AI Webmaster gives the AI assistant you already use (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or Cursor) its own limited login to your HomeRunner site, so it can draft posts, build pages, update menus, fill in SEO fields and, when you allow it, change HomeRunner settings, with your approval before anything goes live.
What it does #
Keeping a booking site current is a stream of small jobs: a post about the new hot tub, a landing page for the second town you serve, a menu link for this winter’s specials, meta descriptions for the pages that never got one. AI Webmaster lets the assistant you already talk to do that work on your site while you keep the final say.
Your assistant connects to your website the same way it connects to your files or your calendar, through a small server the Toolkit runs at a private address on your site. Once connected, you talk to the assistant in plain language and it does the website work in the background.
Some things you can ask for:
- “Draft a blog post announcing the new hot tub at the Pines cabin. Keep it under 300 words and end with a link to the cabin’s page.”
- “Make a Boulder page from the Denver page. Swap every mention of Denver for Boulder and leave everything else alone.”
- “Add a link to the Winter Specials page to the main menu, right after Properties.”
- “Which of my pages have no meta description? Write one for the first five you find and show me before you save.”
- “Build a pet-friendly cabins page. Tell me how many properties it would list before you create anything.”
- “Hide the coupon field in the booking widget.”
- “Publish the draft you wrote yesterday.”
The assistant works under a separate login of its own, with a role that can do the tasks above and nothing else. It cannot delete anything, install or remove plugins, manage users, change WordPress settings, or upload scripts. It never gets your admin password.
Three rules keep you in control:
- Drafts first. New posts and pages are created as drafts with a preview link. Publishing is a separate step. (A collection page can go live at creation, but only when you ask for that and approve the preview first.)
- Approvals for anything live. Publishing, editing a page that is already public, changing the menu, changing SEO fields on a live page, creating or changing a collection page, and changing a HomeRunner setting each take two calls. The first shows you what would change and changes nothing. Only after you say yes does the assistant call again with the approval, and only then does the change land.
- Settings are read-only until you say otherwise. The assistant can read your HomeRunner settings from day one. Changing them is off on every site and needs a checkbox in the Hub.
Every call the assistant makes is written to an activity log inside the Toolkit, with the tool it used and how it went. You can look at it any time.
How to turn it on #
1. Check the requirements #
- WordPress 6.9 or newer.
- The WordPress MCP Adapter. The Toolkit ships its own copy, so there is nothing to install. If Rank Math SEO or the official MCP Adapter plugin is active, the assistant uses that copy instead, as long as it is current. If it is too old, the panel says Too old and names the plugin to update.
- Node.js 18 or newer on the computer where your assistant runs. Claude Code and Claude Desktop use it to reach the site.
The Toolkit panel tells you if anything is missing, and shows which adapter copy is in use (bundled with the Toolkit, or loaded by another plugin).
2. Switch on AI Webmaster #
In the HomeRunner Toolkit Hub, open AI & Integrations and switch on AI Webmaster. The panel shows the private address your assistant will use and the list of tools it will have.
3. Create the login #
In the same panel, choose how long the login should stay valid under Valid for (30, 60, 90, 180, or 365 days; 90 is the default) and click Create credential. The Toolkit creates a dedicated user on your site and shows the credential once.
Copy it right away. It is never shown again. If you lose it, click Replace credential; the old one stops working the moment the new one exists.
4. Connect your assistant #
Under the credential, the panel shows two ready-made snippets with the credential already filled in.
- Claude Code (terminal). Paste the one-line command into your terminal.
- Claude Desktop or Cursor (config file). Paste the JSON block into the assistant’s configuration file and restart it.
The snippets include the credential only until you reload the page.
5. Say hello #
Start a new conversation and ask for a site snapshot. The assistant reports your site name, how many posts and pages you have, your menus, which SEO plugin is installed, which Toolkit modules are on, and when its login expires. From there, ask for what you need in your own words.
