ChatGPT + xCloud

Secure sites and servers with ChatGPT on xCloud

Securing sites and servers with ChatGPT means using the xcloud app in developer mode to ask OpenAI's assistant for vulnerability findings and server protections, with every write shown to you before it runs.

Skill: xcloud:servers
Toolsets: vulnerabilities, servers, sites, wordpress-actions
Free with every xCloud account

Set up ChatGPT All ChatGPT guides

YouUsing the xcloud app, which of my sites have open vulnerabilities?

vulnerabilities_indexread-only

Agentshop.example.com has one critical finding in a form plugin and three high ones. blog.example.com has two medium findings. Nothing is open on your other nine sites.

YouBan 203.0.113.50 on the Frankfurt server.

servers_fail2ban_banneeds approval

AgentThat blocks 203.0.113.50 on the Frankfurt server through Fail2Ban. Confirm and I will run it.

Last updated: October 2026. Keep a human in the loop: xCloud stops and asks before anything that creates, deploys, updates, reboots, deletes or buys.

Setup

How Do You Set Up ChatGPT to Secure sites and servers on xCloud?

Connect ChatGPT once; every job on this account uses the same connection. Then ask in plain words.

1
Turn on developer mode and open Plugins
In ChatGPT on the web, open Settings, Security and login and turn on Developer mode. Then open the Plugins page and select the plus button to create an app. OpenAI lists developer mode for Pro, Plus, Business, Enterprise and Education accounts on the web, but its help center puts full MCP support with write actions in beta on Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces and gives Pro accounts read and fetch access only, so check your plan before you expect ChatGPT to deploy or update anything. That path is for a personal account. In a Business, Enterprise or Edu workspace the controls sit under Apps instead. On Business only an admin or owner can use Developer mode: they turn it on while creating the app from Workspace settings, Apps, Create, and publish it from Workspace settings, Apps. On Enterprise and Edu an admin or owner can also toggle Developer mode under Settings, Apps, Advanced settings, and a member granted developer access under Permissions and Roles turns it on there too and can create and test the app from their own Settings, Apps, Create, but only an admin or owner can publish it. An ordinary member cannot do this, so ask an admin to publish the xcloud app; then open Settings, Plugins, select xcloud, install it if offered and choose Connect, sign in to xCloud and pick the teams and access level, and only then start at the last step.
URL
```
https://chatgpt.com/plugins
```
2
Create the app with the xCloud MCP URL
Name the app xcloud, paste this as the MCP server URL and choose OAuth for authentication. xCloud supports dynamic client registration, so you do not need to create a client ID. Sign in with xCloud when the browser asks, tick the teams and choose Read-only or Full access.
URL
```
https://app.xcloud.host/mcp
```
3
Install the plugin and use it in a Work chat
Open your personal Plugins page, open xcloud and select the plus button to install it. Back on the ChatGPT homepage, switch the tab at the top from Chat to Work, start a new Work chat, type @ and pick xcloud; a plain Chat tab conversation does not offer the plugin. Then type a request like this one.
Prompt
```
Using the xcloud app, who am I on xCloud and which servers do I have?
```

Check it worked

Then ask ChatGPT for the job itself, for example:

Prompt

Using the xcloud app, which of my sites have open vulnerabilities? Rank them worst first and explain the top finding in plain language.

In practice

How Does Security Work from ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is where many people ask questions all day, so a security question about your hosting fits naturally in a new chat. After you create and install the xcloud plugin in developer mode, you pick the xcloud plugin with @xcloud in a Work chat and ask something like: using the xcloud app, which of my sites have open vulnerabilities? ChatGPT calls the team-wide rollup and replies with a ranked summary. You can follow with a question about one site, ask for the findings explained in plain words and request a short note to send to a client. The wording matters here: naming the xcloud app in the prompt tells ChatGPT which tool to use.

The job has one feature that other clients do not give you so directly: the app's tool list is yours to edit. ChatGPT keeps the app under Drafts in its settings, and you can switch individual tools off there. If you want a chat that can only read, turn off the tools that create, disable or delete firewall rules, ban or unban addresses and change sudo users, then refresh the list when xCloud adds tools. A reviewer can then ask anything without being able to change a rule. A rescan runs without a stop and finishes a little later, so ChatGPT checks the count again before it says a finding is closed. A plugin, theme or core update stops for your yes and offers a backup first.

