r/WordpressPlugins 1h ago

[FREE] Simple WP Vulnerability Watcher, lightweight vulnerability monitoring for WordPress

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Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a free plugin I've been working on.

I often needed a quick way to check whether a WordPress installation was running plugins, themes or core versions with known vulnerabilities, without installing a full security suite.

So I built Simple WP Vulnerability Watcher.

Features

  • Checks WordPress core for known vulnerabilities
  • Checks installed plugins
  • Checks installed themes
  • Uses the public WPVulnerability database
  • No account required
  • Lightweight and focused on vulnerability monitoring

The goal isn't to replace security plugins like Wordfence or Patchstack. It's meant to be a simple tool that lets you quickly see if your site is affected by publicly disclosed vulnerabilities.

Plugin:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-wp-vulnerability-watcher/

I'd really appreciate feedback from other developers.

Are there any features you'd like to see added?


r/WordpressPlugins 3h ago

Help [HELP] Bulk Watermarking

1 Upvotes

Any suggestions for plugins for bulk watermarking pictures in the media library?


r/WordpressPlugins 4h ago

[PREMIUM] Claude is building my live WordPress site through a built-in MCP server — 1,200+ controlled actions

0 Upvotes

I’m building GOMAX Ultimate, and Claude is currently connected to my live WordPress site through the plugin’s built-in MCP server.

I’m not using Claude only to generate code or explain what I should click in WordPress. It can inspect the site, choose the correct tools and carry out controlled changes directly.

I describe the result I want in normal language, and Claude can work with areas such as Elementor, posts, pages, media, WooCommerce, SEO, forms, CRM and site settings.

The system currently exposes more than 1,200 actions, but Claude does not receive unrestricted administrator access. Read, write and destructive actions are controlled separately. Higher-risk operations can require confirmation, and executed actions are recorded in the audit system.

Claude also receives operational Playbooks that explain how the tools should be used. This is especially important for more complex work such as editing Elementor structures, managing WooCommerce data or making changes that must be verified on the public frontend.

GOMAX also includes a Site Brain that stores business context, goals and knowledge about the website. The system can therefore do more than react to individual prompts. A Site Agent can monitor the site, identify problems, recommend actions and run permitted workflows on a schedule.

The project is still under active development, so I’m not presenting it as perfect or finished. I’m interested in honest technical criticism from WordPress developers, agency owners and people experimenting with MCP or autonomous AI agents.

What would you need to see before allowing Claude to make controlled changes to a live WordPress website?

Disclosure: I am the creator of GOMAX Ultimate.


r/WordpressPlugins 5h ago

Free [Promotion] I got tired of maintenance plugins breaking my clients' sites, so I built my own. It's free.

1 Upvotes

I build WordPress sites for clients as a freelancer, and putting a site into maintenance mode was weirdly one of the most annoying parts of the job.

Every plugin I tried had at least one of these problems:

**•   Cache and theme conflicts.** The maintenance page would either not show up because of caching, or it would inherit half my theme’s styles and look broken.  
**•   No real preview.** I’d set a headline, save, open the site in an incognito tab, see it was wrong, go back, change it, save again, refresh again. Every single time.  
**•   Bloat.** I just wanted a clean “we’ll be back” page, not a 5MB page builder with fifty upsells.

So over a few weekends I built the thing I actually wanted. Three ideas drove it:

**1.    A true live preview.** You edit the headline, swap a color, change the logo, and you see the result update instantly, right there in the settings. No save-refresh loop. This is the part I’m most happy with.  
**2.    Theme-independent templates.** The maintenance page renders completely on its own, so it can’t inherit your theme’s CSS or get mangled by caching. It also sends a proper 503 status so Google knows the downtime is temporary and your SEO stays intact.  
**3.    Lightweight.** It does one job well. No page builder, no account required, no phone-home, no cookies.

It’s free on the WordPress.org repo: https://wordpress.org/plugins/amitry-maintenance-mode/

There’s a live demo if you want to try the preview thing before installing (you can click through the templates in your browser): https://maintenance.amitry.de/

There’s also a Pro version with more templates and a few extras like a countdown, but honestly the free one covers what most people need, and I’d rather you try that first.

