Zed + xCloud

Secure sites and servers with Zed on xCloud

Securing sites and servers with Zed means asking the Agent Panel to read xCloud's vulnerability findings, firewall rules and Fail2Ban bans by name, and relying on Zed's tool permissions and xCloud's confirmation before a firewall rule, a ban or a sudo user changes.

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

Set up Zed All Zed guides

YouUse xCloud to list sites with critical or high vulnerabilities.

vulnerabilities_indexread-only

AgentTwo sites: shop.example.com has 1 critical in a checkout plugin, and blog.example.com has 1 high in a form plugin. Both have a fixed version available. Want me to back each one up and propose the updates?

YouYes, shop first.

sites_backup

AgentBackup of the shop is running. I will ask you to confirm the plugin update when it finishes.

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 Zed to Secure sites and servers on xCloud?

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

1
Add xCloud as a remote server
Open Settings, then AI, then MCP Servers, click Add Server and choose Add Remote Server. Or run the zed: open settings file action and add this to settings.json yourself. Zed writes the same entry either way.
JSON
```
{
  "context_servers": {
    "xcloud": {
      "url": "https://app.xcloud.host/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```
2
Sign in and check the dot
Because the entry has no Authorization header, Zed prompts you to authenticate through the MCP OAuth flow. Approve the teams and the access level in the browser. In Settings, AI, MCP Servers a green dot next to xcloud with the tooltip Server is active means it worked. Then ask this in the Agent Panel.
Prompt
```
Who am I on xCloud?
```
3
No browser sign-in? Use an API key
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 add it as a header. With an Authorization header set, Zed skips its OAuth prompt. Replace YOUR_TOKEN with the token, which contains a pipe character, and keep it out of git and out of chat.
JSON
```
{
  "context_servers": {
    "xcloud": {
      "url": "https://app.xcloud.host/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" }
    }
  }
}
```

Check it worked

Then ask Zed for the job itself, for example:

Prompt

Use xCloud to list every site with critical or high vulnerabilities, worst first.

In practice

How Does Security Work from Zed?

In Zed the security review happens in the Agent Panel beside the file you are editing, and the one habit worth forming is naming the server in the prompt. Zed notes that how reliably MCP tools get called varies by model, so write use xCloud to list the sites with critical vulnerabilities, not just which sites are vulnerable. The agent then calls vulnerabilities_index for the team-wide rollup, and the panel shows the tool call and its result: the worst sites first, with the plugin or theme each finding names. A follow-up such as use xCloud to show the findings on shop.example.com by severity moves to sites_vulnerabilities_count and sites_vulnerabilities_list for that one site.

Zed's own approval setting does a lot of work for this job. With agent.tool_permissions.default left on confirm, each MCP tool call asks first, so even a read of the banned-IP list is a visible step, and a ban or a new rule gets a second look from you before xCloud's own confirmation arrives. If the prompts become tedious during an audit, Zed's per-tool key format, mcp:<server>:<tool_name>, lets you treat individual xCloud tools differently. Read tools can run freely while servers_fail2ban_ban, servers_fail2ban_unban and servers_firewallRules_create stay on confirm. The entry is named xcloud, so those keys start with mcp:xcloud:.

What comes back is plain text in the panel, and Zed's editing context is useful when a finding is yours to fix. If the vulnerable plugin is custom code in the open project, the agent can read the file, propose the change as an edit you review and then, after the redeploy, call sites_vulnerability-scan for a rescan and read the count again once it finishes. For the perimeter, it reads firewall rules, the SSH restriction state and sudo users, explains the lockout risk before a rule on port 22, and points you to the dashboard for the AI bot blocker and the 8G switch, which are not on the API.

Zed specific: Zed's approval setting is agent.tool_permissions.default from v0.224.0, and before that version it was agent.always_allow_tool_actions. If you ever set tool actions to always allow, the only check left in front of a ban or a firewall rule is xCloud's own confirmation, so keep the default on confirm unless you are asking read-only questions. Scoping the connection with ?toolsets=vulnerabilities,servers also keeps the list the model chooses from short and relevant. Also, remember to say use xCloud in the prompt, or the model may answer from general knowledge instead of calling a tool.

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 Zed 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 Zed 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 Zed 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

Use xCloud to list every site with critical or high vulnerabilities, worst first.

Prompt

Use xCloud to show the Fail2Ban banned IPs on the Frankfurt server and tell me if SSH is restricted to trusted IPs.

Prompt

Use xCloud to rescan shop.example.com and tell me whether the plugin finding is gone.

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.

Zed and Security: Frequently Asked Questions

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

Does Zed ask before it bans an IP through xCloud?

Yes. With agent.tool_permissions.default on confirm, Zed asks before each MCP tool call, and xCloud separately requires an explicit confirmation that names the server and the effect before it bans an address. Keep the setting on confirm for any session where you plan to change the perimeter.

How do I make Zed call xCloud's security tools instead of guessing?

Name xCloud in the prompt, for example use xCloud to list sites with critical vulnerabilities. Zed notes that MCP tool use varies by model, and naming the server steers the model to its tools. Then check that the xcloud entry shows a green dot in Settings, AI, MCP Servers.

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