When you do want a change, ChatGPT reads the server's firewall rules, Fail2Ban bans, SSH restriction state and sudo users, then names the server and the effect before it adds a rule, bans an address or unbans one. It explains the lockout risk when SSH is involved and does not delete the default SSH rule on its own. Dashboard-only protections stay in the dashboard. The AI bot blocker, the 7G and 8G firewall and one site's IP list are switches in the site's Tools section, so ChatGPT tells you the path and does not claim it changed them. ChatGPT connects from OpenAI's servers, not from your computer.

ChatGPT specific: OpenAI marks developer mode as higher risk, because a connected server can read and, with write actions, change your data. For security work that means two habits. Choose Read-only on the xCloud approval screen if you only want answers, and read each write confirmation, with its server and effect, before you accept it. If a firewall or ban change is refused, the approval was probably Read-only, so reconnect and approve Full access on purpose.

What xCloud does for security

xCloud reads vulnerability findings for one site or across your whole team, starts rescans and ignores or restores a finding. On servers it manages firewall rules, Fail2Ban bans, the SSH restriction state and sudo users. Protections such as the AI bot blocker, the 7G and 8G firewall and per-site IP rules stay dashboard switches.

Start with the team-wide rollup. For a fleet question the agent reads the vulnerability rollup across every site on the team in one call and sorts it worst first. For one site it reads the findings and the counts by severity instead.
Rescan and triage findings. A rescan runs without a confirmation stop and finishes asynchronously, so the agent checks the count again afterwards. Findings carry a severity and a source, and severity is the triage key. A false positive can be ignored with a reason and restored later.
Fix what the finding points to. Most findings are fixed by updating a plugin, a theme or WordPress core. The agent proposes the updates, takes a backup first if you want one, and waits for your approval, because updating plugins or themes always stops for confirmation.
Review the server's perimeter. The agent reads firewall rules, the Fail2Ban banned IP list, the SSH restriction status and the sudo users. It can add or disable a rule, ban or unban an address and whitelist xCloud's own IPs after you confirm the server and the effect.
Report what is dashboard-only. AI bot blocking, the 7G and 8G firewall and a single site's IP allow and block list are dashboard switches. The agent reads what it can, such as the 7G and 8G logs, and gives you the dashboard path and the site's dashboard link for the rest.

Reference

Security Settings and Limits on xCloud

The facts ChatGPT works within when it secures sites and servers. Where a row names the dashboard, that step stays yours to take there.

Setting or limit	What applies
Vulnerability findings	Per-site list and counts by severity (critical, high, medium, low), plus a team-wide rollup across every site you can reach
Rescans	Triggering a rescan is a routine action that runs without a confirmation stop. It is asynchronous, so the agent polls the count or the site events
Ignore and restore	A finding can be ignored with a reason and un-ignored later. Both are changes to the finding, not to the site
Firewall rules	List, create, enable, disable and delete server rules by name, protocol (tcp or udp), traffic (allow or deny), port and optional source IP
Fail2Ban	List banned IPs, ban one or more addresses and unban an address. Adding addresses to Fail2Ban's own ignore list is an SSH step described in the Fail2Ban guide
Whitelisting	xCloud's infrastructure IPs and the caller's IP can be whitelisted. The SSH restriction status says whether SSH is limited to trusted addresses
Sudo users	List, create or update, and delete OS-level privileged accounts. Private keys are never returned, and a temporary account is available for short jobs
7G and 8G firewall	Switched on in the dashboard. Their logs are readable through the nginx log type of the site's access log read
AI bot blocker	A dashboard toggle: Site, Tools, Nginx and Security on Nginx, Tools, Security on OpenLiteSpeed
Per-site IP rules	Dashboard-only: Site, Tools, IP Management. The API lists a site's rules but does not change them; server-wide blocks are on the API
Automated security updates	xCloud installs security updates on servers it provisions, and Automatic Reboot restarts the server only when a reboot is required. Both are configured in the dashboard
Security headers	The API lists a site's custom Nginx configuration. Adding headers is a dashboard or SSH step, described in the security headers guide