Happy to answer any questions, and genuinely interested in feedback since I’m still actively developing it. What do you all use for maintenance mode right now, and what annoys you about it?


r/WordpressPlugins 5h ago

WordPress Plugin for File Splice - Merge and Impose Files from Your WP Admin [FREE]

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1 Upvotes

r/WordpressPlugins 9h ago

Discussion [DISCUSSION] I built a lossless A/B web player for studio sites that solves the file-sync drift problem (looking for beta testers)

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I'll get straight to the point. Quick intro: I'm a studio owner who designs and develops tailored web software for the audio industry.

Here's the problem I kept running into, and I'm betting you've been there too.

A potential client lands on your site. They read about your services, see your gear list, maybe listen to a track on a standard player -- but they leave without truly understanding what a professional mix or master actually adds.

The gap between "this sounds good" and "oh, THAT is what mixing and mastering actually do" is where most studio websites lose people.

Standard web audio cannot communicate that effectively. Everything I tried either pushes you toward compressed MP3s that smear transients, or juggles separate audio files that slowly drift apart. And that's a total dealbreaker -- even a few samples of timing difference will cause transient smearing when switching. If the sync isn't locked, the comparison is useless.

That frustration is why I built The Studio Player -- a WordPress plugin around a different architecture entirely.

Here is the core idea -- what I call sync by design:

Instead of switching between separate files, we merge up to four stereo variants into a single multichannel FLAC file. When someone switches from A to B, they are not jumping to another timeline -- they are selecting a different channel pair at the exact same playback position. Timing drift is literally impossible.

The one-sentence version: It lets visitors switch between unmastered and mastered versions like using solo knobs in your DAW -- but directly on your website.

Key specs:

  • 48kHz/24-bit lossless streaming -- no quality compromise
  • Simple shortcode -- works with Elementor, Divi, WPBakery, Gutenberg, whatever you run; matches your site's color scheme automatically
  • Adaptive streaming -- actually works on mobile (tested on rural German networks, so it can survive anything 😉)
  • Token-secured streams -- so your audio isn't just left out there as a public download link (though let's be honest: the analog hole is always there, and no web player can patch that)

Full technical writeup here:
https://studioplayer.de/why-i-built-a-true-web-audio-comparison-player-for-wordpress/

Current status: Pre-release, final stretch before version 1.0.

So, here's the ask: Would you test the beta on your setup? Not looking for testimonials. Looking for brutal honesty -- "this works" or "this broke" or "I would use this if..."

For helping out, you'll get a free pro license at launch.

Drop a comment below or send me a DM and I will send the download link + beta license key. No pressure -- just an engineer asking fellow engineers for feedback before locking down 1.0.


r/WordpressPlugins 11h ago

[FREE][REVIEW] We built a WordPress plugin for AI Visibility – looking for feedback

0 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

We're the team behind 42A, and we've just released a free WordPress plugin focused on something we've been working on for the past year: AI Visibility.

As more people discover websites through AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, we wanted to make it easier for WordPress site owners to prepare their content for this new way of discovery.

The plugin installs in minutes and includes:

  • AI Visibility reports
  • AI Visibility recommendations
  • SEO & GEO recommendations
  • AI-friendly Markdown versions of public pages
  • Built-in MCP support
  • Prompt-level analysis
  • Competitor benchmarking
  • Technical optimization insights

The plugin works on activation with almost no configuration required.

Our goal wasn't to build another SEO plugin. Instead, we wanted to create a lightweight layer that helps AI systems better understand WordPress websites while giving site owners useful visibility data.

This is our first public release, so we'd really appreciate feedback from experienced WordPress users.

Some questions we'd love your thoughts on:

  • Would you install a plugin specifically for AI Visibility?
  • Which features would be most valuable to you?
  • Is there anything you think we're missing?

Plugin:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/ael-42a/

Thanks—we're looking forward to your feedback!


r/WordpressPlugins 22h ago

Free [FREE] Find Slow Plugins & Queries + Fix Autoload Bloat + Control Cron — WP Optimizer Update

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1 Upvotes

Over the last few releases, I’ve been expanding WP Optimizer, my free all-in-one WordPress performance plugin.

The idea is simple: instead of installing separate plugins for caching, database cleanup, image optimization and diagnostics, WP Optimizer puts everything into modular features you can enable only when needed.

