upBlock - Block Unwanted HTTP Requests in WordPress Admin

Monitor, log and block unwanted HTTP API calls in WordPress admin to improve performance.

❓ Why is WordPress Admin Sometimes Slow?

WordPress plugins and themes often load various external resources in your admin dashboard, including unwanted advertisements, news feeds, and third-party analytics. While some of these connections are necessary (like security and update checks), many are just:

• 🐌 Slowing down your admin dashboard with unnecessary background requests
• 🔓 Potentially exposing your site to unwanted tracking and security risks
• 🖥️ Consuming server resources with unrequested external content

upBlock helps you identify and control these unwanted requests while maintaining essential WordPress functionality like updates and security checks.

📑 Table of Contents

• Why is WordPress Admin Sometimes Slow?
• Features
• Requirements
• Installation
• Usage
• Configuration
• Contributing
• Support
• License
• Changelog

🚀 Features

• 📊 Monitor all HTTP requests made from your WordPress admin
• 🚫 Block unwanted domains and URL patterns
• 📝 Detailed request logging with response times
• 🔍 View top domains making requests
• ⚡ Improve admin performance by blocking unnecessary requests
• 🛡️ Enhanced security through request monitoring
• 🧹 Automatic log cleanup for optimal database performance

📋 Requirements

• WordPress 5.0 or higher
• PHP 8.0 or higher
• MySQL 5.6 or higher

💽 Installation

1. Download the latest release from WordPress.org
2. Upload the plugin to your WordPress site
3. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
4. Navigate to upTools > upBlock in your admin menu

Or install directly from WordPress:

1. Go to Plugins > Add New
2. Search for "upBlock"
3. Click "Install Now"
4. Activate the plugin

🎯 Usage

Monitoring Requests

The main dashboard shows you:

• Recent HTTP requests with their status and response times
• Top domains making requests
• Currently blocked domains and URLs

Blocking Requests

You can block requests in two ways:

1. Add domains directly to the blocklist
2. Add URL patterns to block specific endpoints

Managing Logs

Configure logging settings:

• Set log retention period (1-365 days)
• Enable/disable logging of blocked requests
• Enable/disable automatic log cleanup

🛠️ Configuration

Hooks & Filters

// Filter blocked domains
add_filter('upblock_blocked_domains', function($domains) {
    $domains[] = 'example.com';
    return $domains;
});

// Filter blocked URLs
add_filter('upblock_blocked_urls', function($urls) {
    $urls[] = 'https://example.com/api/';
    return $urls;
});

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how you can help:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct and the process for submitting pull requests.

📜 License

This project is licensed under the GPL v2 or later - see the LICENSE file for details.

👥 Authors

• upTools Team - Initial work - uptools.io

🙏 Acknowledgments

• WordPress Core Team for the HTTP API
• All contributors who have helped improve this plugin

📞 Support

For support and documentation, please:

1. Check our documentation
2. Visit our issues page
3. Review our discussions

For security issues, please report them directly through our security page.

🗺️ Roadmap

Planned features:

• Advanced analytics dashboard
• API request rate limiting
• Custom blocking rules
• Export/import settings
• Integration with popular security plugins

🔄 Changelog

1.0.0 (Latest)

• Initial release
• Core monitoring functionality
• Domain blocking system
• Logging system implementation
• Admin interface

Development

• See CHANGELOG.md for full version history

🔒 Security

Reporting Security Issues

Please report security issues to security@uptools.io. We take security seriously and will respond promptly.

Best Practices

• Keep the plugin updated
• Regularly review blocked domains
• Monitor logs for suspicious activity
• Use strong WordPress admin passwords

⚡ Performance

The plugin is designed with performance in mind:

• Minimal impact on front-end
• Efficient database queries
• Automatic log cleanup
• Optimized blocking system

🌐 Compatibility

Tested with:

• Popular WordPress themes
• Major page builders
• Common caching plugins
• Security plugins

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Made with ❤️ by upTools