6. Optional: allow settings changes #
If you want the assistant to change HomeRunner settings for you, tick Allow the assistant to change HomeRunner settings (preview, confirm, audit row) at the bottom of the panel and click Save. It is off until you turn it on. See “Changing HomeRunner settings” below for what it can and cannot touch.
What the assistant can do #
| Tool | What it does | Needs your approval |
|---|---|---|
| Site snapshot | Site name, versions, theme, counts, menus, SEO plugin, Toolkit modules, login expiry | No |
| List and read posts | Titles, status, content, categories, tags, featured image, SEO fields | No |
| List and read pages | Same for pages, and whether a page is built with the page builder | No |
| Create a post draft | New blog post as a draft, with categories, tags, and a featured image | No, it is a draft |
| Update a post or page | Title, content, excerpt, slug, categories, tags, featured image | Yes, if the item is already live |
| Publish | Turns a draft into a live post or page | Yes, always |
| Create a page from a template | Copies one of your pages and swaps the text you name | No, it is a draft |
| List and read menus | Every menu and its items | No |
| Add a menu item | A link to a page or a custom address, optionally nested | Yes, always |
| Reorder menu items | New order for a menu | Yes, always |
| SEO overview | How many pages have a focus keyword and description, and which need attention | No |
| Set SEO fields | SEO title, meta description, focus keyword for one post or page | Yes, if the item is already live |
| List collection pages | Every collection landing page with its address, filter, how many properties match, and whether it is live | No |
| Preview a collection page | Checks a proposed collection page without creating it and reports the address, the property count, and a suggested SEO title and description | No |
| Create a collection page | A new landing page that lists the properties matching a tag, amenity, group, type, city, or location. A draft unless you ask for it to go live | Yes, always |
| Update a collection page | Title, address, parent page, filter, intro text, SEO title or description of one collection page | Yes, always |
| Read HomeRunner settings | Your HomeRunner plugin settings as they appear on the HomeRunner settings screen: connection, sync, properties, explorer, map, booking widget, checkout, reviews, users, add-ons, advanced, monitoring | No |
| See toolkit modules | Every Toolkit module, whether it is on, and its settings | No |
| Change a HomeRunner setting | One setting at a time, after showing you the current and proposed values. Only exists while the Hub checkbox is on | Yes, always (guarded settings also need you to accept a warning) |
Page-builder pages (YOOtheme) keep their layout. The assistant can copy one of them into a new page and swap the words, but it cannot write page layouts from scratch. HTML the assistant writes into a blog post is cleaned the same way WordPress cleans a contributor’s post: paragraphs, headings, lists, links, and images stay; scripts and forms are removed.
Collection pages are the pre-filtered landing pages from Collection Pages, so that module has to be on. Before creating one, the assistant checks that the filter terms exist, that the parent is a published page, and that the address is free. It warns you when fewer than three properties match (a page that thin rarely ranks and can look empty) and when more match than fit on one explorer page. When it changes a page’s address or parent, the old address keeps working as a redirect. There is no delete: to retire a collection page, unpublish it.
The two settings tools only read. Ask questions like “Is auto-sync on?” or “Which toolkit modules are enabled?” and the assistant reports what it finds. Your Central connection key, passwords, and other secrets are never part of what it reads. Changing a setting is a separate tool, described next.
Changing HomeRunner settings #
This is off by default. Tick Allow the assistant to change HomeRunner settings (preview, confirm, audit row) in the panel and save, and the assistant gains one more tool. Untick it and the tool is refused again on its next call.
Every change is one setting at a time and follows the same two-call pattern as publishing. The first call changes nothing: the assistant shows you the setting’s name and help text as they appear on the HomeRunner settings screen, the current value, and the proposed value. Only after you approve does it apply the change. The receipt keeps the previous value, so “put it back” is the same kind of request in reverse. There is no separate undo.