WordPress.org: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-optimizer/

Performance diagnostics

The Page Test compares a baseline request with your optimized configuration, showing response time, TTFB, memory usage, database queries and expensive callbacks.

The Performance Monitor can also sample real requests and attribute execution time, memory and queries to WordPress core, the active theme and individual plugins.

Multiple cache layers

WP Optimizer includes static page caching, query caching and Redis or Memcached object caching. It handles invalidation automatically and excludes WooCommerce sessions, checkout pages and page-builder previews.

Front-end optimization

It can minify HTML, CSS and JavaScript, enable compression and browser caching, lazy-load media, optimize fonts, preload LCP images and prefetch internal links.

Images are processed locally with GD or Imagick, including compression, resizing and WebP conversion—no external service required.

Backend tools

There are also tools for:

  • Database cleanup and optimization
  • Autoloaded-options analysis
  • Cron event management
  • Heartbeat control
  • Media cleanup
  • Scheduled maintenance
  • SQL backups and restoration

Automatic configuration snapshots make it easy to roll back settings if caching or minification causes compatibility problems.

Everything runs inside one free plugin, with no premium tier. You can also keep your current caching plugin and use WP Optimizer only for diagnostics or maintenance—just avoid enabling overlapping features.

To be transparent, it still doesn’t include advanced unused-CSS removal, interaction-based JavaScript delay or a built-in CDN. The diagnostic tools identify slow queries and callbacks, but don’t automatically rewrite problematic code.

Would love honest feedback, especially bug reports and compatibility issues across different hosting environments.


r/WordpressPlugins 1d ago

[FREEMIUM] ContextAlt: page-aware alt-text review for WordPress 7

1 Upvotes

I’ve released ContextAlt, a media accessibility workbench for WordPress 7 built around a review-first workflow.

It audits missing, filename-like, duplicate, boilerplate, and overlong alt text; shows where an image is used; and can draft page-aware suggestions through the site’s configured WordPress AI Connector. AI never publishes changes on its own: every suggestion needs a human decision, stale drafts are blocked, and applied changes can be rolled back.

The Free plugin is GPL, stores no provider API keys, and has no telemetry. Pro adds resumable batches, schedules, advanced WooCommerce/Elementor/multilingual context, full history, and team workflows.

Free source/download: https://github.com/RobertIonutF/contextalt

Product and Pro: https://robertionutf.github.io/contextalt/

The WordPress.org submission is still under review, so GitHub is the Free install source for now. I’d value feedback from people managing large or multilingual media libraries—especially on the audit filters and context preview.


r/WordpressPlugins 1d ago

[FREEMIUM] WooCommerce Order Notifications on WhatsApp

1 Upvotes

Hey folks!

Just sharing a video of my free plugin (with paid add-on) sending WhatsApp Notifications when WooCommerce order status changed.

Take a look at the video: https://youtu.be/3v7j-oMUTZc?si=xN5X48ECKQK5UTFn


r/WordpressPlugins 1d ago

[FREE] Free tool: design a custom WordPress admin color scheme in your browser, export it as a plugin

3 Upvotes

WordPress has shipped the same 8 admin color schemes since around 2013, and adding a 9th means registering wp_admin_css_color and writing the full stylesheet by hand.

I built a free browser tool that does it visually: pick colors for each admin element, watch a live preview, export a .zip plugin. It registers your palette as a proper scheme under Users > Profile and only injects CSS custom properties, so core updates don't break it.

WP Admin UI Color Generator

Feedback welcome, especially from anyone doing client handovers.


r/WordpressPlugins 1d ago

Review [REVIEW] I built a lightweight WordPress security & analytics plugin that shifts blocking to .htaccess instead of PHP. Looking for feedback!

0 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

​Fellow developer here. Like many of you, I've often felt frustrated by how resource-heavy traditional WordPress security plugins can be—running complex PHP and database queries on every single request just to log a bot or block a scanner.

​To scratch my own itch, I built a modular framework called DBH Shield & Traffic Analytics.

​Instead of handling everything inside the PHP runtime, it leans heavily into server-level configuration (.htaccess) to deflect malicious traffic early, combined with a clean SOC-style dashboard for real-time traffic auditing (using Chart.js and lightweight AJAX feeds). It also features things like file integrity monitoring, rate limiting, and global threat intelligence syncs.

