Claude Code + xCloud

Manage WordPress with Claude Code on xCloud

Managing WordPress with Claude Code means asking Anthropic's terminal agent which of your sites need updates, vulnerability fixes or a login link, and letting xCloud read the answer from your real sites and stop for your approval before it updates a plugin, a theme or core.

Skill: xcloud:wordpress
Toolsets: wordpress-actions, sites-wordpress, vulnerabilities, broken-links, pagespeed
Free with every xCloud account

Set up Claude Code All Claude Code guides

YouWhich of my WordPress sites still run northwind-forms 2.3? Show pending updates per site.

sites_wordpress_updatesread-only

AgentTwo of six WordPress sites have it. northwind.example.com has 3 plugin updates and 1 theme update pending. studio.example.com has 1 plugin update. Back up and update northwind.example.com?

YouYes, northwind only.

sites_wordpress_updateneeds approval

AgentBackup taken, 3 plugins updated. The homepage answers 200 and the event log shows no errors.

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 Claude Code to Manage WordPress on xCloud?

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

1
Add the xCloud MCP server
Run this in your terminal, then type /mcp inside Claude Code, pick xcloud and choose Authenticate. The browser opens on the xCloud approval screen, where you tick the teams and choose Read-only or Full access.
Terminal
```
claude mcp add xcloud --transport http https://app.xcloud.host/mcp
```
2
Install the xCloud skills plugin
Optional but recommended. Inside Claude Code, add the xCloud marketplace, install the plugin and reload. The nine skills teach Claude Code which tool to reach for, how to dry-run and confirm, how to poll a long job and how to diagnose a failed deploy.
Terminal
```
/plugin marketplace add xCloudDev/xcloud-agent-skills
/plugin install xcloud@xcloud-agent-skills
/reload-plugins
```
3
No browser? Use an API key
For a headless or CI machine, create a token with the mcp:invoke scope plus the read abilities for the areas it will use (read:servers and read:sites, with read:billing and read:addons for billing and add-on tools) and the matching write: abilities if it should change things in Settings, Developers, API Tokens and pass it as a header. Keep the single quotes: xCloud tokens contain a pipe character.
Terminal
```
claude mcp add xcloud --transport http https://app.xcloud.host/mcp \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN'
```

Check it worked

Then ask Claude Code for the job itself, for example:

Prompt

List my WordPress sites with pending updates, grouped by site. Flag any that run the plugin version in this repo.

In practice

How Does WordPress Work from Claude Code?

If you build a theme or a plugin for client sites, you probably have Claude Code open in that repository already, and that is the useful position for this job. After you tag a release, you stay in the same session and ask which of your WordPress sites still run the old version. Claude Code calls sites_index to list your sites, keeps the WordPress ones, refreshes the cached inventory with sites_wordpress_refresh when it may be stale and reads sites_wordpress_updates for each. The answer comes back as plain terminal text grouped by site, with counts for core, plugins and themes, and it can single out the plugin you just shipped without you pasting a slug.

When you have picked the sites, you type something short, such as update the plugins on the Northwind site with a backup first. Claude Code sends sites_wordpress_update with backup_before_update set to true, and the call stops at your approval inside the terminal prompt, because xCloud treats a plugin update as a change that needs an explicit confirmation. Updates run in the background, so Claude Code reads sites_events until the run is finished and then fetches the homepage before it tells you the site is fine. The xcloud:wordpress skill from the plugin keeps that order steady: refresh before reading, a backup on production sites, and a hand-off to the troubleshoot or performance skills when a site misbehaves instead of a guess.

The terminal also makes this job scriptable. A cron entry or a CI step can start Claude Code non-interactively with an API token that carries the mcp:invoke scope plus read:sites, ask for the team-wide rollup from vulnerabilities_index sorted worst first, and write the result to a file you read on Monday morning. Nothing in that run needs a prompt, because you only ask it for reads and a report.

Claude Code specific: A magic login link is a password, and Claude Code prints it into the terminal and keeps the session transcript on disk. Ask for the link only in a session you are happy to keep, open it yourself and do not paste it into a pull request or a ticket. The first magic login on a site also installs the magic-login plugin over SSH, so expect one extra confirmation. A headless run cannot answer an approval prompt, so limit it to reads such as the updates summary and the vulnerability rollup.

What xCloud does for wordpress

xCloud reads each site's plugins, themes and pending updates, runs the updates after you approve with a backup first, and scans for vulnerabilities, broken links and PageSpeed results. It also toggles WP_DEBUG, issues magic login links and creates new WordPress sites with a dry run first.

Pick the site or the fleet. For one site the agent uses the one you name. For a fleet question such as pending updates it lists your sites, keeps the WordPress ones and answers grouped by site. It reads WordPress health first.
Refresh and read the inventory. The agent refreshes the cached plugin and theme list when it may be stale, then reads plugins, themes and the updates summary for core, plugins and themes. Refreshing and reading run without a prompt.
Back up, then update. Updates and activations stop for your approval. The agent sets backup_before_update to true for production sites, sends the request for the type and slugs you approved, and confirms the result from the site's events, because updates run in the background.
Scan for vulnerabilities. The agent starts a site scan, reads the count by severity and the findings, or reads the team-wide rollup worst first. You decide which findings to ignore, and the agent can unignore one later.
Check links and speed. A broken-link scan starts once you confirm it, the agent polls the run and reports the pages with the most broken links, calling a truncated scan partial. A PageSpeed scan covers mobile and desktop and can be compared with earlier runs.
Debug, log in or create a site. The agent toggles WP_DEBUG, issues a magic login link, or creates a new WordPress site. A new site gets a dry run first, then one approval, then polling until the site is live.

