You can now check, clear and configure BigScoots Cache by chatting with an AI assistant. Ask in plain English, for example "Is my cache working?" or "Clear the cache for my About page". The assistant does the work on your site and tells you what happened.

Which AI tools work: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and OpenAI's Codex. The web versions of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude can't connect yet. See Step 3: Connect your AI tool below for details.

This works because BigScoots Cache supports the WordPress Abilities API. That lets AI tools connect to WordPress through MCP, a standard way for AI assistants to use apps. You don't need to know how either works to use them.

What you can ask your AI assistant to do

Below are examples of what you can ask. Every AI tool words its replies differently, so treat the replies as examples, not exact text.

Check your cache

You: Is BigScoots Cache working on my site?

AI: BigScoots Cache is enabled on your site and running on the Boost plan. The cache rule is working, and your home page is being served from cache. Logged-in user cache is also on.

You: Test whether my home page is being cached.

AI: The test didn't find a cache status header on your home page, which means the page isn't being served from BigScoots Cache right now. Sometimes the cache skips automated test requests, so you can also check in a private browser window: reload your home page two or three times and look for the response header x-bigscoots-cache-status: HIT. If you still don't see it, contact BigScoots Support.

Clear the cache

You: I just updated my About page, but visitors still see the old version. Can you clear its cache?

AI: Done. I've cleared the cache for https://yoursite.com/about/. Please allow up to 30 seconds for the change to take effect.

You: Clear the page cache for the whole site.

AI: Your request to clear the page cache has been submitted. All cached pages will be refreshed, while images, CSS, and JavaScript files stay cached. Please allow up to 30 seconds for this to take effect.

The assistant can clear:

one or more pages by URL
specific posts, optionally along with their category and tag pages
every cached page on the site
everything, including images, CSS and JavaScript files

It will usually pick the smallest option that fixes your problem.

Change settings

You: Stop caching my Contact page.

AI: I've turned on cache bypass for your Contact page, so visitors will always get a fresh copy. I've also cleared its cached copy.

You: Don't cache anything under /members/.

AI: I've added /members/ to your excluded URLs. Pages under /members/ will no longer be cached.

You: Turn off BigScoots Cache while I test a design change.

AI: BigScoots Cache has been turned off on your website, and its cache has been cleared. Every visitor now gets uncached pages, so remember to ask me to turn it back on when you're done testing.

Troubleshoot a problem

You: A blog post I edited this morning still shows the old version. Can you find out why?

AI: I checked the cache log. BigScoots Cache tried to clear your post's cache after your edit, but the request failed. I've cleared the cache for that post again now, so the latest version should show within 30 seconds. If this keeps happening, contact BigScoots Support and mention the failed cache clear in the log.

You: Turn on detailed logging. I'm going to reproduce the problem.

AI: Logging is now on with full detail. Reproduce the problem, then ask me to read the log again.

Get help from the BigScoots Help Center

You: How do I stop a page from being cached? Check the BigScoots help articles.

AI: According to the BigScoots Help Center, you can bypass the cache for a single page from the page editor, or add its URL to the excluded URLs list in the plugin settings. I can do either one for you now if you tell me which page.

Before you start

You need:

WordPress 6.9 or newer, with PHP 7.4 or newer.
BigScoots Cache version 5.0.0 or newer.
A site that loads over https://. WordPress only allows application passwords on secure sites.
The MCP Adapter plugin. This is an official WordPress project that lets AI tools talk to your site. It isn't on the WordPress.org plugin directory yet, so you install it from GitHub:
1. Go to the MCP Adapter releases page.
2. Under the latest release, download mcp-adapter.zip.
3. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin, choose the zip file, then click Install Now and Activate.

You can read more about the project in the WordPress announcement and on GitHub.

Note: Some plugins, such as WooCommerce and Rank Math, include their own built-in copy of the MCP Adapter. Please install the standalone MCP Adapter plugin anyway.

Step 1: Create an application password

An application password lets your AI tool sign in to your site without using your normal login password.

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to Users → Profile.

2. Scroll down to the Application Passwords section, enter a name you will recognize later (for example, AI assistant), and click Add New Application Password.

3. Copy the new password right away and save it somewhere safe. WordPress shows it only once. You won't be able to see it again after you leave the page.

Note: The password contains spaces (for example, abcd EFGH 1234 ijkl MNOP 5678). The spaces are part of the password, so copy it exactly as shown.

Tip: Create a separate application password for each AI tool. If you stop using one, you can revoke just that password from the same Application Passwords section.

The AI assistant can only do what your WordPress user is allowed to do, so choose which user creates the password with that in mind.

Who can do what

What you ask the AI to do	Who is allowed
Check cache status, test the cache	Administrators and roles you allow under Advanced → Permission Settings
Clear the cache	Administrators and roles you allow under Advanced → Permission Settings
Turn the cache on or off	Administrators and roles you allow under Advanced → Permission Settings
Search the BigScoots Help Center	Administrators and roles you allow under Advanced → Permission Settings
View or change cache settings for one post or page	Anyone who can edit that post or page
View or change the plugin's site-wide settings	Administrators only
Read or clear the cache log	Administrators only

Note: Roles you allow under Permission Settings can also turn the whole cache off, not just clear it. Only allow roles you trust with that.

