Howto: Connect ChatGPT to your cPanel using Meridian and cPanel MCP.

How to connect ChatGPT Codex to cPanel Meridian and deploy an app

cPanel Meridian includes support for Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing compatible AI development tools such as OpenAI Codex to securely connect to your cPanel hosting account.

Once connected, Codex can deploy supported Node.js websites and applications directly to cPanel Meridian using WebPros MCP without requiring you to manually configure SSH access or cPanel API tokens.

Before you start

You will need:

• A Hoopla Hosting cPanel account using the Meridian cPanel theme.

• The MCP Connection feature enabled on your hosting account.

• AI App Hosting / Node.js hosting enabled on the account.

• A free WebPros account.

• OpenAI Codex installed on your computer.

• A Node.js website or application that you want to deploy.

Important: The current cPanel Meridian MCP deployment system is designed for Node.js applications using AI App Hosting. It is not currently a general deployment system for WordPress or traditional PHP websites.

Step 1 — Link cPanel Meridian to your WebPros account

Log in to cPanel using the Meridian interface.

Click your profile icon in the top-right corner and open:

Profile → Connections

Find the MCP Connection section and click:

Link WebPros Account

Sign in to your WebPros account and approve the connection.

Once connected, Meridian will display the WebPros MCP connection information and provide an option to download an mcp.json configuration file.

Step 2 — Prepare the website in Meridian

Open:

Websites → Add Website

Select the domain you want to use, or add a new domain.

Choose:

AI App Hosting

Then select:

Launch My Website → Deploy via WebPros MCP

If requested, complete the WebPros account connection.

Meridian will display the MCP connection configuration. You will need the Client ID shown in this configuration.

The MCP server address is:

https://mcp.webpros.com/api/mcp

Keep the Client ID available for the next step.

Step 3 — Connect OpenAI Codex to cPanel

Open a terminal on your computer.

The recommended method is to allow Codex to create its own MCP configuration rather than manually editing .codex/config.toml.

Run:

codex mcp add webpros-mcp --url https://mcp.webpros.com/api/mcp --oauth-client-id YOUR_CLIENT_ID

Replace:

YOUR_CLIENT_ID

with the Client ID provided by cPanel Meridian.

For example:

codex mcp add webpros-mcp --url https://mcp.webpros.com/api/mcp --oauth-client-id abc123yourclientid

Codex supports Streamable HTTP MCP servers using OAuth and supports pre-registered OAuth Client IDs such as the one supplied by Meridian.

Codex stores this configuration in:

~/.codex/config.toml

The Codex CLI, Codex IDE extension and supported local ChatGPT/Codex desktop environments can share this configuration.

Step 4 — Authenticate Codex with WebPros

Run:

codex mcp login webpros-mcp

A browser window should open.

Sign in to your WebPros account and approve the connection.

Once authentication is complete, return to Codex.

You can confirm that the MCP server has been added with:

codex mcp list

You should see:

webpros-mcp

in the configured MCP server list.

You can also launch Codex and use:

/mcp

to view the MCP connections available to Codex.

Step 5 — Test the cPanel connection

Before deploying anything, it is a good idea to perform a read-only test.

Ask Codex:

Using the webpros-mcp connection, check the cPanel account and available website or application deployment targets. Do not make any changes.

Codex should use the WebPros MCP connection rather than attempting to access the hosting account using SSH.

If Codex cannot see webpros-mcp, close and restart Codex after confirming that:

codex mcp list

shows the connection.

Step 6 — Build your website or application with Codex

You can now work on your application normally inside Codex.

For example:

Create a website for my business in this project. Make sure it is ready for deployment to cPanel Meridian AI App Hosting.

Codex can create and modify the project locally before deployment.

Your application needs to have a working build process suitable for Node.js hosting. Meridian detects information such as the package manager, Node.js version and build output directory during deployment.

Step 7 — Deploy the application to cPanel

Once the project is ready, ask Codex to deploy it using the MCP connection.

For example:

Using the webpros-mcp connection, deploy the Node.js application in this project to my cPanel Meridian AI App Hosting account.

Confirm the target domain before making changes.

Once deployment has completed, give me the live HTTPS address and report any deployment errors.

If you have several domains or applications on the account, include the required domain in your request.

For example:

Deploy this application to app.example.co.nz using webpros-mcp.

Meridian will install the application's dependencies, build the project, deploy it and start the application.

Environment variables

Some applications require environment variables such as API keys or database connection information.

These can be configured from the application settings inside Meridian.

Open your application and locate the App Env or environment variable settings.

Do not include sensitive passwords or API secrets directly in your application's source code.

Build output errors

If your application builds successfully but Meridian cannot find the expected output directory, the deployment will fail.

For example, applications created using frameworks such as React or Vite may produce directories such as:

dist

while other frameworks may use a different output directory.

Meridian attempts to automatically detect the build output directory. If it cannot, the correct directory can be entered manually in the application's deployment settings.

Troubleshooting

webpros-mcp does not appear in Codex

Check:

codex mcp list

If it is missing, add it again using:

codex mcp add webpros-mcp --url https://mcp.webpros.com/api/mcp --oauth-client-id YOUR_CLIENT_ID

Codex says authentication is required

Run:

codex mcp login webpros-mcp

and complete the WebPros authentication in your browser.

--oauth-client-id is not recognised

Your installation of Codex may be out of date.

Update Codex using the same installation method you originally used, then try the command again.

Current Codex versions support OAuth Client IDs for remote MCP servers.

MCP Connection is missing from cPanel

The MCP feature must be enabled by the hosting provider for your cPanel hosting package.

Contact Hoopla Hosting support if the MCP Connection option is not available inside Meridian.

AI App Hosting is missing

Node.js / AI App Hosting must also be enabled for your hosting package.

Contact Hoopla Hosting support if this option is not available.

ChatGPT in your web browser cannot see the connection

The normal ChatGPT website does not read the local Codex MCP configuration stored on your computer.

Use the Codex CLI, Codex IDE integration, or supported local ChatGPT/Codex desktop environment when using this connection.

Disconnecting Codex from cPanel

To revoke the connection from cPanel:

Profile → Connections → MCP Connection → Unlink WebPros Account

This disconnects the WebPros account from the cPanel account and requires authentication again before an AI agent can use the connection.

Security recommendations

MCP allows an AI agent to perform actions against your hosting account, so always review the changes requested by your AI development tool.

We recommend:

• Confirming the target domain before deployment.

• Testing the MCP connection with a read-only request first.

• Keeping passwords and API secrets in environment variables.

• Never placing hosting passwords inside prompts or project files.

• Reviewing application changes before deploying them to a production website.

With the WebPros MCP connection configured, you can continue developing your application locally with Codex and then ask Codex to deploy updates directly to your Hoopla Hosting cPanel account.