# Who can connect AI clients, and what they may do
> Set which WordPress users may connect Claude, ChatGPT and other AI clients to Royal MCP, who may use Royal MCP tools through other MCP servers and browser agents, and limit each connection to Full, Read-only or Drafts only access.
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- Last updated: 2026-11-05
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Royal MCP gives you three layers of control over AI access to your site. The first decides *who* may connect an AI client at all. The second decides *what* each connection may do: everything, read only, or drafts only. The third is a pair of site-wide switches that override everything else when you need a safety net. This guide walks through each setting, where it lives, how they combine, and what an AI client sees when one of them says no.
## The settings at a glance
Most of these settings are on **Royal MCP > Settings**, in the group called **What AI clients may do**. Per-client access levels are on **Royal MCP > Connected Clients**. You need to be a site administrator to change any of them, and every change is recorded in the Royal MCP Activity Log.
| Setting | What it controls | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Who can connect AI clients | Which users may sign an AI client in to the site with OAuth, as Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and most other clients do. | Administrators only |
| Who can use tools through other MCP servers and browser agents | Which users may use Royal MCP tools through the WordPress Abilities API, other MCP servers on the site, or a browser agent. | Administrators only |
| Access level on Connected Clients | What one OAuth-connected AI client may do, for every user who connected it. | Full |
| Access level: API key | What connections that use the Royal MCP API key may do. It sits in the API key group on the Settings screen. | Full |
| Access level: other MCP servers and browser agents | What calls arriving through other MCP servers and browser agents may do. | Full |
| Read-only mode | A site-wide switch that refuses every change, for every connection and every user. | Off |
| Drafts only | A site-wide switch that allows drafts and nothing else. | Off |
WordPress permissions always apply
None of these settings can give an AI client more than the user it acts for. Every Royal MCP tool checks that user’s own WordPress permissions, so an AI client connected by an author can edit that author’s posts but not another user’s, and cannot change site settings at all. These settings can only narrow access further.
## Who can connect AI clients
When you add Royal MCP to Claude or ChatGPT, the client sends you to a WordPress sign-in and consent screen. This setting decides who is allowed past that screen.
| Choice | Who may connect |
| --- | --- |
| Administrators only | Users who can manage the site’s options, which normally means administrators. This is the default. |
| Editors and above | Users who can edit other people’s posts, which by default means editors and administrators. |
| Any user | Any logged-in user, including authors, contributors and subscribers. Each one is still limited to what their own role allows. |
A user who is not allowed sees “Your account is not allowed to connect AI clients to this site. Ask a site administrator.” and no connection is made.
If you narrow the setting later, AI clients that were connected by users who no longer qualify stop working straight away. Their next call is refused with “This account is not allowed to connect AI clients to this site.” Widening the setting again lets those clients work again without reconnecting, as long as their sign-in has not expired or been revoked.
### When to widen it
Choose Editors and above when your editors use Claude or ChatGPT to draft and update content. Choose Any user only when you have a clear reason, such as authors managing their own posts with an AI client; consider pairing it with Drafts only so nothing goes live without review.
## Who can use tools through other MCP servers and browser agents
Royal MCP’s tools are not only reachable through Royal MCP’s own connection. They are also registered with the WordPress Abilities API, so other MCP servers on the site, such as the WordPress MCP Adapter or Elementor’s MCP server, can offer them, and browser agents that use a WebMCP bridge can call them with your browser login. This setting decides which users may use Royal MCP tools in those ways.
| Choice | Who may use them |
| --- | --- |
| Administrators only | Administrators. This is the default. |
| Editors and above | Users who can edit other people’s posts. |
| Any user with the tool’s own capability | Any logged-in user whose role has the permission the individual tool needs, so an author could use content tools but not settings tools. |
Users who are not allowed get “Royal MCP tools are not available to your account through other MCP servers or browser agents on this site.” Royal MCP’s own connection is not affected by this setting. To see which Application Passwords have used these routes, and block one, read [See and control Application Password connections](https://royalplugins.com/support/royal-mcp/application-passwords/). To stop offering Royal MCP tools through the Abilities API altogether, turn off **Register tools with the WordPress Abilities API** under Royal MCP > Settings > Advanced.
## Access levels: Full, Read-only and Drafts only
Every way of connecting has its own access level, so you can trust one AI client with everything and keep another on a short leash.
| Level | What the connection may do |
| --- | --- |
| Full | Use every tool the user’s permissions allow. |
| Read-only | Read anything the user may read; every tool that creates, updates or deletes is refused. |
| Drafts only | Create posts and pages as drafts or pending, edit posts that are still drafts or pending, and upload media for them. Publishing and every other change is refused. |
### Set the level for one AI client
#### Open Connected Clients
Go to **Royal MCP > Connected Clients**. Each row is an AI client signed in by one user.
#### Choose the level in the Access column
Pick Full, Read-only or Drafts only and click **Save** on that row.
#### It applies to every user of that client
The level belongs to the AI client, so it applies to everyone who connected through it. The next call from that client follows the new level; nobody needs to reconnect.
If you remove a client and it registers again, it keeps the limit it had, and the row says “Same as an earlier registration of this client. Choose Full and Save to lift it.” Registering again never lifts a limit by itself.
