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How to Connect an AI Provider to Waggle (and What Works Without One)

Waggle does not manage AI keys and has no API-key form — by design. It calls WordPress 7.0’s built-in AI Client, which routes to whatever provider you have configured in WordPress itself. That means Waggle never sees your key, never bills you for inference, and never becomes a middleman between you and your provider.

It also means one thing that surprises people: WordPress 7.0 ships the AI Client but no providers. The AI Client is plumbing, not a service. Until something registers a provider, WordPress’s own Settings → Connectors screen has nothing in it to configure.

Which features actually need a provider?

Far fewer than people assume. Waggle’s whole SEO layer and most of its AI-visibility layer are deterministic and run locally.

Works with no provider at all:

  • Every SEO tag — titles, descriptions, Open Graph, X/Twitter cards, canonical, robots
  • The XML sitemap and JSON-LD schema
  • llms.txt, llms-full.txt and Markdown versions of your pages
  • AI bot tracking and AI crawler access control
  • Redirects and the 404 log
  • The per-page AEO score and the full site readiness audit — both are deterministic rubrics with no model call

Needs WordPress 7.0 and a registered provider:

  • Generate with AI in the editor sidebar
  • Bulk generate under Content → Posts
  • The generate button on SEO → Homepage
  • Image SEO generation
  • Brand citation checks and prompt research under AI → Visibility
  • The five generate-* agent abilities

When a generative feature is unavailable, Waggle says so in one consistent sentence rather than failing quietly:

No AI provider is connected. Connect one on the AI Connection page to unlock this.

How do I read the AI readiness pill?

Every Waggle screen has a pill in the top-right corner. It is a button — clicking it jumps straight to AI → Connection.

Pill Meaning What to do
AI ready The AI Client exists and a text-generation provider is connected Nothing
No AI provider You’re on WordPress 7.0+, but nothing has registered a provider Install a provider plugin
AI unavailable WordPress is older than 7.0 Update WordPress

Why is the Connection page read-only?

AI → Connection reports status; it does not accept credentials. It tells you whether the AI Client is present, whether a text-generation provider is connected, and what that unlocks — then links you to WordPress’s own AI settings.

This is deliberate. Provider credentials belong to WordPress, in one place, shared by every plugin that uses the AI Client. A second key form inside Waggle would mean two places to rotate a key and two places to leak one. If you are looking for somewhere to paste an API key in Waggle, there isn’t one, and that is the correct behaviour.

How do I actually connect a provider?

  1. Confirm you are on WordPress 7.0 or later — Dashboard → Updates.
  2. Install a plugin that registers an AI provider with the WordPress AI Client. Waggle does not endorse or bundle one; any plugin implementing the AI Client provider interface will do.
  3. Configure that provider’s credentials where it asks — usually WordPress’s Settings → Connectors screen.
  4. Return to Waggle → AI → Connection and confirm the pill reads AI ready.

Once connected, generation features light up immediately. No Waggle setting needs changing.

Does any of this cost money?

Waggle charges nothing per generation and takes no cut. Whatever your chosen provider charges for tokens is between you and them, billed on your own account.

Two features are worth knowing about because they call the provider on a schedule rather than when you click:

  • Brand citation checks run on a cadence (weekly by default) and cost one provider call per question, capped at five questions per run.
  • Prompt research calls the provider when you ask it to suggest prompts.

Both are configurable under Settings → Notifications and AI → Visibility.

An honest note on citation checking

Citation checking asks your own configured provider a set of brand questions and looks for mentions of you in the answers. It is a proxy signal, not a live query of ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini’s production systems, and Waggle’s interface says so wherever the feature appears.

Treat the trend as directional evidence about how a model talks about your brand — not as “your ChatGPT ranking”. Any tool claiming to show you the latter is overselling.

FAQ

Can I use Waggle without ever connecting a provider?

Yes, and plenty of sites do. Everything in the “works with no provider” list above is the majority of the plugin, including both scores.

Why doesn’t Waggle just ask for my OpenAI key?

Because WordPress 7.0 already owns that relationship through the AI Client. Waggle calls wp_ai_client_prompt() and lets WordPress route it. That keeps your key in one place and means switching providers later changes nothing inside Waggle.

The pill says “AI unavailable” — what’s wrong?

You are running WordPress older than 7.0, so the AI Client doesn’t exist. Update WordPress. Nothing in Waggle’s SEO layer is affected in the meantime.

I connected a provider but generation still fails

Waggle checks two things separately: that the AI Client exists, and that the connected provider supports text generation. A provider registered for images only will leave the pill short of “AI ready”. Check your provider plugin’s capabilities.

Does Waggle send my post content to the provider?

Only for the features that obviously require it — generating a title, description, alt text or summary sends the relevant content to your provider. Nothing is sent for scoring, auditing or any SEO output.

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