Been playing with the Panelica MCP server since it dropped and wanted to share a real session instead of just describing it. This is with Claude Code connected via MCP, API key scoped to domains + SSL only.
What I asked
"Create a domain called demo-mcp-test.example.com on my panel, then issue an SSL certificate for it, and confirm it's active."
What happened
- Claude called the domain creation tool with the hostname, picked a reasonable PHP version default, and created the vhost
- It then called the SSL tool to request a Let's Encrypt certificate for the new domain
- Because certificate issuance depends on DNS/HTTP validation actually resolving, it polled the SSL status tool a few times until the cert came back issued
- Finished by calling the domain details tool again and reporting back: domain active, SSL active, expiry date included
The part I liked
It didn't just fire the create-and-forget call and claim success. It checked the actual state afterward before telling me it was done. That matters — I've had scripts that "succeed" at the API call but the cert never actually issues because of a DNS mismatch. The read-back step here caught that class of problem before it became my problem.
The part to know before you try it
SSL issuance for a brand-new domain still needs the domain to actually be resolving to your server. If your DNS isn't pointed yet, Claude (or any tool) can't route around that — Let's Encrypt has to be able to reach your server. Don't expect a working cert on a domain that isn't live yet, AI assistant or not.
Scope discipline
I only gave the API key domain and SSL scopes for this test, nothing else. No database, no files, no docker. Worth doing that even for a quick experiment — see the scope thread in this forum if you haven't set your key up yet.
Curious what others have tried. Anyone hooked this up to backups or migration tasks yet? Post your transcripts below, good or bad.