Claude

Claude can work on your site directly, building pages, writing posts, checking analytics and fixing links. How you connect it depends on which Claude you use.

Most people want the first one. It is a few clicks in Claude's settings and there is no key to handle.

If you just want AI help inside BrightSite without setting anything up, use Lumi instead. See Meet Lumi.

Claude on the web and the desktop app

Claude calls these connectors. You add BrightSite once and it is available in your conversations from then on, on every device you sign in to.

Turn on developer mode

Adding your own connector is behind a setting Claude keeps switched off by default. Open Claude's settings, and under the general settings look for developer mode. Switch it on.

The name makes this sound more technical than it is. It only means you are adding a connector by its address rather than choosing one from Claude's own list. You are not writing any code, and nothing else about Claude changes.

Add BrightSite

1. In Claude's settings, open the connectors section.
2. Choose to add a custom connector.
3. Give it a name. BrightSite is fine.
4. For the address, enter https://onbrightsite.com/api/mcp
5. Save, then choose to connect it.
6. A BrightSite page opens in your browser. Sign in if you are not already, and approve the connection.

That address is the same for every customer. You do not put your own domain in it.

You are returned to Claude, connected. There is no key to copy, and nothing stored on your computer.

If the connector is not offered

Custom connectors are not on every Claude plan. If you have developer mode switched on and still cannot add one, your plan is the reason. You can still use Claude Code, below, which works on any plan.

Claude Code

Claude Code is the terminal tool, and it needs an API key. Create one from the user menu in the top-right corner of BrightSite, under Profile Settings, on the API Keys tab. The key is shown once, at the moment you create it, so copy it somewhere safe immediately. You cannot look it up again. Full detail is on API keys.

Then run this, substituting your own key:

claude mcp add --transport http brightsite https://onbrightsite.com/api/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Breaking that down:

• --transport http tells Claude Code this is a remote server rather than a local program.
• brightsite is the name you will see in Claude Code. You can call it something else.
• https://onbrightsite.com/api/mcp is the BrightSite address, the same for every account.
• The --header flag carries your key. Keep the word Bearer and the space after it.

Add --scope user to the end if you want the connection in every project on your computer rather than just the current folder. Restart Claude Code after adding it.

Editing the desktop config file directly

You will not need this if the connector method above worked. It is here for anyone who prefers editing a file, or who is on a version of the desktop app without connectors.

The file lives at:

If it does not exist, create it. If it already has an mcpServers section, add the brightsite entry inside the existing one rather than adding a second mcpServers block.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brightsite": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://onbrightsite.com/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your key, keeping the quotation marks and the word Bearer. Keys start with bs_mcp_. Save the file, then fully quit and reopen the app. On macOS use Quit rather than closing the window.

The first thing to ask for

Every BrightSite action needs to know which account you mean, and Claude cannot guess. So the first thing in a new conversation is:

List my BrightSite accounts.

Claude comes back with each account and its id, and from then on you can refer to them by name ("work on my Riverside Dental account") and let Claude resolve the rest. Skip this and your first real request fails with an error about a missing account id.

Check it worked

Ask for something that only reads:

List my BrightSite accounts, then show me the pages on the first one.

Real account names and real page titles coming back means the connection is good.

If it does not work

No BrightSite tools appear at all

If you added a connector, check it shows as connected in Claude's settings, and that developer mode is still on. If you edited the config file, quit the app completely and reopen it (the file is only read at startup), then check your JSON is valid, because one missing comma makes the whole file be ignored without any warning.

Authentication fails, or you see a 401

This only affects key-based setups. Work through these in order:

• Check the header is Bearer YOUR_KEY: the word Bearer, one space, then the key. The word is easy to leave out.
• Check the key was not truncated when you copied it. Keys begin with bs_mcp_.
• Check it has not been revoked or expired, on the API Keys tab in Profile Settings.
• If in doubt, revoke it and create a fresh one. A key retyped from memory is very often the problem, because it is only ever shown once.

Other problems

Missing accounts, billing refusals, permission errors and rate limits work the same way for every tool, and are covered on Connecting an AI tool.

For agencies

• Prefer connectors over keys. Signing in through the browser leaves no secret in a file, which matters most on a shared or synced machine. Use keys only where a browser is not available, such as scripted jobs.
• One key, all clients. Keys are per person, so a single key reaches every account you are a member of. Convenient, but a leaked key exposes every client at once. Revoke on the slightest doubt.
• Name the client in your first message. With thirty accounts, "update the homepage" is ambiguous, and the wrong id means working on the wrong client's site.
• Constrain automation with roles, not prompts. If a connection should only ever draft, put its user on a role without publish rights. The check runs on every call, so it holds regardless of what Claude is asked to do.

Related

• Connecting an AI tool
• API keys
• What AI tools can do
• Working safely with AI