How to connect your WordPress site to Perplexity
Perplexity can do more than research your WordPress questions — connected to your site, it can carry out the answer. Install one free plugin on your self-hosted site, add it to Perplexity as a custom connector, and approve the sign-in. No code, no terminal, no API key to copy — a few minutes. New to MCP? Start with the WordPress MCP server guide.
What can Perplexity do on your WordPress site once it's connected?
Once connected, Perplexity acts on your live WordPress site with real tools, not just answers you copy back in. It can look something up and then apply it: check your plugins against their latest releases, rewrite a post with current facts, or fix the SEO metadata a search turned up as missing. Cowboy MCP exposes 203 WordPress tools that Perplexity calls directly over HTTPS.
How do you connect Perplexity to WordPress in three steps?
Connecting takes three steps and no code. Install the free Cowboy MCP plugin, click Open Perplexity on the Connections tab under Settings → Cowboy MCP, and add your site to Perplexity as a custom connector with one-click sign-in. Custom connectors need Perplexity Pro, Max or Enterprise. Nothing is allowed until you click Approve on your own site.
- 1
Install the free plugin
In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New, search for Cowboy MCP, and click Install then Activate.
- 2
Click Open Perplexity
Open Settings → Cowboy MCP, pick Perplexity on the Connections tab, and click Open Perplexity. One click copies your site link — its /wp-json/cowboy-mcp/v1/endpoint URL — opens Perplexity's connectors page, and opens a 30-minute window for new connections.
- 3
Add the connector and approve
In Perplexity, under Customize → Connectors, click + Custom connector and choose Add MCP connector. Name it, paste the link as the MCP server URL, tick the acknowledgement, and click Add. Open the new connector and click Add connector: Perplexity opens a sign-in page on your site — pick full access, read-only, or a custom list of tools, and click Approve.
The Advanced settings already say OAuth and Streamable HTTP, so there's nothing to change there. Back in Perplexity the connector shows a check mark, and the Connections tab confirms the moment Perplexity signs in. Ask a question that names your site; Perplexity asks you to reply yes before its first tool run.
Why does Perplexity need a public HTTPS site?
Perplexity connects from its own servers, not from your computer, so it has to be able to reach your site over the internet. Cowboy MCP publishes a Streamable HTTP endpoint as an ordinary WordPress REST route at /wp-json/cowboy-mcp/v1/endpoint, so Perplexity reaches your site directly over HTTPS — no proxy, no relay, and no third-party service in between. The plugin is itself the MCP server.
Working on a local development site? Use a tool that runs on your own computer instead — Claude Code, Codex, the Gemini CLI, or Cursor all sign in through your browser with no public address. One endpoint serves every client, so only the setup step changes.
Is it safe to let Perplexity work on your live WordPress site?
Yes, with the same guardrails the plugin applies to every client. Safe mode is on by default, so destructive tools ask before they run. Any write can be previewed as a dry run, every change lands in an undo journal you can roll back, and requests are rate-limited to 120 per minute. Perplexity gets only the access you approve, and you can revoke it any time — it all runs on your own server. More on security →
Questions, answered.
Which Perplexity plan do I need?
Perplexity Pro, Max or Enterprise. The free plan has no custom connectors, so it can't add your site. On Enterprise, an admin has to allow member custom connectors first. Your site must also be on public HTTPS, because Perplexity connects from its own servers.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Install the free plugin, click Open Perplexity on the Connections tab in Settings → Cowboy MCP, paste your site link into Perplexity, and approve the sign-in on your own site. No code, no terminal, no API key.
Does my content get sent to Perplexity?
Only what Perplexity needs to read to do the task you asked. Cowboy MCP adds no cloud, proxy, or tracking of its own — your site talks directly to Perplexity, and everything runs on your own server.
Perplexity asks me to reply yes — is something wrong?
No. Perplexity asks you to confirm with yes before it runs a connector's tool for the first time. Reply yes and it carries on. Cowboy MCP adds its own guardrails on top: safe mode asks before anything destructive, and every change can be undone.
The connector says no tools are available — why?
A short list is normal: Cowboy MCP exposes two gateway tools, cowboy_discover and cowboy_run, instead of loading every schema into Perplexity's context — ask it to “discover tools for WooCommerce”. If even those two are missing, the connection's scope is probably empty: check it under Connected apps on the Connections tab. Still nothing? Ask in the support forum (opens in new tab).
I get a 401 or 403 when connecting — what's wrong?
Run the Connection Doctor on the Connections tab. A 401 with a Basic Auth prompt means server-level password protection answers before WordPress — exclude /wp-json/cowboy-mcp/ and /.well-known/ from it. A 403 or 503 from Cloudflare is a bot challenge; a 403 or 406 mentioning ModSecurity is a firewall blocking JSON POSTs. Still stuck? Paste the report into the support forum (opens in new tab).
Ready to connect Perplexity to your WordPress site?
Install the free plugin, click Open Perplexity, add the connector, and approve the sign-in — Perplexity is working on your site minutes later. It works on any self-hosted WordPress site running version 6.2 or newer on PHP 8.0+. The same site also connects to ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok.