Coywolf Reset Updates

Adds a Tools → Reset Updates page with a button that clears the cached update data and forces WordPress to recheck for new versions — useful when a release was just published and you do not want to wait for the next scheduled check.

• Version: 1.0.30
• Requires WordPress: 5.0 or later
• Tested up to: 7.0
• Requires PHP: 7.2 or later
• License: GPL-2.0-or-later

Description

WordPress caches plugin update data and only re-checks every 12 hours. When you have just published a new release (especially for a GitHub-hosted plugin) you usually do not want to wait. This plugin gives you a one-click way to drop that cache and force an immediate re-check.

• Adds a Reset Updates sub-menu under Tools.
• The page has a single Reset update cache button.
• Clicking it deletes the update_plugins site transient, clears the plugin-info cache (wp_clean_plugins_cache), and sweeps common GitHub-updater throttle caches (any site transient whose key contains gh_release, github_release, or github_update — including the _neg negative-response variants Coywolf's own updater uses).
• The handler then redirects to WordPress's own Check Again URL (update-core.php?force-check=1). That page's load-update-core.php hook calls wp_version_check(), wp_update_plugins(), and wp_update_themes() with force = true, so the re-check is guaranteed to run in the same request the user lands on — same flow the original ?coywolf_blc_check snippet relied on.
• A one-shot success notice appears on the Updates page with a link to the Plugins screen so you can act on the freshly fetched results.
• Access is gated by the standard update_plugins capability — by default only administrators.
• Stores no options of its own. uninstall.php clears the plugin-update caches once more so the site is left clean when the plugin is removed.
• Self-updates from its own GitHub releases via the standard Dashboard → Updates flow (releases cached for 6 hours, downloads pinned to a GitHub host allowlist) — so the Reset update cache button can find newer versions of this plugin itself.

Installation

1. Upload the coywolf-reset-plugin-update folder to /wp-content/plugins/, or upload the .zip via Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
2. Activate the plugin.
3. Go to Tools → Reset Updates and click Reset update cache.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this update my plugins?

No. It only clears the cached "what updates are available" data and asks WordPress to re-check. Installing the updates themselves still happens on the Plugins or Dashboard → Updates screens as usual.

Will it pick up GitHub-hosted plugins?

Yes. In addition to the standard update_plugins transient, it sweeps any site transient whose key contains gh_release, github_release, or github_update — the patterns commonly used by self-hosted plugin updaters to throttle calls to the GitHub Releases API (including Coywolf's own _gh_release and _gh_release_neg keys). After clearing them, the forced re-check on update-core.php will hit GitHub instead of returning the cached response.

Who can use it?

Anyone with the update_plugins capability — typically administrators only. On a multisite, only users who could already update plugins network-wide will see the Tools menu item.

Privacy

Privacy-first: this plugin includes no analytics, no tracking, and no data gathering. Nothing about you, your site, or your visitors is ever collected or sent anywhere.

Changelog

1.0.30

• Show updates on the first load after clicking Reset (#31).

1.0.29

• Updater: run GitHub release checks in the background so the Updates screen never hangs (#30).

1.0.28

• Readme: state the privacy-first stance (no analytics, no data gathering) (#29).

1.0.27

• Resolve remaining Plugin Check warnings (#28).

1.0.26

• Tighten the plugin description to match the page copy (#27).

1.0.25

• Update the Reset Updates page copy (#26).

1.0.24

• Rename to "Coywolf Reset Updates" to drop the restricted term "plugin" (#25).

1.0.23

• CI: upgrade actions to Node 24-native versions (#24).

1.0.22

• CI: run bundled JS actions on Node 24 (#23).

1.0.21

• Set distinct Plugin URI and Author URI (#22).

1.0.20

• Fix readme Contributors/Tags header line (#21).

1.0.19

• Set readme Contributors to jonhenshaw (#20).

1.0.18

• Fix all WordPress.org Plugin Check errors (#19).

1.0.17

• Add WordPress.org variant build + gated SVN deploy (#18).

1.0.16

• Add Atom-feed fallback when the GitHub API is rate-limited (#17).

1.0.15

• Fix: don't block manual zip uploads (untrusted host error) (#16).

1.0.14

• Harden guard_pre_download: use hook_extra, fail closed (#15).

1.0.13

• Perf: honour _neg cache + esc_like LIKE prefixes (#14).

1.0.12

• Bump Tested up to: 7.0 (#13).

1.0.11

• Test the v1.0.10 updater-flush refresh-current_version fix (#12).

1.0.10

• Updater: refresh current_version after upgrade (fix the double-update prompt) (#11).

1.0.9

• Test the v1.0.8 updater-flush fix (#10).

1.0.8

• Updater: clear update_plugins transient after self-update (#9).

1.0.7

• No-op release to verify the plugin icon shows on the Updates row once the site is running an icon-aware updater (1.0.6+).

1.0.6

• Show the plugin icon on the Updates / Plugins / View-details screens by populating icons on the update object and the plugins_api response.

1.0.5

• No-op release to verify the GitHub self-updater surfaces this plugin on the Updates screen.

1.0.4

• Add GitHub self-updater so the button can surface this plugin's own updates (#5).

1.0.3

• Harden handle_reset(): POST-only + explicit login check (#4).

1.0.2

• Fix: redirect to update-core.php to actually trigger the re-check (#3).

1.0.1

• Fix: point Plugin URI to GitHub repo (#2).

1.0.0

• Initial release.