Step 2: Encode your sign-in details

Most AI tools need your username and application password combined into one encoded line. You can create it on your own computer with a single command. Don't paste your password into an online encoding website: that sends your live password to a third party.

Replace username with your WordPress username and xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx with your application password. Keep the colon between them, and keep the quotes and the spaces.

On a Mac: open Terminal and run:

printf '%s' 'username:xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx' | base64

On Windows: open PowerShell and run:

[Convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes('username:xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx'))

The command prints a long line of letters and numbers, for example dXNlcm5hbWU6eHh4eCB4eHh4.... Copy it. The steps below call it YOUR_ENCODED_LOGIN.

Note: Claude Desktop doesn't need this step. It uses your username and application password directly.

Step 3: Connect your AI tool

In every example below, replace yoursite.com with your own domain.

Claude Code

Run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user bigscoots-cache https://yoursite.com/wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server --header "Authorization: Basic YOUR_ENCODED_LOGIN"

Keep the parts in this order. The --header part must come last, or the command fails with missing required argument 'name'.

To check the connection, run claude mcp list. You should see bigscoots-cache with ✔ Connected.

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop needs Node.js installed on your computer to connect to your site.

Download and install the LTS version of Node.js from nodejs.org.
Open Claude Desktop and go to Settings → Developer → Edit Config. This opens a file called claude_desktop_config.json.

Add the mcpServers section below. If the file already has other content, put mcpServers at the top level, after the existing sections, not inside preferences. Remember the comma after the closing } of the section before it.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bigscoots-cache": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@automattic/mcp-wordpress-remote@latest"],
      "env": {
        "WP_API_URL": "https://yoursite.com/wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server",
        "WP_API_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "WP_API_PASSWORD": "xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Save the file, then fully quit Claude Desktop and open it again.

Note: Claude Desktop can't connect to your site with the encoded-login method from Step 2. It only accepts the setup above.

Gemini CLI

Run this command in your terminal:

gemini mcp add --transport http --scope user bigscoots-cache https://yoursite.com/wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server --header "Authorization: Basic YOUR_ENCODED_LOGIN"

Start Gemini CLI and type /mcp. You should see bigscoots-cache listed as connected, along with its tools.

Codex CLI

Open the file config.toml in a text editor. It's in a folder called .codex in your home folder:
- Mac: ~/.codex/config.toml
- Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.codex\config.toml
If the file doesn't exist, create it.

Add these lines at the end:

[mcp_servers.bigscoots-cache]
   url = "https://yoursite.com/wp-json/mcp/mcp-adapter-default-server"
   http_headers = { "Authorization" = "Basic YOUR_ENCODED_LOGIN" }

Save the file and restart Codex.

According to OpenAI's documentation, the ChatGPT desktop app shares these MCP settings with Codex, so the same entry should also work there.

ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude in a web browser

The web versions of ChatGPT (chatgpt.com), Gemini (gemini.google.com), and Claude (claude.ai) can't connect to your site yet. They only connect to tools that use a separate sign-in system (OAuth), and the MCP Adapter doesn't offer that at the moment. For now, please use one of the apps or command-line tools above.

Using it

Once connected, just ask in plain English. You don't need special commands. It helps to mention BigScoots Cache or your site so the assistant knows which tool to use, for example:

"Using BigScoots Cache, check whether my site's cache is working."
"Clear the cache for https://yoursite.com/pricing/."
"Read the BigScoots Cache log and tell me if anything looks wrong."

Before the assistant clears your cache or changes a setting, your AI tool asks you to approve the action. Read the request before you approve it.

Staying safe

The AI can only do what its WordPress user can do. If you don't want it changing settings, create the application password from a user that isn't an administrator.
Clearing everything slows your site down for a while. Clearing all cache also removes cached images, CSS, and JavaScript, so pages load more slowly until the cache fills up again. Clearing only the pages you changed is usually enough.
Turning the cache off affects every visitor. All visitors get uncached pages until you turn it back on.
Revoke passwords you no longer use. Go to Users → Profile → Application Passwords and click Revoke next to the password.
Your tool's settings file stores your sign-in details. Don't share that file or post it anywhere.

Troubleshooting

The AI tool says it isn't authorized, or you see a 401 error

Check that the username is correct and the application password includes its spaces.
For the encoded login, check that you kept the word Basic followed by a space before it.
Create the encoded login again with the command from Step 2.

The AI tool connects, but can't find any BigScoots Cache actions

Check that the MCP Adapter plugin is installed and active.
Check that BigScoots Cache is up to date.
If you use WooCommerce or Rank Math, make sure you have also installed the standalone MCP Adapter plugin.

Claude Desktop says the entry is "not valid" and was skipped

Check that mcpServers is at the top level of the file and not inside another section.
Check that you used the Node.js setup shown above.

Claude Desktop can't start the connection

Make sure Node.js is installed.
Fully quit Claude Desktop and open it again.

The cache test doesn't run

The cache test isn't available on staging sites. Run it on your live site instead.

If you're still stuck, contact our support team. Tell us which AI tool you're using and what it said, and we'll look into it with you.

Manage BigScoots Cache from Your AI Assistant (e.g. Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini)