Connect ConvertSite MCP to Codex

Connect Codex to ConvertSite through the MCP server to build and edit projects directly in ConvertSite, then open the preview in the built-in browser to inspect what was built and keep iterating. The MCP server lives at https://convertsite.com/mcp and connects through OAuth: after adding the server, Codex sends you to your browser to sign in to your ConvertSite account.

Two separate things decide how well this works:

• ConvertSite access (MCP or the ConvertSite Plugin) determines whether the AI can read and change your project.

• Browser or computer access determines whether the AI can open the rendered preview, look at it, and iterate on its own.

That is why this guide recommends Codex in the ChatGPT desktop app: it has both. In a hurry? Skip the background and jump straight to Step 1: Add the MCP server to Codex.

Choose the right OpenAI environment

OpenAI's current product naming makes it easy to assume that every version of "ChatGPT" offers the same capabilities. It does not. Two dimensions are easy to confuse:

1. Environment or mode: Chat, Work, and Codex. This is the AI experience you pick for a task.

2. Where it runs: ChatGPT web, ChatGPT mobile, and the ChatGPT desktop app. This is the app or website you use.

"Web" is not a fourth AI environment: it is a place where those modes run. Chat and Work are available on ChatGPT web; Chat, Work, and Codex are available in the desktop app. Codex cannot currently be selected as a mode on ChatGPT web or mobile, and Work on web and mobile runs in the cloud rather than on your machine. Availability can depend on your plan, region, rollout, and workspace settings.

Comparison at a glance

Web search is not the same capability as an interactive browser. Chat can search the web for current information, but that is different from a browser that opens a page, clicks and types in it, inspects what is rendered, and verifies its own work.

Why Codex is the current recommendation

The ConvertSite Plugin has been submitted to OpenAI but is still awaiting approval. Until it is publicly available, the recommended setup is Codex in the ChatGPT desktop app + a direct ConvertSite MCP connection: direct read and write access to ConvertSite through MCP, plus a built-in browser to inspect the rendered desktop and mobile result and iterate on what it sees.

Once the ConvertSite Plugin is available

After OpenAI approves the ConvertSite Plugin, you have two particularly useful options:

• Work: best if you want to hand a broader task to an agent and let it use ConvertSite, a browser, and other sources. Work is the easier browser-capable option for general users.

• Codex: best if you want a more development-oriented environment, direct MCP configuration, local files, repositories, and developer tools, or more control over the build process.

Ordinary Chat is not the default ConvertSite experience. It can be useful for smaller one-shot actions through the plugin, but it has no browser or computer environment, so it cannot independently run the full visual feedback loop. You can inspect a result yourself and send screenshots or feedback, but that is manual checking, not autonomous iteration.

MCP and Plugin: what each one does

These two terms are related but different:

• MCP is the connection that exposes ConvertSite tools and data to an AI environment. For Codex, you connect directly to https://convertsite.com/mcp.

• ConvertSite Plugin packages ConvertSite so it can be discovered and used inside supported OpenAI environments. The plugin can use the ConvertSite MCP server underneath.

The plugin gives the AI access to ConvertSite. The environment gives the AI additional capabilities such as a browser, a cloud computer, local files, or developer tools, so the same ConvertSite capabilities can behave differently depending on the OpenAI environment in which the plugin is used.

The MCP connection also serves the three ConvertSite skills directly: a client that supports the MCP Skills extension receives them from the connection, so you do not need to install the ConvertSite Plugin for that purpose. See ConvertSite skills over MCP.

Why browser access matters

The MCP exposes your project's structure, formulas, settings, and actions. That is not the same thing as seeing the final rendered page, and not every visual issue can be identified from the project structure alone.

After creating a calculator or website, an AI with browser access can check things like:

• Whether the layout actually looks correct.

• Desktop and mobile rendering.

• Spacing, alignment, and visual hierarchy.

• Whether elements overflow or overlap.

• Whether conditional states render correctly.

• Whether interactions behave as expected.

• Whether calculation results appear correctly.

• Whether buttons and conversion actions work as intended.

An environment without browser access can still read the project structure and make changes through MCP, but it cannot independently perform this visual validation loop.