​I’d love to hear your thoughts on the architecture, the approach of shifting tasks to the server level, or even just the UI/UX of the dashboard.

​If anyone wants to dive deeper and test the PRO features (like the rate limiter, core watcher, or threat intelligence feeds) hands-on, just shoot me a quick email at [email protected] and I’ll gladly hook you up with a free 3-month trial license!

​Plugin details & documentation: DBH Shield Analytics

​Main portfolio/homepage: blake-hofer.ch

​Let me know what you think—all constructive criticism, code critiques, or ideas for improvement are very welcome! Happy to answer any technical questions in the comments.

BR

Dominique


r/WordpressPlugins 1d ago

Premium [PREMIUM] Redis: "Connected" does not mean "Working"

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1 Upvotes

If your WordPress site runs Redis ( it should ) and the status screen says Connected, you know one thing - a socket opened. That's it.

That test cannot fail in most of the ways an object cache actually fails in production. I deliberately misconfigured a cache on a test site and filled it, and the site started serving HTTP 500 to every visitor while WordPress carried on reporting that an external object cache was active.

Redis is great, but it's not "fire and forget". Post covers some of the pitfalls and ways to avoid them.


r/WordpressPlugins 1d ago

Free [FREE] Social Sharing Plugin with AI Buttons (Open Source)

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2 Upvotes

I've just released a new WordPress plugin that I originally built for my own websites and decided to make completely free and open source.

I've been using WordPress for over 15 years, and I wanted a lightweight social sharing plugin that included features I couldn't find together in one place.

Features

  • Custom Like button
  • Copy Link button
  • Share to popular social networks
  • AI buttons for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok.
  • Local click counting stored in your own WordPress database
  • Works with cached websites
  • No external service required

The project is licensed as open source, so you're free to use it, modify it, and contribute if you'd like.

I'd appreciate any feedback, bug reports, or feature suggestions from the community.

Try it here: https://vinish.dev/free-wordpress-social-share-plugin


r/WordpressPlugins 1d ago

[Free] I'm currently building a lightweight, Tailwind CSS-based page builder focused on performance and flexibility.

1 Upvotes

One thing I've noticed with WordPress is that building a modern website often means juggling multiple plugins one for forms, another for sliders, another for grids, another for dynamic content, and so on. It quickly becomes bloated and difficult to maintain.

My goal is to create a builder that:

  • Is significantly lighter than Elementor and similar builders.
  • Offers unlimited pre-designed widgets and sections out of the box.
  • Uses clean, Tailwind-based code.
  • Eliminates the need for multiple plugins for common website components.
  • Provides more flexibility than Gutenberg while remaining easy to use.

I'm curious if this is something the WordPress community would actually want.

A few questions:

  1. What frustrates you most about your current page builder?
  2. If you could replace Elementor, Bricks, or Gutenberg, what features would be non-negotiable?
  3. Would performance and simplicity be enough to convince you to switch, or are there other factors that matter more?

I'd love to hear honest feedback before I invest more time into building it.


r/WordpressPlugins 2d ago

[FREE] I built a WordPress plugin that displays Google Analytics & Search Console data directly on websites (without exposing the GA dashboard)

2 Upvotes

If you've ever sold websites, built client dashboards, or wanted to publicly display verified website statistics, you've probably ended up taking screenshots from Google Analytics or manually updating numbers.

I originally built this plugin for Flipnzee.com, where prospective buyers can review website traffic and search performance before purchasing a website. Instead of static screenshots, the statistics are pulled automatically from Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console and displayed on the website.

The plugin is completely free and open source.

What it does

Connects to Google Analytics 4 using the official Data API.

Integrates with Google Search Console.

Displays metrics such as:

Users

Sessions

Active users

Page views

Average engagement duration

Organic clicks

Impressions

Search queries

Supports caching to minimize API requests.

Easy shortcode integration.

Built specifically for WordPress.

A live example can be seen here:

https://flipnzee.com/cumulative-analytics-overview/

This page showcases the same plugin being used across multiple websites in a single public dashboard.

GitHub: https://github.com/SplendidDigital/Flipnzee-Analytics

I'd love to hear feature suggestions or ideas for additional GA4/Search Console metrics.


r/WordpressPlugins 1d ago

Freemium [FREEMIUM] I built a frontend Gutenberg block editor that other plugins can extend

1 Upvotes

Hey y'all. I've been working on a plugin for quite a while that I finally released on WordPress.org, and I wanted to share it here because I think some of you might genuinely find it useful (especially if you build plugins yourself).

