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Avaloi

Plugins

See the plugins on a site, filter them, refresh the list, turn plugins on and off, update them, turn on automatic updates on staging, and delete a plugin you no longer need.

Parts of this feature are still being built. The Not yet section lists them.

The Plugins and themes page lists every plugin and theme on a site, with its version, its status, and whether an update is waiting. Open a site, then Plugins and themes. Plugins and themes each have a tab. Each change runs on the site as a job, and each job goes in the activity log.

Read the list

The table shows each plugin's name, status, installed version, and latest version. On staging and multidevs it also shows the automatic update switch. A warning sign next to the installed version means an update is waiting. Plugins with an update come first, then active plugins, then the rest.

  • Use the search box to find a plugin by name.
  • Use the chips (All, Active, Inactive, Update available) to show one group. Each chip shows how many plugins it holds.
  • Choose the three dots on a row, then Details, to read a plugin's description and author.

Must use and Drop-in plugins load on every request. WordPress runs them on its own, so they have no actions here.

Anyone on the site can read the list. Members who cannot change the site see the list without the actions.

Refresh the list

Avaloi keeps a copy of the list from the last time it read the site. The header shows when that was, for example "Refreshed 3 hours ago". A change you make here reads the list again when it finishes.

Choose the refresh button next to the time to read the site again. Do this after a push from staging, or after a change in wp-admin.

Turn a plugin on or off

  1. Choose the three dots on the plugin's row.
  2. Choose Activate or Deactivate.

A deactivated plugin stops running on the site, and its files stay in place.

On a WordPress network

On a WordPress Multisite network, the menu also offers Activate for the network and Deactivate for the network. A plugin activated for the network runs on every site and shows Active for the network. A site administrator cannot turn it off for one site. The same choices are in the bulk menu (network in the API). On live, activation is refused like any plugin activation, so activate on staging and promote.

Update a plugin

  1. Choose Update available to see the plugins with an update.
  2. Choose the three dots on the plugin's row, then Update.
  3. Type the plugin's name in the box, then choose Update.

Avaloi takes a restore point before it changes the files. Check your site after the update. If the update breaks something, restore the restore point from the Backups tab.

Change several plugins at once

  1. Tick the box on each row you want, or the box in the header for every row.
  2. Choose Bulk actions, then the change.

A bulk change runs as one job. Avaloi sends only the plugins the change fits, so an active plugin is not sent to a bulk delete. A bulk update or delete asks you to type the word first.

Automatic updates

Automatic updates are for staging and multidevs. With them on, WordPress installs new versions there without you.

  • The Automatic updates card at the top has one switch for all plugins and one for all themes.
  • Each row has its own switch.

The switch changes a setting only. It does not update the plugin at the moment you turn it on.

Live has no automatic updates. Live code is a read-only release, so WordPress cannot change plugin files there, and an update that ran on its own would make live differ from your repository. On live, the page shows no automatic update card, column, or bulk action, and the API answers 409 live_is_immutable if asked to turn them on. WordPress on live is set so it never updates core, plugins, or themes on its own, and wp-admin shows no Enable auto-updates links. To bring updates to live, update on staging, check the site, commit, and promote staging to live.

Delete a plugin

Delete works on a plugin that is off. Deactivate the plugin first if it is on.

  1. Choose the three dots on a plugin that is off, then Delete.
  2. Type the plugin's name in the box, then choose Delete.

Avaloi takes a restore point before it removes the plugin. The plugin's files go with the delete.

Staging and multidevs start in Git mode

New staging and multidev environments run in Git mode: their code is a read-only release, and it changes only through Git. On those environments, install, update, and delete are off here and in wp-admin, and the plugin and theme editors are off. The page and wp-admin say: "This environment is in Git mode. Commit the change and push it with Git, or switch this environment to SFTP mode to install from wp-admin." The Switch to SFTP mode button next to it opens the confirm dialog on the Code card. Through the API, these actions answer 422 with the same sentence.

Activating and deactivating a plugin still works in Git mode, because it changes the database only. To install or update from wp-admin, switch the environment to SFTP mode, make the change, commit it, and push or promote it. Switching loses nothing, and switching back to Git mode needs your changes committed first. Environments made before this default keep their mode. See Git access.

Live is read-only for code

Live code is read only. Update on staging, then promote. Avaloi refuses to install, update, or delete a plugin on live, and live has no automatic updates, because WordPress would change plugin files on its own. Make the change on staging, check it, commit it, then promote staging to live. The page shows a link to staging.

Activating a plugin on live is refused too. Deactivating a plugin only changes the database, so it works on live.

Quick answers

The Update action is missing. The plugin is up to date, or the environment is live or in Git mode. Update it on staging in SFTP mode (or push the new version with Git), then promote staging to live.

The automatic update switches are missing. You are on live, which has no automatic updates. Open staging to turn them on there.

Avaloi refused to delete a plugin. WordPress does not delete a plugin that is still on. Deactivate it, then delete it.

The list does not show a plugin I installed in wp-admin. Choose the refresh button. The list shows what Avaloi read last.

Not yet

Installing a new plugin from the WordPress directory is not built here. Add the plugin in wp-admin on staging after you switch it to SFTP mode, or add it to your repository and push, then promote to live.

Safe Updates works by request for now. It is staging based: it will apply an update on staging, compare screenshots of key pages before and after, and roll back when a page changes in a way it does not expect. Live gets the update only when you promote staging.

Still stuck?

Email [email protected] with your site name and what you tried, or send us a message.