Connecting Your Site

Respira's auto-connect handshake is the fastest path from "plugin installed" to "site visible in the dashboard". One click in WordPress admin, one click in the Respira dashboard, done. No API key copy-paste, no manual token entry.

Prerequisites

• Respira for WordPress plugin v6.10.1 or later installed and activated on the site
• A Respira account at respira.press (free trial works)
• Logged in to that account in the same browser you'll use for the handshake

If your plugin is older than v6.10.1, update first via Plugins → Updates in WordPress, or download the latest from respira.press/releases.

The handshake, step by step

Step 1 — Open the Respira plugin in WordPress admin

In your WordPress admin sidebar, click Respira. The Overview tab loads with a Connect to Respira block at the top.

Step 2 — Click Connect to Respira

The button generates a short-lived single-use state token bound to your WordPress site, then opens a new browser tab pointing at respira.press with that state attached.

Step 3 — Approve the handshake on respira.press

The Respira dashboard verifies you're logged in (if not, it prompts you to sign in or create an account, then resumes the handshake), then mints a per-site auth token and a confirmation code paired to the state token.

You'll see a brief Site connected confirmation page.

Step 4 — Return to WordPress admin

The browser tab redirects back to your WordPress admin with the confirmation code in the URL. The plugin verifies the code against the original state token, exchanges them for the per-site auth token, and stores the token in wp_options under a hashed key.

The Overview tab now shows your site as Connected with the active account name.

Step 5 — Confirm in the Respira dashboard

Open respira.press/dashboard/sites. The site you just connected appears in the table with status Token ready.

You can now use any of the per-site one-click MCP install buttons on that row — Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, or Claude Code — to plug the site into your AI assistant.

Watch the flow in action

A 2-minute screencast of the full dashboard rebuild plus the auto-connect handshake on a fresh WordPress install:

Watch on YouTube →

What if auto-connect fails?

The handshake can fail for a handful of reasons. The plugin and dashboard both log the failure mode; the typical fixes:

If none of those apply, the manual fallback below always works.

Manual fallback: connect by URL + admin token

If auto-connect can't run for some reason (firewall blocking the redirect, SSO-locked WordPress admin, headless environment), you can connect a site manually:

1. In WordPress admin, go to Respira → Settings
2. Copy the Site Token value (a long random string)
3. In the Respira dashboard, open Sites and click Add site manually
4. Enter the site URL (with https://) and paste the site token
5. Click Verify and add

The dashboard validates the token by making a signed request to your WordPress site's Respira REST endpoint. If the validation succeeds, the site is added with status Token ready.

Security notes

• The site token is specific to one WordPress site and one Respira account. It cannot be used to access other sites or other accounts.
• The token grants edit-level access to that site through the Respira plugin's REST endpoints. Treat it like a password: never commit it to git, never paste it in public chats.
• You can rotate the token at any time from Sites by clicking Rotate token on the site's row. The old token is invalidated immediately. You'll need to re-link the site to your AI assistant if you had embedded the token in a non-Respira config.
• You can disconnect a site the same way: click Disconnect on the site's row. The plugin remains installed and configured, but the link to your Respira account is severed and the token is invalidated.

What happens next

Once your site is connected:

• It appears in your MCP Setup config exports (/dashboard/mcp includes every connected site automatically)
• Per-site one-click install buttons are unlocked on the Connected Sites table
• The site's edits show up in your 30-day audit log (Lite) or unlimited audit log (full plan)
• Usage from this site contributes to the My Activity (30d) strip on your dashboard home

Next up: head to MCP Setup to plug the site into your AI assistant of choice.