It actually started as a way for my clients to comment directly on the exact content of a page they wanted me to update. Over time I realized, "If they're already clicking on the thing they want changed and telling me what to do, why not just let them edit it themselves?"

That eventually became FrontEdit. The original comment workflow is still there too, and it's handy for things like requesting an image replacement when they don't actually have the new image themselves.

I built this because I thought WordPress block editing could be made more accessible to non-technical people in a way that still feels native to Gutenberg, and I'd love to know what other people think.

It's also more than a simple frontend content editor. FrontEdit edits native Gutenberg blocks rather than treating the page like editable HTML. That means supported blocks can be updated while preserving their block structure and settings, which made it possible to build a much more extensible architecture around the editor.

This also makes it safe, since FrontEdit lets WordPress handle block serialization instead of manipulating rendered HTML directly.

The part I'm most excited about though isn't even the editor itself. One of my goals from the beginning was to make it something other developers could build on.

I spent a lot of time building a developer-friendly architecture around it. There's a public JavaScript API for interacting with the frontend editor, and an extensible handler system that lets third-party blocks participate without modifying the plugin core.

I'm also working on a native AI assistant for FrontEdit, but since the JavaScript API and Abilities API are already included, you can start experimenting with existing AI agents today.

For the extensible handler system, I included a template and some setup instructions. Let's say you or a client of yours uses GenerateBlocks for their site. You can write handlers for the blocks you want to support, and they'll immediately become editable through FrontEdit without modifying the plugin core.

I'd love feedback from plugin developers, whether that's on the architecture, ideas for extending it, or even trying to write handlers for your own blocks. Real-world use is the best way to improve it, and it would be awesome to see what kinds of integrations or tools people come up with.

There's an interactive demo on my website if you want to play with it for a minute before installing. There's also info on the Pro version which adds things like editorial workflows, submitting drafts, approvals, customizable user permissions, batch editing, and other features aimed more at agencies and teams.

Honestly though, that's not really why I wanted to post here. I'd be perfectly happy if you never needed Pro and just found the free version useful. What I'd really love is to see other developers play with the APIs, build handlers for their favorite block libraries, and tell me where the architecture could be improved.

I'm happy to answer any questions or hear any criticism.


r/WordpressPlugins 2d ago

[FREE] I built a lightweight WordPress plugin that exposes website inventory through a read-only REST API.

1 Upvotes

When evaluating a WordPress website—whether for migration, maintenance, or purchase—I often wanted quick answers to questions like:

Which theme is installed?

Which plugins are active?

How much content does the site contain?

When was it last updated?

What version of WordPress and PHP is it running?

Collecting this information manually across multiple websites quickly became repetitive, so I built a lightweight plugin that exposes it through a structured, read-only REST API.

It's completely free and open source.

What it does

Exposes site information through REST endpoints.

Reports active themes and plugins.

Provides content inventory (posts, pages, custom post types, media, etc.).

Returns WordPress environment information.

Includes recent activity and other useful metadata.

Uses a modular, provider-based architecture that can be extended with additional endpoints.

A practical use case

One of the primary reasons I built this plugin was for Flipnzee.com, a marketplace for websites and digital assets.

Website buyers often want more than traffic statistics—they also want to understand how much content a website contains before deciding whether to make an offer.

By installing this plugin on multiple WordPress websites, it's possible to build a centralized dashboard that publicly displays content inventories from external WordPress sites. Prospective buyers can quickly compare websites based on factors such as the number of posts, pages, media items, and other content types, without needing WordPress admin access.

When combined with analytics data, it provides a more complete picture of a website's maturity and activity, helping buyers make more informed decisions.

A live example is available here:

https://flipnzee.com/cumulative-analytics-overview/

This page demonstrates how content inventory and analytics from multiple WordPress websites can be aggregated into a single public dashboard.

GitHub: https://github.com/SplendidDigital/Flipnzee-Site-Inventory

I'd love to hear feedback or suggestions for additional inventory endpoints and integrations.


r/WordpressPlugins 2d ago

Free Simple Events Calendar – When building sites for clients, I'm often in need of a simple, no frills event calendar plugin. So I built one, and I'm offering it to others for [FREE].