### Set the level for the API key and for other routes
On **Royal MCP > Settings**, **Access level: API key** covers clients that use the Royal MCP API key, and **Access level: other MCP servers and browser agents** covers calls through the Abilities API, other MCP servers and browser agents, including those signed in with an Application Password.
### What the AI client sees
A refused call explains itself, for example “This AI client is limited to read-only access in Royal MCP: tools that change the site are switched off for it.” Nothing on the site is changed. Good AI clients pass this on to you rather than retrying.
## Read-only mode and Drafts only
These two switches sit at the top of the “What AI clients may do” group and apply to every connection and every user, administrators included.
### Read-only mode
When on, AI clients can read the site but not change it. Every tool that creates, updates or deletes is refused with “This site is in read-only mode: tools that change the site are switched off.” Undo is refused too, because it changes the site. Use it while you audit a site with an AI client, during a content freeze, or the moment you are unsure what a connected client is doing.
### Drafts only
When on, AI clients can create drafts, edit drafts and pending posts, and upload media for them, but cannot publish or change anything else. A few other actions stay allowed because they never change what visitors see: making and ending preview links, copying a published post into a new draft with `wp_clone_post_as_draft`, creating or copying a TablePress table, saving a MailPoet email draft, and undoing a change to a post or email that is still a draft. Refusals start with “Drafts-only mode is on:” followed by the reason.
Drafts only is the natural setting for AI-assisted writing: the client prepares the work, and a person reviews and publishes it in WordPress. If both switches are on, Read-only mode wins.
## How the settings combine
Royal MCP checks a call in this order, and the first rule that says no wins:
1. Is the user allowed to connect, or to use the route the call came through?
2. Does the user’s WordPress role allow this tool?
3. Is Read-only mode or Drafts only on for the whole site?
4. What is this connection’s own access level?
5. For browser agents only: has the tool been switched off under **Tools browser agents can use**?
The result is always the strictest of the settings that apply. For example, an AI client set to Full on a site with Drafts only on can only work on drafts, and an AI client set to Read-only stays read-only even when the site-wide switches are off.
## Changing these settings with WP-CLI
If you manage sites from the command line, the access levels and Drafts only can be changed with WP-CLI. Each change is recorded in the Activity Log, just like a change on the Settings screen.
```
wp royal-mcp list-clients
wp royal-mcp set-access read-only
wp royal-mcp set-access api-key drafts-only
wp royal-mcp set-access other-routes read-only
wp royal-mcp drafts-only on
wp royal-mcp drafts-only status
```
The two “who can” settings and Read-only mode are changed on the Settings screen.
## Troubleshooting
### An editor sees “Your account is not allowed to connect AI clients to this site.”
Who can connect AI clients is set to Administrators only. Change it to Editors and above, or connect the AI client from an administrator account.
### An AI client that worked yesterday now says the account is not allowed
Either the setting was narrowed, or the user who connected the client lost the role that qualified them. Check the user’s role and the setting; the Activity Log shows when the setting changed and who changed it.
### The AI client can read but every change is refused
Look at the exact message. “This site is in read-only mode” means the site-wide switch is on. “This AI client is limited to read-only access” points to its row on Connected Clients. “The API key connection is limited” points to Access level: API key. “Calls through other MCP servers and browser agents are limited” points to the access level for other routes.
### The AI client says “You do not have permission to use” a tool
The user it acts for lacks the WordPress permission that tool needs. These settings cannot add permissions; give the user the right role, or connect the client from an account that has it.
## Frequently asked questions
### Can I let editors use Claude without giving them full access?
Yes. Set Who can connect AI clients to Editors and above, then set that client’s access level on Connected Clients to Drafts only, or turn on Drafts only for the whole site. Editors can then prepare drafts, and a person publishes them.
### Does Read-only mode stop administrators too?
Yes. Read-only mode applies to every connection and every user, administrators included. Admins can still make changes themselves in wp-admin; only AI clients are stopped.
### If I change an access level, does the AI client need to reconnect?
No. The next call from that client follows the new level.
### Can an AI client change these settings itself?
No. Royal MCP has no tool that changes who can connect, the access levels, Read-only mode or Drafts only. They are changed by an administrator on the Royal MCP screens or with WP-CLI.
### Do these settings affect Application Password connections?
Yes. Calls that sign in with an Application Password reach Royal MCP through the Abilities API or another MCP server, so the setting Who can use tools through other MCP servers and browser agents and the access level for other routes apply to them, along with Read-only mode and Drafts only.
## Related
[Connections
Application Password Connections
See, block or delete Application Passwords that use Royal MCP tools.](https://royalplugins.com/support/royal-mcp/application-passwords/)
[Coexistence
Royal MCP Next to Other MCP Servers
The Abilities API, the MCP Adapter, Elementor MCP and shared sign-in.](https://royalplugins.com/support/royal-mcp/other-mcp-servers/)
[Back to Royal MCP Support](https://royalplugins.com/support/royal-mcp/)
[Other MCP Servers](https://royalplugins.com/support/royal-mcp/other-mcp-servers/)