Step 1: Add the MCP server to Codex

You can ask Codex itself, or add the server yourself in the ChatGPT desktop app, the IDE extension, or the CLI. To let Codex handle the setup, paste this prompt into a conversation:

1. Add MCP server with the following MCP server url:

https://convertsite.com/mcp

2. Prompt the user to authenticate their ConvertSite account through oAuth

In the ChatGPT desktop app:

1. Open Settings and select MCP servers.

2. Select Add server.

3. Enter a name such as ConvertSite, choose Streamable HTTP, and enter the server URL https://convertsite.com/mcp.

4. Save the server, then select Restart.

In the IDE extension, open the gear menu, select MCP servers, then Add server. Save the server and use Restart extension.

Step 2: Authenticate your ConvertSite account

In the desktop app or IDE extension, select Authenticate next to the ConvertSite server. In the CLI, run codex mcp login for the ConvertSite server.

Codex opens your browser. Sign in with the email address of your ConvertSite account and approve the requested access.

The connection grants read access to your apps (convert:apps.read) and write access to change or publish them (convert:apps.write). OAuth is tied to your ConvertSite account, not to one workspace: the connection works for every workspace you belong to, and joining or leaving a workspace takes effect without reconnecting.

Check the connection

Codex shows whether a server is enabled or still needs authentication. In the Codex TUI, type /mcp to see active servers.

Why use the MCP over the built-in AI

ConvertSite includes a built-in AI assistant that builds sites through a chat conversation inside ConvertSite, using AI credits tied to your plan. Connecting the MCP lets you use the AI subscription you already have, such as Claude or Codex, instead of consuming ConvertSite AI credits.

Save your ConvertSite AI credits

The MCP uses your existing AI subscription instead of consuming ConvertSite AI credits. Building through the connection uses your AI account, so your AI provider's plan and usage limits apply, and your ConvertSite plan controls publishing and features.

Bring all your project context

Your AI tool can use reference files the built-in assistant cannot, such as Excel models, documents, PDFs, screenshots, and other files you upload to the chat. Depending on the AI application you use, the assistant can also research websites and current information online.

Build directly in ConvertSite

The assistant turns your instructions and reference materials into real sites, forms, calculators, quote tools, quizzes, and configurators, without rebuilding everything manually.

Make smarter, more precise changes

The assistant can inspect your existing structure, styles, formulas, defaults, and interactions before editing. This helps it change what you asked for while preserving the rest of your site.

Check and improve the result

What the AI can check on its own depends on the environment you use, not on the MCP connection alone.

From a browser-capable environment such as Codex in the desktop app, the AI can open the preview, review desktop and mobile layouts, calculations, interactions, conditional states, and conversion actions, and fix issues it finds. From an environment without browser access, the AI can still make changes through MCP, but you inspect the result yourself and send screenshots or feedback instead.

Why connect before starting

Connecting the MCP before you start building lets the assistant use your source material and the real ConvertSite structure from the beginning. This reduces duplicate work and makes validation part of the build process rather than an afterthought.

After connecting

Return to your AI assistant and describe what you want to build. The assistant will use the ConvertSite MCP to create and edit your project directly. You can also ask it to improve an existing ConvertSite project or start from a template, without rebuilding everything.

Your project stays editable outside the conversation: open it in the ConvertSite visual builder to edit its styling, components, formulas, and actions yourself, or describe the next revision to your connected AI.

Your published site keeps running when you close the conversation: it runs on ConvertSite, so its pages and calculations keep working.

Create table-backed CMS pages through the MCP

A connected assistant can create, update, and remove table-backed CMS pages directly through MCP page content, without opening the editor. The Write app content and Edit app content tools set, change, and clear the table backing that makes a page display a record from a linked table, one record per URL.

The backing is expressed with three optional attributes in the page content: backing_table_id, backing_column_id, and backing_reference. The rules:

• Table and Column: a backed page must use a table that already exists in the app, and the matching column must be a String or Slug column. When the assistant names the table but leaves out the column, ConvertSite picks a suitable column automatically. The assistant takes the table and column IDs from the app table information.

• Path prefix: the page path is written as a prefix, for example /blog, and ConvertSite adds the /:value segment that matches individual records automatically. A backed page cannot also have an explicit path parameter; such a request is rejected.

• Reference: the optional backing_reference gives formulas access to the matching record when a visitor opens the URL of a matched record. When it is left out, the reference defaults to the table name.

A complete Write app content, or an exact page replacement with Edit app content, that leaves out all three attributes removes existing backing. Your normal workspace, app, page, and table permissions apply. To bind a page to a table by hand instead, use the page settings in the editor: see Manage pages in the website builder.

Using Claude instead? See Connect ConvertSite MCP to Claude.