Zed + xCloud

Manage WordPress with Zed on xCloud

Managing WordPress with Zed means asking the Zed Agent in the Agent Panel to check your xCloud sites for pending updates, vulnerabilities and slow pages, and to apply the fixes you confirm.

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

Set up Zed All Zed guides

YouUse xCloud to run a PageSpeed scan on northwind.example.com and compare it with the last runs.

sites_pagespeed_scan

sites_pagespeed_historyread-only

AgentBoth the mobile and desktop results are in. The mobile score rose since the previous run and desktop is unchanged. The biggest mover was Largest Contentful Paint.

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 Manage WordPress 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 check northwind.example.com: pending WordPress updates, vulnerability count by severity and the latest PageSpeed scores.

In practice

How Does WordPress Work from Zed?

In Zed you work in the Agent Panel beside the file you are editing, and the one habit worth building for this job is to say xCloud in the prompt. Use xCloud to check northwind.example.com tells the model which server to reach for, and Zed's own notes say that how reliably MCP tools get called varies by model. Without the name, a question about a WordPress site can be answered from the model's general knowledge instead of from your account, and an answer with no tool call behind it is a guess.

Zed asks before each tool call by default, so a WordPress session has a natural rhythm. Reads such as sites_wordpress_updates, sites_wordpress_status and vulnerabilities_index come back after a quick confirm, and the answer is grouped by site with counts and severity. A PageSpeed scan is the best fit for an editor. The agent starts sites_pagespeed_scan, polls until both the mobile and desktop results are in, then reads sites_pagespeed_history and reports the change since the previous run. A conflict answer means a scan is still running, so it polls that one instead of starting another.

If you run an External Agent inside Zed, the MCP servers configured in Zed are forwarded to it, so the same xcloud entry can serve that agent as well. When you do ask for an update, the Agent Panel shows the call before it runs, xCloud adds its own confirmation, and the agent sets backup_before_update to true for production. Turning on WP_DEBUG follows the same path, and the agent reminds you to switch it off when you say you are done.

Zed specific: Zed's per-tool rules use keys of the form mcp:xcloud:<tool_name>, so you can relax a read such as sites_wordpress_updates without touching sites_wordpress_update or sites_magic-login. Check which approval setting your Zed version uses before you loosen anything: from v0.224.0 it is agent.tool_permissions.default, and earlier versions used agent.always_allow_tool_actions. A blanket allow also covers the tools that change a site.

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 Zed 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 Zed 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 Zed 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

Use xCloud to check northwind.example.com: pending WordPress updates, vulnerability count by severity and the latest PageSpeed scores.

Prompt

Use xCloud to run a PageSpeed scan on the northwind.example.com homepage and compare it with the previous scans for mobile and desktop.

Prompt

Use xCloud to update the plugins on northwind.example.com with a backup first, then tell me whether the homepage still returns 200.

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.

Zed and WordPress: Frequently Asked Questions

What people ask before they let Zed manage WordPress through xCloud.

Why does the Zed Agent answer my WordPress question without calling xCloud?

Zed notes that how reliably MCP tools get called varies by model, and a prompt that never mentions xCloud gives the model no reason to reach for it. Start with Use xCloud to, name the site, and check that the Agent Panel shows a tool call before you trust the answer.

Can another agent running inside Zed use my xCloud WordPress tools?

Yes. Zed forwards the MCP servers you configured in its settings to External Agents, so an agent connected over the Agent Client Protocol can see the xcloud entry as well. The confirmation rules are the same: anything that updates a plugin still needs your yes.

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.

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