How to build and publish a website with Claude

Cactal is a website builder that Claude can use for you. Connect the two, and Claude can build your site, show you a draft, and publish it on the web when you say so. Hosting, a CMS, forms and SEO settings come built in, and there is nothing to install.

What you need

A Claude account

Cactal works as a custom connector on every Claude plan. Free plans can add one custom connector. On Team and Enterprise, an owner adds Cactal under Organization settings, Connectors, and then each member connects it.

A Cactal account

Make one while you connect, and Cactal sets up your organization for you. The Free plan includes full MCP access and unlimited websites on Cactal domains.

A few details about your business

Claude asks what the site is for and where your business already appears online, such as your current site, Google listing, Instagram or Yelp. It builds from your real details and photos.

Connect Claude to Cactal

  1. 1Add Cactal to Claude

    In Claude, go to Customize, then Connectors, and select + Add, then Add custom connector. If you have a Cactal account already, Claude under Connected apps in your Cactal account settings opens that form for you. Name the connector Cactal, paste the URL below, and select Continue. Keep the sign-in settings Claude suggests, then select Continue and Add.

  2. 2Sign in to Cactal

    Claude opens Cactal in your browser. If it doesn't, select Connect next to Cactal under Customize, Connectors. Sign in with Google or an email code. New to Cactal? Create your account in the same step. Claude never sees how you sign in.

  3. 3Choose what Claude can use

    Access starts at All websites. Keep it, or open it to pick organizations and websites, then select Connect. The screen shows Claude as Verified. If an app calling itself Claude shows as Unverified, cancel.

  4. 4Check that it worked

    In a chat, select +, then Connectors, and check that Cactal is on. Ask Claude which Cactal organizations and websites it can use. When it lists them, you are ready to build.

Changing access or disconnecting later is covered in the setup docs.

Build your first site

Tell Claude what you want in plain words, and share any links where your business already appears online. Claude reads the same guidance Cactal's built-in agent follows for design, writing and publishing.

“Build a website for my bakery in Austin. Here are our Google listing and Instagram: [links]. Use our real photos, menu and opening hours.”
“I like the look of [a site you like]. Give my site a similar layout and feel, in our own colors.”
“Add a contact form that emails me when someone sends a message.”
“Add a blog with three starter posts that I can edit later.”
“Send me the draft link and a short summary of what you changed.”

Page and design changes land on a draft, and each one is saved as a new version. Your live site stays as it was. Open the draft link, which looks like draft--yoursite.cactal.app, and keep asking for changes until it looks right. Drafts are kept out of search engines.

Publish it

When the draft looks right, ask Claude to publish. It checks the draft for errors, publishes the version it checked, and waits until the site is live. Depending on your settings in Claude, it may ask you to approve first.

On a Cactal domain, free

Your site goes live at an address like yoursite.cactal.app. Publishing and hosting on Cactal domains are free on every plan, for as many sites as you like. Sites on the Free plan show a small Made with Cactal badge.

On your own domain, with Pro

Pro is $25 a month, or $240 a year, and covers one website on your own domain. Each additional website is $20 a month. An organization owner turns on custom domains for the site in the Cactal dashboard, under Site settings, Domains, and confirms the price there. Then Claude can add your domain, verify it and make it the main address.

Every version kept

Each change is saved as a version. If something goes wrong, Claude can reset the draft to match the live site, roll the live site back to an earlier version, or take the site offline without losing its history.

What Claude can do on Cactal

Pages and design

Write new pages, change words, layout and design anywhere on the site, and screenshot the draft to check how it looks.

SEO settings

Set each page's address, title and description for search.

Photos and a favicon

Import photos from a link, including your business's own, use images you upload in the Cactal dashboard, and set the site's favicon. Through Claude, Cactal doesn't generate new images or remove backgrounds.

Content you update often

Keep a blog, a menu, listings or anything else you change often in Cactal's CMS, and add, edit, publish or remove items when you ask.

Forms

Add forms that email you when someone writes in, then read, mark or delete the submissions.

Domains

Add and verify your own domain once custom domains are on, choose the main address, or rename your cactal.app address.

Visitor numbers

On Pro, answer questions like how many people visited this month, or who is on the site right now.

Research

Screenshot sites you like, and read your business's own pages, such as your Google listing, Instagram or Yelp, to bring in your real details and photos.

Notes on your business

Save facts, brand rules and decisions to the site's project knowledge, so later conversations start with them.

Limits

Account settings stay in Cactal

Billing, plans, members, API keys, and deleting or transferring websites are handled in the Cactal dashboard, not in Claude. So is turning on custom domains.

Claude decides when to ask

Cactal adds no approval step of its own. Whether Claude asks before a tool runs is set in Cactal's tool permissions in Claude, under Customize, Connectors. Keep publishing at Needs approval, and open the draft link before you approve.

Claude sees what the tools return

Claude, and Anthropic, which runs it, see everything Cactal returns in your chat. That can include form submissions with your visitors' names, emails and messages. Ask only for what the task needs.

Published content changes right away

Edits to blog posts or other CMS items that are already published go live at once. Cactal labels those edits as destructive, so Claude can check with you first.

One editor at a time

If Cactal's built-in agent or a teammate is in the middle of changing the site, Claude's edit stops instead of mixing with theirs. Claude takes over only if you agree.

Plan limits apply

On Free, each website accepts 50 form submissions a month, and analytics need Pro. Researching other websites uses your organization's AI credits: 100 a month on Free and 1,000 a month on Pro.

No booking, payments or stores

Cactal has no built-in booking, payments, online store checkout or memberships. Claude can link your site to the booking or payment page you already use.

Questions

Yes. Claude can write every page, and with Cactal connected it can also publish the site to the web, at a cactal.app address or on your own domain. You describe what you want, review a draft, and decide when it goes live.

Building and publishing on Cactal is free. The Free plan includes unlimited websites on Cactal domains, full MCP access and 100 AI credits a month. Pro is $25 a month and adds one website on your own domain, analytics, unlimited form submissions and 1,000 AI credits a month. Your Claude account is separate.

All of them: Free, Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise. On Free, Claude allows one custom connector. On Team and Enterprise, an owner adds Cactal for the organization first, and each member then connects it under Customize, Connectors.

No. You ask for changes in plain words and review the draft in your browser. Behind the scenes, your site is real React and Tailwind code, there whenever you or a developer want to look.

Cactal tells Claude to publish only when you ask, and labels publishing as a destructive action so Claude can check with you before it runs. Leave publishing at Needs approval in Cactal's tool permissions in Claude, and choose Allow once when Claude asks, so you approve every publish yourself.

Yes. Every change is saved as a version. Ask Claude to reset the draft to match the live site, or to roll the live site back to an earlier version. A rollback changes what visitors see right away.

Yes. If you sign in to Claude Code with your Claude account, it already has the connectors you added in Claude, Cactal included. Otherwise, run claude mcp add --transport http cactal https://api.cactal.ai/v1/mcp in a terminal. Then type /mcp in Claude Code, choose cactal, and sign in when Cactal opens in your browser.

Yes. Your site lives in your Cactal account, and the dashboard has a built-in agent beside a live preview. Claude's edits do not cut in while that agent or a teammate is working on the same site.

Build your website with Claude

Create a free Cactal account, connect Claude, and ask for your first draft.

Start free