ASDevs Guardian

A 100% free, all-in-one safety net for WordPress updates, PHP compatibility notices, fatal errors, and plugin/theme vulnerability tracking. No paid tier, ever.

Description

ASDevs Guardian answers the questions every WordPress site owner eventually asks:

• "What if this update breaks my site?" — Update Safety Net takes an automatic file and database snapshot before every plugin/theme update (manual or automatic) and can roll back with one click, or automatically, if the update causes a failure.
• "Why is my site suddenly full of strange PHP warnings?" — PHP Firewall intercepts deprecated-function notices, groups them by the plugin or theme responsible, and shows them in a clear admin screen instead of leaking them onto your pages.
• "Is my site about to show visitors a blank white screen?" — Fatal Error Shield installs a small, self-contained safety file (a WordPress "must-use" plugin) that catches fatal errors the instant they happen — any time, not just after an update. It automatically rolls back or disables the plugin/theme responsible (within a strict, configurable hourly safety limit), shows a branded "back in a few minutes" page to visitors with a proper 503 status, and gives logged-in administrators a full diagnostic screen with manual controls.
• "Which of my plugins or themes are risky?" — Health Scorecard (opt-in) scores every installed plugin and theme from 0-100 based on known vulnerabilities and how actively they are maintained, and surfaces critical findings in Tools → Site Health.

ASDevs Guardian is completely free — there is no premium version and no feature is ever locked behind a paywall.

Privacy

By default, ASDevs Guardian makes no external network requests. All snapshot, notice, and incident data stays in your own WordPress database and file system.

The only feature that contacts an external service is the optional Health Scorecard. It is disabled by default and only activates after you explicitly click "Activate" on its consent screen. Once enabled, it sends only the name and version number of your installed plugins and themes — never your site content, user data, or anything else — to WPVulnerability.net, a free, keyless, open-source vulnerability database, from a background job (never on a page load a visitor triggers). You can turn it off at any time from the Health Scorecard screen.

The Fatal Error Shield mu-plugin

To protect your site even when the main plugin cannot load (for example, during the exact fatal error it is meant to catch), ASDevs Guardian installs one extra file at wp-content/mu-plugins/asdevs-guardian-shield.php when the plugin is activated. This file:

• Is fully self-contained — it does not depend on the main plugin's code or Composer autoloader, so it keeps working even if the main plugin's own files are the ones causing the error.
• Only intercepts fatal PHP errors (it never suppresses normal output).
• Applies a hard "Loop Guard" safety limit (default: 3 automatic actions per hour, configurable but never fully disableable) so a run of unrelated errors can never cascade into disabling most of your plugins; once the limit is hit you get an immediate email instead.
• Is automatically removed when you deactivate ASDevs Guardian.
• Will not be installed at all if your host does not allow writing to wp-content/mu-plugins — the rest of the plugin continues to work normally in that case.

Installation

1. Upload the plugin files to /wp-content/plugins/asdevs-guardian, or install it directly from the Plugins screen.
2. Activate the plugin.
3. Visit ASDevs Guardian in the admin menu to review the status of each module.
4. Optionally, visit ASDevs Guardian → Health Scorecard and click "Activate" to opt in to vulnerability scanning.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this plugin cost anything?

No. ASDevs Guardian is 100% free with no paid tier, upsell, or locked features.

What is the mu-plugin file for?

It lets ASDevs Guardian show a friendly diagnostic screen to administrators (and a branded "back soon" page to visitors) instead of a blank white page, whenever a fatal PHP error occurs — even if the main plugin itself cannot run at that moment. See "The Fatal Error Shield mu-plugin" above for full details. It is removed automatically when the plugin is deactivated.

Does the Update Safety Net back up my database?

It snapshots the specific database options an update can affect (such as the active plugins list), not a full database dump. Full database backups are outside this plugin's scope.

What happens if my host blocks writing to mu-plugins?

ASDevs Guardian detects this automatically and shows a notice in the admin area. The Update Safety Net, PHP Firewall, and Health Scorecard modules continue to work normally; only the Fatal Error Shield is affected, and the site still falls back to WordPress core's own Recovery Mode.

Does the Health Scorecard send my API keys or site content anywhere?

No. It never has a form for API keys. It only sends the slug and version number of your installed plugins/themes to WPVulnerability.net, and only after you explicitly activate it.

Changelog

0.2.0

• Update Safety Net: added automatic-update support and database snapshotting (active plugins list, active theme) alongside the existing file snapshots.
• Added Health Scorecard module: keyless WPVulnerability.net integration, 0-100 scoring, abandonment detection, explicit Consent Flow, and a Site Health integration.
• Fatal Error Shield: added automatic rollback (via the most recent healthy snapshot), a branded 503 maintenance page for anonymous visitors, and a Loop Guard hourly safety cap with admin email alerts.

0.1.0

• Initial development release: architecture skeleton, minimal Update Safety Net (manual updates, file-only snapshots), PHP Firewall (notice capture and admin screen), and Fatal Error Shield v1 (detection, admin diagnostic screen, one-click plugin disable).

Upgrade Notice

0.2.0

Adds the opt-in Health Scorecard module, database snapshotting, and automatic Fatal Error Shield recovery.

0.1.0

Initial development release.