": "https://api.zipwp.com/mcp/zipwp"
    }
  }
}

Refer to your MCP client’s documentation for the exact config file location and format. Once configured, restart the client and authorize ZipWP via the browser pop-up when you first use a ZipWP tool.

What Happens During Authorization

When authorization is triggered for the first time:

1. Your browser opens https://app.zipwp.com/mcp/authorize.
2. You are shown the name of the client requesting access (e.g. “Claude Code”) and your ZipWP account email.
3. You see a list of permissions being requested. You can uncheck Delete if you don’t want the tool to be able to remove sites.
4. If you belong to multiple teams, a team selector appears. Choose which team the AI assistant should operate on.
5. Click Authorize to complete the connection.
6. The browser redirects back to your AI tool automatically.

The authorized connection will then appear in Account Settings MCP Connections, where you can view its last-used time, revoke access, or delete it.

Managing Connections

You can manage all active MCP connections at Account Settings MCP Connections.

From that page you can:

• See each connection’s name, key, permissions, status, and last-used time.
• Edit the connection name.
• Revoke a connection (disables it without deleting — can be re-activated).
• Delete a connection permanently.

What You Can Ask Your AI Assistant

Once connected, you can give natural-language instructions such as:

• “Create a new WordPress site on ZipWP called My Portfolio”
• “Clone the e-commerce blueprint and name it Client Shop”
• “List all my active ZipWP sites”
• “Delete the staging site named test-site”
• “Show available ZipWP templates”

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Browser doesn’t open for authorization	Client isn’t connecting to the MCP server	Double-check the server URL and config key names (e.g. serverUrl for Windsurf)
“Invalid or missing authorization parameters”	Authorization was started but not completed	Restart the connection from your MCP client and re-authorize
Connection shows as Inactive	Token was revoked	Re-authorize from your MCP client
ZipWP tools appear but actions fail	Wrong team selected during authorization	Delete the connection and re-authorize, selecting the correct team
Config changes not taking effect	Tool not fully restarted after saving config	Fully quit and reopen the AI tool

Getting started takes just a few minutes. Add the server URL to your AI tool, authorize via your browser, and you’re ready to create and manage WordPress sites through natural conversation.

If you run into any issues, the troubleshooting table above covers the most common ones. In case you need further help, feel free to reach us at [email protected]!