WP Manifestindependent plugin directory
manifest / seo / rankkernel

RankKernel – Free SEO & Schema Engine

Open-source WordPress SEO and schema engine built in PHP (RankKernel)

by Maulik Bhalodiya · github.com/maulikbhalodiya/rankkernel · website

★ 5stars

Install

Download source zip No release zip yet

This is the repository archive. It installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow.

Install straight from GitHub with WP-CLI:

wp plugin install https://github.com/maulikbhalodiya/rankkernel/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
No built-in updater. New versions won't appear under Dashboard → Updates. Install new releases yourself, or let Git Updater track the repository.
Readme github.com/maulikbhalodiya/rankkernel ↗

100% free, lightweight SEO for WordPress, no paywalls, no upsell banners, no telemetry.

Status: work in progress (v0.1.0-dev, foundation). Not yet submitted to WordPress.org.

What makes it different

  • Hard-gated modules. A module that is off is never loaded: no hooks, no queries, no bloat.
  • Single-row metadata. All per-object SEO data in one meta key (_rankkernel_meta_data), one query instead of competitors' 25 to 45 rows per post.
  • Clean uninstall, by design. Purge is an explicit, user-controlled choice.
  • Zero telemetry. No external requests except endpoints you explicitly configure.

Shipped (foundation)

  • Module system with a hard gate (zero cost when disabled)
  • Metadata Engine: title, meta description, robots, canonical, Open Graph, Twitter cards
  • REST API (rankkernel/v1): settings + module toggles
  • Versioned migrations with a safe failure ledger
  • Guarded bootstrap, activation requirement checks, uninstall purge

Roadmap

XML sitemaps (cache ON) · Schema/JSON-LD · Breadcrumbs · Redirects (cache-first) · 404 monitor · Instant Indexing (IndexNow) · Robots editors · Importer (Yoast/Rank Math/SEOPress) · Gutenberg suite · AI suite (bring-your-own-key) · Headless payload

Requirements

  • WordPress 6.5+
  • PHP 8.1+

Development

composer install          # installs dev tooling (phpcs, phpstan, phpunit)
composer test             # PHPUnit (Brain Monkey, no database needed)
composer lint             # phpcs (WPCS + PSR-12 hybrid)
composer stan             # phpstan level 6

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md, issues first, GH-<issue> branches, owner merges.

License

GPL-2.0-or-later, the same license as WordPress itself.