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1 Upvotes

I do a lot of client sites (especially municipal orgs), and event calendar needs come up constantly. Every time I went looking I hit the same wall. The best ones, like The Events Calendar, are well-designed, but are too expensive for my clients to subscribe to.

I needed something clean, simple, and most importantly free and pretty. So I built my own, cleaned it up, and put it on the .org directory for free.

What it does:

  • A month calendar you drop in with [fslc_calendar]
  • Color-coded categories, each with its own color on the grid
  • Recurring events: daily, weekly by weekday, monthly, yearly
  • Multi-day events
  • One-click "Add to Calendar" that hands off an .ics file
  • A details popup with featured image, location, virtual link, and a registration button
  • Separate shortcodes for a sidebar mini-calendar and a plain event list

I built it for my own client work, so it's simple on purpose. If you try it and something's missing or annoying, tell me. I'd love the feedback. Thanks!


r/WordpressPlugins 2d ago

I wanted form entries to be easier to review, so I built this feature [FREE]

1 Upvotes

One thing I've always found frustrating with WordPress form plugins is that form submissions often end up as one long list of fields. It works, but reviewing larger submissions can become tedious.

I've been working on a customizable Submission Detail page for KoalaForms that lets you organize fields into sections, rearrange them, choose different layouts, and make submissions much easier to review.

I put together a short demo:
📺 https://youtu.be/GrrSBqCj5Vg?si=O2YS3Y_qYFRdzUFr

Feature page with more screenshots:
🌐 https://wpkoalaforms.com/submission-management/

I'd really appreciate your feedback.

  • Does this solve a problem you've run into?
  • What information do you usually want to see first when reviewing a submission?
  • Is there anything you'd add to make reviewing entries faster?

I'm trying to build features that actually improve the day-to-day experience of working with WordPress forms, so honest feedback is more valuable than praise.


r/WordpressPlugins 2d ago

Free [FREE] I build a free plugin for creating Post Grids in Gutenberg

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3 Upvotes

r/WordpressPlugins 2d ago

[PROMOTION] MxChat AI Chatbot Plugin Adds YouTube Video Support in Chat Responses

1 Upvotes

We just shipped a new feature for MxChat that I think some of you will find useful. MxChat is an AI chatbot plugin for WordPress that lets you build a knowledge base your chatbot can pull from to answer visitor questions.The new feature is direct YouTube URL support. You can drop a YouTube link straight into the knowledge database and when the chatbot uses that video as a source, it shows the embedded video right inside the chat window. No more sending people away to another tab. The video plays inline.This is great for tutorial sites, product demos, support documentation or any WordPress site where video content is part of the answer. Instead of describing how to do something, the chatbot can just show the video.You can find MxChat on WordPress.org or at mxchat dot ai. Would love to hear what you think or answer any questions about how it works.We just shipped a new feature for MxChat that I think some of you will find useful. MxChat is an AI chatbot plugin for WordPress that lets you build a knowledge base your chatbot can pull from to answer visitor questions.

The new feature is direct YouTube URL support. You can drop a YouTube link straight into the knowledge database and when the chatbot uses that video as a source, it shows the embedded video right inside the chat window. No more sending people away to another tab. The video plays inline.

This is great for tutorial sites, product demos, support documentation or any WordPress site where video content is part of the answer. Instead of describing how to do something, the chatbot can just show the video.

You can find MxChat on WordPress.org or at mxchat dot ai. Would love to hear what you think or answer any questions about how it works.


r/WordpressPlugins 2d ago

Freemium [FREEMIUM] Your search plugin might be working fine. Your theme is probably hiding it.

1 Upvotes

I build a search plugin, and by far the most common "it's broken" report I get turns out

not to be the plugin at all. Sharing the diagnostic, because it applies to every search

plugin on the market, not just mine.

The symptom: you install a search plugin, the catalog indexes fine, and then the search box

at the top of your site returns exactly what it did before. Same keyword matches, same misses.

What is usually happening: your theme has its own search. Many premium themes (Woodmart,

Flatsome, Astra Pro, Divi and others) ship an instant/AJAX search in the header. That overlay

runs the theme's own query. It never issues the standard WordPress search request, so the

plugin is never asked anything. It sits there correctly indexed, waiting for a request that

never arrives.

