How to build a website with Claude Code and publish it to your own domain

PageHub runs an MCP server, which is a set of tools an AI agent can call. Claude Code supports remote MCP servers over HTTP with OAuth sign-in, so once you add PageHub, Claude Code can call tools like create_site, set_theme, screenshot_site, and publish_site for you.

The site lives in PageHub, not in your project folder. PageHub also sends its own build rules to Claude Code when it connects, so you don't paste any instructions.

Go to pagehub.dev/signin and enter your email. You'll get a magic link and a 6-digit code. Use either one to sign in.

The free plan has no credit card and no time limit. It includes 1 published site, 20 pages per site, and hosting with SSL, and you can connect 1 domain you own. Connecting Claude Code works on every plan.

Run this in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user PageHub https://pagehub.dev/api/mcp

--scope user makes PageHub available in every project. Leave it off and PageHub is added to the current project only. Use --scope project instead to write it to .mcp.json at the project root, so everyone on the repo gets it.

Now sign in. Start Claude Code, type /mcp, and pick PageHub. A PageHub page opens in your browser. Sign in with your email, then click Approve on the Authorize PageHub screen. There's no API key to paste.

To check it worked, run claude mcp list. PageHub should say Connected. Then ask Claude Code: “List my PageHub sites.”

Claude Code asks before it runs each PageHub tool. You can allow a tool once, or tell it not to ask again for that tool.

Start Claude Code in a terminal, or in VS Code, and describe the site. Say who it's for, which pages you want, and what visitors should do. Real details (hours, prices, your email) beat placeholders. Swap the bracketed parts in these prompts for your own.

Use PageHub to build a website for [business name], a [type of business] in [city].
Pages: Home, Services (with prices), and Contact.
Hours: [days and times]. Address: [address]. Phone: [phone].
Add a contact form that asks for name, email, and what they need.
Keep the look [warm and simple / bold / minimal].
Screenshot it on desktop and mobile before you tell me it's done. Don't publish yet.

Use PageHub to create a portfolio site for me. I'm a [job title] in [city].
Home page: a short intro, then a grid of 6 projects, each with a title, a one-line summary, and an image.
Add an About page and a contact section with my email, [you@example.com].
Clean layout with lots of white space. Use stock photos for now and I'll swap in my own.
Show me screenshots before publishing.

Use PageHub to make a one-page site for my side project, [name]: [one sentence on what it does].
Sections: a hero with an email sign-up form, 3 features, a short FAQ, and a footer.
Suggest 3 color palettes and let me pick one before you build.
When it's built, run an SEO check and fix what it finds. Don't publish until I say so.

From there, Claude Code looks up PageHub's templates and section blocks, creates the site with create_site, sets colors and fonts with set_theme, adds sections, and finds stock photos with find_image. Then it checks its work with screenshot_site.

Everything Claude Code builds lands in a draft. Nobody else sees it until you publish.

Ask for screenshots at any point. screenshot_site takes a real browser screenshot of the draft, one section at a time if you like, and at phone width (390 pixels). Claude reads the screenshots itself and fixes what it sees. To look for yourself, open the site in your PageHub dashboard.

To edit by hand, open your PageHub dashboard, pick the site, and click Design. That opens the visual editor. Drag sections around, change colors and fonts, and rewrite text. Claude Code reads the same draft, so it sees your edits the next time you ask for changes.

Before you publish, ask Claude Code to run audit_seo and audit_accessibility and fix what they find.

Ask Claude Code: “Connect [example.com] to this site and tell me the DNS records to add.” It calls set_domain, which attaches the domain and returns the records. Add them where you bought the domain:

• The bare domain (example.com) gets an A record at @.
• A subdomain such as www gets a CNAME record.
• Sometimes there's also a TXT record, to prove you own the domain.

Copy each value exactly as Claude Code gives it to you. The values are specific to your site, so a value from another guide won't work.

PageHub sets up both example.com and www.example.com, and by default sends www visitors to the bare domain. SSL certificates are issued automatically and can take a few minutes once DNS is in place.

Then ask: “Is my domain working yet?” Claude Code checks with get_domain_status. Connecting a domain doesn't publish the site, so finish with: “Publish the site.” That calls publish_site, and the site is live.

Rather click? The Domains page for your site in the PageHub dashboard shows the same records.

You have two ways in, and both edit the same draft.

• From Claude Code: ask, for example, “In my PageHub site [name], add a reviews section under Services.” Check the screenshot, then say “publish.”
• From the editor: open the site, click Design, make your changes, and publish.

If a change goes wrong, the site's History page lets you restore an earlier version of the whole site or one page. The free plan keeps 15 versions.

PageHub is one way to publish a website from Claude Code. You can also have Claude Code write the site as code in your project, then deploy the code yourself. That's how most people deploy a website from Claude Code today.

• Vercel or Netlify: connect your Git repository, and each push builds and deploys the site. You add your domain in their dashboard and set DNS at your registrar. A good fit when the site is really an app with its own code.
• GitHub Pages: serves static files straight from a repository. A good fit for simple static sites and project docs.

The tradeoff: you own every line and can build anything. You also handle Git, builds, and DNS yourself, and every text change is a code change. Someone who doesn't use Claude Code can't easily update it. PageHub fits when you want a site that people can edit visually. It isn't the right tool for custom app logic.

PageHub doesn't connect

Run claude mcp list and read PageHub's status:

• Needs authentication: start Claude Code, type /mcp, pick PageHub, and sign in.
• Failed to connect: run claude mcp get PageHub and check the URL is exactly https://pagehub.dev/api/mcp.
• Not listed: you probably added it without --scope user from a different folder. Run the add command again with it.

Sign-in doesn't finish

In the browser window, sign in with the email link or the 6-digit code, then click Approve. If the code has expired, request a new one.

If the browser sign-in still won't complete, use an API key instead. Create one at pagehub.dev/dashboard/api-key, then replace the server with one that sends it:

claude mcp remove PageHub
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user PageHub https://pagehub.dev/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer •••••••••••••••••• "

Claude Code says a tool isn't available

Servers load when a session starts. If you added PageHub while Claude Code was running, quit and start it again. Type /mcp to see PageHub's tools.

If you see a rate-limit error, wait a minute. The server allows 120 requests per minute for each sign-in.

The domain isn't working

• Compare each record at your registrar with what Claude Code gave you, character for character. A wrong value fails the same way slow DNS does.
• The bare domain needs an A record. It can't be a CNAME.
• If Claude Code gave you a TXT record, add it as well as the others.
• DNS changes can take a while to spread. Ask Claude Code to check the domain again later.
• If the domain is already attached to another Vercel project, remove it there first, then ask Claude Code to try again.
• Each site takes 1 domain, plus its www version.