Settings fall into three groups:
- Self-serve (your approval only): auto-sync on or off and its interval; which source feeds property titles and featured images, and how photos are imported; property display and booking-window options such as calendar length, advance notice, and how fees and taxes are combined; explorer defaults such as minimum stay, filters, date format, sort options, and how the grid shows photos and prices; map options other than the provider; booking widget display such as prices, guests, the calendar, the coupon field, and button text; review display; monitoring toggles.
- Guarded (your approval plus accepting a warning): checkout options such as section order, date format, cancellation policy and refund windows, address and message fields, phone formatting, and button text; the privacy policy and terms links; the Stripe pre-authorize flag; add-on toggles (Tools, AI search, relevance search, property add-ons, search log); the site currency. The warning says what is at stake in plain words, for example that a currency change does not convert the rates from your PMS, or that a pre-authorize change alters when guests are charged.
- Never: only the settings in the two groups above can be changed at all. Everything else is refused, including the Central connection (host, key, platform id), everything under users and advanced, the explorer redirect page, the map provider, property URL slugs, the checkout and confirmation page ids, and anything with a credential-shaped name.
Values are checked the same way the settings screen checks them: on or off, a choice from the list, a number within range. A link the assistant sets must be a full web address starting with http or https, with no login details and no “?” or “#” part, so you see exactly what you approve. The activity log records the proposal, the applied change with its old and new value, and any refusal.
Approvals, expiry, and revoking #
When the assistant tells you a change needs approval, it shows the preview link or lists exactly what would change. Nothing happens until you answer. If you approve, it makes the change and confirms.
The login expires on the date you chose. After that, every call is refused until you create a new credential. The panel shows when the login was created and when it expires, along with the last time it was used.
To cut off access early, click Revoke credential twice (the second click confirms). The assistant’s next call fails. Turning the module off, or deactivating the Toolkit plugin, revokes the login as well.
Activity log #
The bottom of the panel shows how many calls were made in the last 7 days and lists the most recent ones with the time, the tool, the post or page it touched, the outcome, and a one-line summary. An outcome of “partial” means the main change landed but a detail did not (a category could not be created, for example); the assistant reports the same detail to you in the conversation. Choose how long to keep the log under Keep activity for.
Settings #
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| AI Webmaster (module switch) | Whether the assistant’s server and login exist at all. Off by default. Turning it off revokes the login. |
| Valid for | How long a credential you create stays valid before every call is refused: 30, 60, 90, 180, or 365 days. Default 90 days. |
| Allow the assistant to change HomeRunner settings (preview, confirm, audit row) | Whether the settings-change tool is available. Off by default. Unticking it refuses the assistant’s next settings change. |
| Keep activity for | How long activity log rows are kept before the daily cleanup removes them: 30, 90, 180, or 365 days. Default 90 days. |
Tips #
- AI Webmaster is for your own assistant working on your site. To let guests’ AI assistants find and book your properties, see AI Booking Channel.
- Collection pages the assistant builds are ordinary Collection Pages rows. You can review, edit, or unpublish them in that module’s panel too.
- If every call is refused, open the panel first. An expired credential, an agent login that is no longer clean, or an adapter marked Too old each show there with the fix.
- The assistant treats the text on your site as content to read and edit, never as instructions. A sentence hidden in a page cannot tell it what to do.
- One login exists at a time. Replacing the credential retires the old one everywhere.
- The Toolkit’s own address is the only place the login works. It is refused on every other part of WordPress.
- Posts the assistant writes are marked as such in the database, so you can always tell its drafts from a person’s.
- Settings the assistant reads come back with sensitive values left out. Keys, tokens, and passwords never appear in its answers.
- If your developer manages the site from the command line,
wp hrtk agent statssummarizes the assistant’s calls per tool over the last 7 days (or any window up to a year), andwp hrtk agent statusshows the login state and whether settings changes are allowed. The activity log in the panel remains the complete record. - New to the Toolkit? Start with the Toolkit overview.