About this plugin
Updating a plugin on a live WordPress site is a leap of faith. Preflight Update Sandbox removes the guesswork.
When a plugin update is available, Preflight Update Sandbox boots a throwaway WordPress sandbox in your browser using WordPress Playground, reproduces your active plugins, and runs the update there first. It performs an A/B test:
- Before — your active plugins at their current versions.
- After — the same set, but with the target plugin updated.
If the “before” sandbox is healthy and the “after” sandbox is healthy, the update is marked Safe and you can apply it with one click. If “after” breaks while “before” worked, the update is flagged Unsafe and held back.
No staging server. No paid infrastructure. The sandbox runs in the browser and is discarded when you are done.
Why it is different
Rollback plugins only help after something breaks. Staging tools are heavy, manual, and often cost money. Preflight Update Sandbox tests before you commit, using free, disposable browser-based sandboxes — a capability only recently made possible by WordPress Playground.
What this early version does
- Detects pending plugin updates.
- Boots matched sandboxes (WordPress + PHP versions matched to your site).
- Runs automated health checks (front page and login screen load, no fatal/critical errors).
- Gives a Safe / Unsafe / Inconclusive verdict with details.
- Live sandbox preview: boots the updated site in a visible, interactive sandbox right in the admin, with a Before/After toggle and an “Open in new tab” link, so you can click around and see the update working before applying it.
- Applies a passed update with one click, securely.
On the roadmap
- Theme and WordPress core update testing.
- Importing your real content (WXR) into the sandbox for deeper checks.
- Visual-regression screenshots (before vs. after).
- Premium-plugin support via uploaded zips.
- Scheduled background testing with email/Slack alerts.
External services
This plugin relies on external services to test updates. Nothing is sent to any third party except as described below, and testing only happens when you click a Test, Preview, or Clone button.
-
org)
- What: The plugin queries the directory to resolve the correct download URLs and versions for the plugin being tested and for your active repository plugins, then those plugin ZIP files are downloaded into the in-browser sandbox.
- Data sent: plugin slugs and version numbers. No personal data is sent.
- Terms: https://wordpress.org/about/privacy/ — Privacy: https://wordpress.org/about/privacy/
-
net)
- What: The plugin loads the WordPress Playground runtime (a WebAssembly build of WordPress) from this service so a disposable WordPress sandbox can run inside your browser. The sandbox itself executes locally in your browser.
- Data sent: standard requests to download the Playground runtime and assets. When you use the staging-clone feature, a snapshot of your site (plugin/theme files, settings and content) is loaded into the sandbox running in your browser; this snapshot is not uploaded to Playground’s servers.
- Terms & Privacy: https://wordpress.org/about/privacy/ and https://developer.wordpress.org/playground/
If you do not want the plugin to contact these services, do not run a Test, Preview, or Clone.