Second variant: page builders (Elementor, Beaver Builder, Bricks) often include a results

widget with its own "Order By" setting. The plugin's results do arrive, and then the widget

re-sorts them. Ranking is the whole point of a search plugin, so a re-sorted page looks

identical to a broken engine.

The two-minute test, no code:

  1. Run a test query in your plugin's own dashboard, if it has one. Good results there mean

    the engine and the index are fine, and the problem is downstream on your site.

  2. Type the plain WordPress search URL straight into your address bar, bypassing the header

    box: yoursite.com/?post_type=product&s=blue+summer+dress

  3. Compare. Direct URL good but header box bad means the theme's search is intercepting.

    Right products in a strange order means a widget or template is re-sorting them.

Fixes: turn off the theme's AJAX/instant search (usually a toggle in theme options), or set

the builder widget's query to inherit the main query with no forced Order By.

Why I am posting this: the standard advice when this happens is "try another plugin", and

that costs people an afternoon and lands them in exactly the same place, because the next

plugin hooks the same request the theme is bypassing.

Full write-up with all three variants and a fix for each:

https://queryra.com/blog/wordpress-search-plugin-not-working-theme-override

Disclosure: I make Queryra, one of these plugins. The diagnostic above is plugin-agnostic.

I would rather people fix the theme setting than churn through plugins.


r/WordpressPlugins 2d ago

[PROMOTION] Plugin and CLI which makes Wordpress usable in a Git workflow

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1 Upvotes

From what I've seen, the moment a WP site needs a Composer package (think tcpdf, or a parsing library), you're stuck either using SSH or manually committing everything to the repo. Not great when the client only has FTP access or is on shared hosting.

I built a plugin that adds Packagist search right in the WP admin: search for a package, click "Install," and it handles the autoloader for you. It also runs a basic security audit on installed dependencies (known CVEs) and checks PHP version compatibility before installing.

Still in alpha, so probably plenty of blind spots. If you manage WP sites where devs need external libraries, what would make you hesitate to install this on a production site? And is there a Composer-on-WP use case I haven't thought of?


r/WordpressPlugins 2d ago

[FREE] I built a plugin to automate WooCommerce Customer Match lists for Google & Meta Ads so you don't have to manually export CSVs anymore.

0 Upvotes

If you run Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok, Pinterest, Twitter, etc (idk of any other, still documenting this) for a WooCommerce store, you probabbly know how annoying Customer Match/Audiences lists can be, especially when marketers request a list update for profiling.

On top of that, if you mix your German buyers into your ES or US campaigns (basically any country), you dilute your target signals and throw away ad spend. On top of that, browser tracking / consent full denial, blocks mean you miss a ton of purchase events anyway.

I had this developed a few years ago and used it internally for our clients, but then I noticed there is no reliable solution (especially for 1m+ orders database) so I published it to .ORG, a completely free, open-source plugin: CMLS – Customer Match List for Google Ads & Meta Ads and other platforms (that adopt Google's format - many do like TikTok, Pinterest, etc.).

What it does:

  • Per-Country Splitting: It automatically combs your WooCommerce history(completed orders only!) and splits customers into separate CSVs based on their ISO billing country.
  • Completely Automated: Runs a background job (every 1, 6, 12, or 24 hours) to incrementally append new orders to the correct country file.
  • Direct Integration with Google: It generates a secure, tokenized URL for each country. You literally just paste that URL into Google Ads Data Manager (HTTPS connector), and Google pulls the fresh data automatically on its own schedule.
  • Privacy First: It performs the exact SHA-256 normalization/hashing required by Google and Meta directly on your server. No third-party APIs, no data leaves your site until Google fetches it.

It also supports WP-CLI for huge stores and it's developed mainly for WooCommerce HPOS (High-Performance Order Storage), but also postmeta was not left out.

Basically you can hook it up directly to Google Ads and it can stream the file whenever they need OR you can just download the file and upload it, when you need it - the file is there, waiting for it to be downloaded, always updated.

It’s live on the WordPress repo now if you want to check it out: https://wordpress.org/plugins/customer-match-list-google-ads/

Would love to get your feedback or answer any questions on the setup!