Connect Claude Desktop via API Key (Skip OAuth)

Get your API key from WordPress

Log into wp-admin on the site you want to connect, then navigate to Royal MCP → Settings → General Settings. Find the WordPress API Key field — the key is pre-generated and visible in the input. Click Copy. If you want a fresh key (or the field is empty), click Regenerate first — this immediately invalidates the old key.

Make sure the Enable Royal MCP Integration toggle at the top of the same page is on. Royal MCP rejects every request when disabled, regardless of which auth method you use.

WP Admin → Royal MCP → Settings → General Settings. The WordPress API Key field has the value pre-filled with Copy and Regenerate buttons.

Locate your Claude Desktop config file

Claude Desktop reads its MCP server list from a file called claude_desktop_config.json. The file lives at:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json — paste that string directly into File Explorer’s address bar; it resolves to C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\Claude\

If no file exists yet, create one with that exact name in the appropriate folder above — Claude Desktop will read it on next launch. If it exists with other MCP servers configured, you’ll be merging into the existing mcpServers object, not replacing the whole file.

Add the Royal MCP entry

Substitute three values in the template below:

• example.com → your bare domain (e.g. yoursite.com or www.yoursite.com). Do NOT include https:// — the protocol is already in the template.
• your-api-key-here → the 32-character key from step 1. Paste the raw key only — do not prefix it with anything.
• my-site (the connector name) → whatever you want it to appear as in Claude Desktop’s tool list (lowercase, hyphens, no spaces).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-site": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://example.com/wp-json/royal-mcp/v1/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization:Bearer your-api-key-here"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Save the file. After substitution your URL line should look like "https://yoursite.com/wp-json/royal-mcp/v1/mcp" — NOT "https://https://yoursite.com/wp-json/royal-mcp/v1/mcp". If you see a doubled https://, you included the protocol in your substitution; remove the duplicate. If you already have other MCP servers configured, merge this entry into your existing mcpServers object — don’t replace the whole file.

Restart Claude Desktop

Quit Claude Desktop completely (don’t just close the window — on macOS use Cmd+Q, on Windows right-click the system tray icon → Quit). Reopen it. The first launch after a config change can take 10–30 seconds while npx downloads mcp-remote on demand — subsequent launches are instant.

Verify the connection

Open any chat in Claude Desktop and click the + button next to the input box → Connectors. You should see your connector listed by the name you used in step 3, with a toggle to enable it for that conversation.

Claude → + button → Connectors. Each Royal MCP site appears with its own toggle. Same flow in claude.ai web and Claude Desktop.

For a more direct test, type: “Do we have an open connector to yoursite.com?” (substitute your actual site). Claude will call wp_get_site_info against that specific connector and reply with the site’s URL, name, and a few other fields. Asking about a specific site is better than a generic “what am I connected to?” — the generic version will list every connector you have configured and clutter the answer.