Howto: Connect Windsurf to your cPanel using WebPros MCP

How to connect Windsurf to your cPanel account (cPanel MCP)

Connect the Windsurf editor's Cascade AI agent to your Hoopla Hosting cPanel account using WebPros MCP. Once connected, Cascade can check your hosting account, look up DNS and email settings, and deploy supported Node.js apps to AI App Hosting.

Windsurf connects most reliably using a WebPros MCP key rather than the OAuth Client ID used by some other tools, so this guide uses that method.

Before you start

• An active Hoopla Hosting web hosting account using the cPanel Meridian theme. (In cPanel, click Try new Meridian Theme at the top of the page.)
• A free WebPros account.
• Windsurf installed on your computer.

Step 1: Link cPanel to your WebPros account

1. Log in to cPanel from our client area.
2. Click your profile icon in the top-right corner and open Profile → Connections.
3. In the MCP Connection section, click Link WebPros Account, then sign in to WebPros and approve the link.

Step 2: Create a WebPros MCP key

1. Sign in to the WebPros Dashboard with the same WebPros account.
2. Go to Profile → API and MCP.
3. Click Add, then Create MCP Key.
4. Enter a name (for example Windsurf) and choose the Scope. Pick the smallest scope that does what you need.
5. Click Create and copy the key straight away. Store it somewhere safe, such as a password manager.

Treat your MCP key like a password. Anyone who has it can act on your hosting account. Never share it in support tickets, screenshots or Git repositories.

Step 3: Add the server to Windsurf

1. Open the Cascade panel in Windsurf.
2. Click the … menu (or the hammer / MCP icon) at the top of the panel and choose Open MCP config file (sometimes shown as View raw config). This opens mcp_config.json.
3. Add the following, replacing YOUR_WEBPROS_MCP_KEY with your key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webpros-mcp": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.webpros.com/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_WEBPROS_MCP_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Keep the word Bearer and the space before your key. If the file already has other servers, add the "webpros-mcp" block inside the existing mcpServers section. Save the file.

4. Back in the Cascade panel, click Refresh in the MCP section. webpros-mcp should appear with its tools listed.

Step 4: Test the connection

In Cascade, start with a read-only request:

Using the webpros-mcp tools, check my cPanel account and list the available websites and deployment targets. Do not make any changes.

Other useful questions:

• "List the email accounts on my cPanel."
• "Show me the DNS records for mydomain.co.nz."

Review each tool call before you allow it, especially anything that changes or deletes data. Avoid turning on auto-execution for cPanel tools.

Step 5: Deploy a Node.js app (optional)

Using webpros-mcp, deploy the Node.js application in this project to my cPanel Meridian AI App Hosting account on app.mydomain.co.nz. Confirm the target domain before making changes, then give me the live HTTPS address.

Note: MCP deployment currently supports Node.js apps using AI App Hosting, not WordPress or traditional PHP sites.

Disconnecting

• In Windsurf: delete the webpros-mcp block from mcp_config.json and click Refresh.
• In WebPros Dashboard: go to Profile → API and MCP and delete the key. Do this straight away if you think the key has been exposed.
• In cPanel: go to Profile → Connections to unlink WebPros completely.

Need help?

See our AI tools troubleshooting FAQ in the AI Enabled Web Hosting section, or open a support ticket and our team will help.