Update Doctor

The problem

Updating plugins and themes is routine, and it still goes wrong. A new version throws a fatal error. A widget quietly disappears while the page still returns HTTP 200. A script file goes missing and the checkout stops working. WordPress’s built-in rollback looks for one thing: a PHP fatal on the home page after a background auto-update. Most real breakage is something else, and nothing tells you why.

How it works

Update Doctor runs on your own site, with no hosted service. For each update it:

• reads the risk first: requirements, major version jumps, cooldown and changelog words,
• copies the plugin or theme folder, plus the options and tables it owns, with a SHA-256 hash for every file,
• records how your key pages look, fetching each one twice so clocks and nonces are ignored,
• installs the update with WordPress’s own upgrader,
• checks the same pages again for fatals, HTTP status, the critical error screen, required and forbidden text, lost layout, missing assets, new PHP warnings and the error log,
• restores the exact files if the checks fail, and checks every restored file against its hash,
• names the likely cause with rules, and with AI if you connect a provider, then proposes next steps.

Every step is written to a tamper-evident audit log.

You stay in control

• Only a person approves. Restoring a snapshot, restoring a plugin’s tables, holding a version, changing a policy, deactivating a conflicting plugin or retrying all need a logged-in user with the right capability, in wp-admin or WP-CLI with --user.
• Tables restore only by approval, after a preview of the row counts. WordPress core tables such as posts, users and comments are never restored.
• A restore that does not verify is reported as restore_failed with a critical notice, never as a success.
• Nothing changes unless you opt in. Taking over auto-updates is off by default, and protecting updates started elsewhere never blocks them.

Diagnosis with your own AI provider

Rules diagnosis is always on and needs no account. If you connect a provider under Settings → Connectors, Update Doctor also asks it for an explanation after a regression, through WordPress’s AI Client. It sends redacted evidence only, never page bodies, and stays within the monthly token budget you set.

For agencies and agents

Printable client reports carry your agency name and logo. Ten abilities let your own agent read runs, diagnose and propose actions through the MCP Adapter, and the wp update-doctor commands cover the same ground from the shell. Approving always stays with a person.