Rules ChatGPT has to follow

Firewall, Fail2Ban and sudo-user changes name the exact server and the effect before they run, and they wait for your yes. Locking out SSH is the risk the agent explains first.
The agent never disables SSH or a database service to tidy up a ruleset, and it does not delete the default SSH rule on its own.
Updating a plugin or theme to fix a finding stops for your approval, and the agent offers a backup first.
Ignoring a finding needs a reason you give. The agent records it and tells you how to restore it.
AI bot blocking, the 7G and 8G firewall, per-site IP rules and automated update settings are dashboard steps. The agent says so, gives the path and the dashboard link, and never claims it changed them.
A temporary sudo user is for a specific job and is removed when the job ends.

Example prompts

What Can You Ask ChatGPT to Do for Security?

Type these as written and swap in your own repository, site and server names. Reads and routine actions such as backups, cache purges, PageSpeed scans and vulnerability scans run straight away; creating, deploying, updating, rebooting, deleting, buying or starting a broken-link scan stops and asks first.

Prompt

Using the xcloud app, which of my sites have open vulnerabilities? Rank them worst first and explain the top finding in plain language.

Prompt

Using the xcloud app, run a vulnerability scan on shop.example.com and tell me what it finds when it finishes.

Prompt

Using the xcloud app, show the banned IPs and firewall rules on my Frankfurt server and tell me whether SSH is restricted to trusted addresses.

Prompt

Show the vulnerability count for every site on this team, sorted worst first, and name the top three findings.

Prompt

Run a vulnerability scan on the shop site and tell me what it finds.

Prompt

List the findings on the blog site and ignore the false positive in the contact form plugin, with the reason.

Prompt

Update every plugin on the shop site, then run a vulnerability scan, and stop if anything is still open.

Prompt

List the firewall rules on the Frankfurt server and tell me whether SSH is restricted to trusted IPs.

Prompt

Show the IPs Fail2Ban has banned on the Frankfurt server, and unban 203.0.113.10.

Prompt

Whitelist the xCloud IPs on the Frankfurt server.

Prompt

Which sudo users exist on the Frankfurt server? Flag any that look temporary or unused.

ChatGPT and Security: Frequently Asked Questions

What people ask before they let ChatGPT secure sites and servers through xCloud.

Can I make a ChatGPT chat read-only for security reviews?

Yes, in two ways. Choose Read-only on the xCloud approval screen, or switch off the write tools for the xcloud app under Drafts in ChatGPT's settings. Either way ChatGPT can read findings, rules and bans without changing a rule.

Does ChatGPT need my xCloud API key for a security check?

No. The xcloud app signs in with OAuth in your browser and ChatGPT registers itself through dynamic client registration. You approve the teams and the access level there, and no token has to be pasted into the chat.

Can an agent show vulnerabilities across all my sites at once?

Yes. xCloud has a team-wide rollup that lists findings for every site you can reach, which the agent sorts worst first. For one site it reads the findings and the counts by severity, and it can start a rescan.

Can the agent ban an IP address on my server?

Yes. It can ban addresses in Fail2Ban, list the banned IPs and unban one, and it can create, disable and delete server firewall rules. It confirms the server and the effect first, so you do not lock yourself out.

Can the agent turn on the 8G firewall or the AI bot blocker?

No. Both are dashboard switches. The agent can read the 7G and 8G firewall logs through the site's nginx logs, and it tells you where the switches are: the site's Tools section. It does not claim to have changed them.

Can the agent block an IP for just one site?

Not from here. Per-site IP allow and block lists are managed in the dashboard under Site, Tools, IP Management, and the agent can only list what is there. Server-wide blocks, through firewall rules and Fail2Ban, are on the API.

Does the agent fix a vulnerability on its own?

No. It reports the finding and proposes the update that remediates it, usually a plugin, theme or core update. Updates always stop for your approval, and the agent can take a backup first and rescan afterwards to confirm the finding is gone.

Other agents