WP Manifestindependent plugin directory
manifest / utilities / assertive-site-cleanup

Assertive Site Cleanup

Settings page that disables unused comments and strips leftover WordPress head output.

by Eli Cohen · github.com/elicohenator/assertive-site-cleanup

★ 0stars
0forks

Install

No release zip yet. The repository archive installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow:

wp plugin install https://github.com/elicohenator/assertive-site-cleanup/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
Readme github.com/elicohenator/assertive-site-cleanup ↗

Disables unused comments and strips leftover WordPress head output. Each feature is its own checkbox under Settings → Assertive Site Cleanup.
Requires WordPress 6.4 or later, PHP 7.4 or later
Tested up to 7.1
License GPLv2 or later

On by default

  • Comments and trackbacks are closed, and the comments admin UI, widget, feed, and REST routes are removed.
  • The emoji detection script, styles, and emoji DNS prefetch are removed.
  • Generator, shortlink, oEmbed discovery, REST discovery, and RSD tags are removed from the head.
  • The WordPress version is removed from generator output.
  • Failed logins get one generic message. Password-reset errors are left alone.
  • /wp/v2/users is hidden from logged-out REST requests. Logged-in users still have it.
  • XML-RPC, including pingbacks, is disabled.
  • The Events and News dashboard widget and the welcome panel are removed.

Off by default

These stay off because they can break a real site or change URLs.

  • Remove RSS feed links.
  • Hide the front-end admin bar for non-administrators.
  • Redirect ?author=N to the homepage.
  • Disable the plugin and theme file editor.
  • Disable speculative loading (link prefetch for logged-out visitors).
  • Keep only 5 revisions per post. Existing revisions are not deleted.
  • Redirect attachment pages to the file URL.
  • Disable the core wp-sitemap.xml.
  • Stop the editor from downloading remote block patterns.
  • Remove jQuery Migrate on the front end.

Breeze can also disable emojis. Leaving both on is harmless. Varnish serves cached HTML, so head cleanup only applies on a cache miss. Blocking xmlrpc.php in the server config is stronger than the PHP toggle.

Installation

  1. Upload the assertive-site-cleanup folder to /wp-content/plugins/.
  2. Activate Assertive Site Cleanup.
  3. Review Settings → Assertive Site Cleanup.

FAQ

Will this delete existing comments?

No. It closes comments and hides them. The rows stay in the database.

Why can logged-in users still list users over REST?

The block editor needs /wp/v2/users for the author panel. The endpoint is removed only for logged-out requests.

Does limiting revisions delete old ones?

No. New saves keep the latest 5. Revisions already in the database stay there.

Will disabling the core sitemap remove an SEO plugin sitemap?

No. It only turns off WordPress core's wp-sitemap.xml.

Changelog

The WordPress.org changelog lives in readme.txt.