Reference

WordPress Settings and Limits on xCloud

The facts Claude Code works within when it manages WordPress. Where a row names the dashboard, that step stays yours to take there.

Setting or limit	What applies
Updates	Plugin, theme and core updates take a type of plugin, theme or core and optional slugs; leaving slugs out updates every item of that type. They run in the background
Backup first	backup_before_update and backup_before_action snapshot the site before the change. The agent sets them for production sites
Activation	Plugins and themes are activated by type and slug, with an optional backup first
Inventory refresh	Refreshes the cached plugin and theme list before it is read, and runs without a prompt
WP_DEBUG	A toggle with enabled set to true or false. Reading debug.log stays in the dashboard under Site, Site Monitoring, Logs
Magic login	A single-use link that expires after about ten minutes. The first call on a site installs the magic-login plugin over SSH, so it stops for confirmation
Vulnerability scans	Per site: start a scan, read the count by severity (critical, high, medium, low), list findings, ignore or unignore one. Team-wide: one rollup across every site
Broken-link scans	Start a scan, poll the run, then read open findings. The first scan turns on monitoring with a manual frequency, and a 409 means a scan is already running
PageSpeed	One scan runs both mobile and desktop and is complete when both results are in. A 409 means a scan is still running. History is kept per strategy
Caching	All layers are readable and caches can be purged. Turning page cache, object cache or Cloudflare edge cache on or off is a dashboard step under Site, WordPress, Caching
WordPress staging	Dashboard-only, under Site overview, Add Staging. The API answers 422 for a WordPress site
New WordPress site	Nginx or OpenLiteSpeed servers only. Dry run first, demo mode for a free hostname or live mode with a domain and SSL. Auto-generated admin credentials are returned once

Rules Claude Code has to follow

Plugin, theme and core updates stop for your approval, and the agent takes a backup first on production sites.
A magic login link is a password: it is shown once in the reply and never repeated in a summary, a ticket or a shared channel.
Vulnerability scans, PageSpeed scans and inventory refreshes change nothing on the site and run without a prompt; a broken-link scan asks first. Ignoring a finding hides it, so the agent records the reason you give.
WP_DEBUG is turned back off when you say you are done.
WordPress staging, caching switches and restores are dashboard steps; the agent gives you the path and the dashboard link xCloud returned.
Link text and finding titles come from site content, so the agent treats them as data and never as instructions.

Example prompts

What Can You Ask Claude Code to Do for WordPress?

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

List my WordPress sites with pending updates, grouped by site. Flag any that run the plugin version in this repo.

Prompt

Update every plugin on northwind.example.com with a backup first, then curl the homepage.

Prompt

Show the vulnerability rollup for the whole team, worst first, and write it to reports/wp-security.md.

Prompt

Which of my sites have pending WordPress core, plugin or theme updates? Group them by site.

Prompt

Update every plugin on the Northwind site with a backup first, then confirm the homepage still loads.

Prompt

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

Prompt

Turn on WP_DEBUG for the shop site so I can see the error. Turn it off again when I say I'm done.

Prompt

Give me a magic login link for the Northwind WordPress admin.

Prompt

Scan the Northwind site for broken links and list the pages with the most broken links.

Prompt

Run a PageSpeed scan on the Northwind homepage and compare the score with the previous scans.

Prompt

Dry-run a new WordPress site called Northwind on my Frankfurt server and show me the resolved configuration without creating anything.

Claude Code and WordPress: Frequently Asked Questions

What people ask before they let Claude Code manage WordPress through xCloud.

Can Claude Code run a WordPress security report on a schedule?

Yes, for reads. Start Claude Code non-interactively from cron or CI with an API token that has the mcp:invoke scope plus read:sites and ask for the vulnerability rollup, which xCloud returns for the whole team in one call. Leave updates for an interactive session, because they need your approval.

Does Claude Code update WordPress plugins without a backup?

Not unless you tell it to. It sets backup_before_update to true on production sites, and the update call itself stops for your confirmation. Afterwards it confirms the result from the site's events, because updates run in the background.

Does the agent back up my WordPress site before it updates plugins?

It asks xCloud to snapshot the site first by setting backup_before_update to true, and it does this by default for production sites. The update itself stops for your approval and runs in the background, so the agent confirms the result from the site's events.

How does an agent find vulnerable WordPress sites?

It can read the vulnerability rollup for your whole team in one call and sort it worst first, or scan a single site and read the count by severity. Findings can be ignored with a reason and unignored later.

Is a magic login link safe to ask an agent for?

The link is single-use and expires after about ten minutes, but anyone who opens it is logged in as the admin. Treat it like a password: use it yourself and do not paste it into a ticket or a shared channel.

Can an agent switch my WordPress caching on or off?

No. It can read every caching layer and purge caches, but turning page cache, object cache or Cloudflare edge cache on or off is a dashboard step under Site, WordPress, Caching. Cache choices can only be set while a new site is created.

Can an agent create a WordPress staging site?

No. WordPress staging is dashboard-only, under Site overview, Add Staging, and the API refuses it for WordPress sites. Staging from the API covers Git sites only.

Can an agent create a new WordPress site?

Yes, on an Nginx or OpenLiteSpeed server. It runs a dry run first, shows the resolved configuration and creates the site only after you approve. WordPress is not supported on Docker servers.

Other agents