WordPress Update Monitoring - Core, Plugin & Theme Update Notifications

Update-Watcher’s WordPress checker monitors one or more WordPress installations for available updates to the core software, plugins, and themes. It works entirely through WP-CLI and requires no WordPress plugin. The checker auto-detects 11 different development and hosting environments, including ddev, Lando, Docker Compose, and native installations.

This is one of the most powerful checkers in Update-Watcher. It can monitor dozens of WordPress sites from a single configuration file and report all pending updates through your notification channels.

Prerequisites

WP-CLI installed and accessible for native environments.
For containerized environments (ddev, Lando, Docker Compose, etc.), the respective tool must be installed and the project must be running.
File system access to the WordPress installation directory (or the project directory for containerized environments).

Adding via CLI

Add a WordPress watcher for a single site:

Terminal

update-watcher watch wordpress --path /var/www/html --name "My Site"

Specify the environment type explicitly:

Terminal

update-watcher watch wordpress --path /var/www/html --name "My Site" --env ddev

Disable theme checking:

Terminal

update-watcher watch wordpress --path /var/www/html --name "My Site" --no-themes

Configuration Reference

Option	Type	Default	Description
`sites`	list	`[]`	List of WordPress site objects to monitor. Each site has its own name, path, and optional settings.
`check_core`	bool	`true`	Check for WordPress core updates.
`check_plugins`	bool	`true`	Check for plugin updates.
`check_themes`	bool	`true`	Check for theme updates.

Site Object Properties

Each entry in the sites list supports the following properties:

Property	Type	Default	Description
`name`	string	(required)	A human-readable name for the site, used in notifications.
`path`	string	(required)	Absolute path to the WordPress installation or project directory.
`run_as`	string	`""`	Optional. Run WP-CLI as a specific user via sudo (e.g., `www-data`). Only needed when Update-Watcher runs as root. For dedicated service users, prefer group membership instead (see Linux Server Setup).
`environment`	string	`""`	Override the auto-detected environment. Leave empty for auto-detection.

YAML Configuration Example

Single WordPress site with default settings:

config.yaml

watchers:
  - type: wordpress
    sites:
      - name: "Company Blog"
        path: /var/www/wordpress

Multiple sites with different environments:

config.yaml

watchers:
  - type: wordpress
    check_core: true
    check_plugins: true
    check_themes: true
    sites:
      - name: "Production Site"
        path: /var/www/production
        run_as: www-data
      - name: "Staging Site"
        path: /home/dev/staging-site
        environment: ddev
      - name: "Client Site"
        path: /var/www/client
        environment: docker-compose

Plugins and core only (skip themes):

config.yaml

watchers:
  - type: wordpress
    check_core: true
    check_plugins: true
    check_themes: false
    sites:
      - name: "My Site"
        path: /var/www/html

Supported Environments

The WordPress checker auto-detects the environment for each site. You can also set the environment explicitly if auto-detection does not work for your setup.

Environment	Detection Method	WP-CLI Command
Native	Default fallback	`wp` (directly)
ddev	`.ddev/` directory present	`ddev wp`
Lando	`.lando.yml` present	`lando wp`
wp-env	`.wp-env.json` present	`npx wp-env run cli wp`
Docker Compose	`docker-compose.yml` present	`docker compose exec <service> wp`
Bedrock	`web/wp/` directory structure	`wp` with adjusted paths
LocalWP	Local by Flywheel site structure	`wp` via Local’s shell
MAMP	MAMP directory structure detected	`wp` with MAMP PHP
XAMPP	XAMPP directory structure detected	`wp` with XAMPP PHP
Laragon	Laragon directory structure detected	`wp` via Laragon paths
Laravel Valet	Valet-linked site detected	`wp` directly

How It Works

For each configured WordPress site, the checker performs the following steps:

Step 1: Detect environment

Scans the site path for environment indicators (.ddev/, .lando.yml, docker-compose.yml, etc.) to determine how to invoke WP-CLI. If the environment property is set, auto-detection is skipped.

Step 2: Check core updates

Runs wp core check-update to see if a newer version of WordPress is available.

Step 3: Check plugin updates

Runs wp plugin list --update=available --format=json to list all plugins with pending updates.

Step 4: Check theme updates

Runs wp theme list --update=available --format=json to list all themes with pending updates.

All WP-CLI commands are executed in the context of the detected environment. For example, in a ddev environment, all commands are prefixed with ddev so they run inside the container.

The checker reports each available update with the component type (core, plugin, or theme), component name, current version, and available version.

FAQ

FAQ: Do I need to install a WordPress plugin?

No. Update-Watcher uses WP-CLI externally to query for updates. No WordPress plugin is required. This means the checker works even if the WordPress admin dashboard is not accessible, and it introduces zero overhead to your WordPress site’s runtime performance.

FAQ: Can I monitor multiple WordPress sites?

Yes. Add multiple entries to the sites list in the configuration. Each site can have its own path, environment, and run_as setting:

config.yaml

watchers:
  - type: wordpress
    sites:
      - name: "Site A"
        path: /var/www/site-a
      - name: "Site B"
        path: /var/www/site-b
        run_as: www-data
      - name: "Dev Site"
        path: /home/dev/project
        environment: ddev

There is no limit to the number of sites you can monitor.

FAQ: Which environments are supported?

The checker supports 11 environments: Native, ddev, Lando, wp-env, Docker Compose, Bedrock, LocalWP, MAMP, XAMPP, Laragon, and Laravel Valet. The environment is auto-detected based on the files and directory structure present at the site path. You can override auto-detection with the environment property if needed.

Tips

File Permissions: The user running Update-Watcher needs read access to wp-config.php and the WordPress directory. The recommended setup is to add the update-watcher service user to the web server group (e.g., www-data). See Linux Server Setup for details.

If Update-Watcher runs as root instead, use run_as to execute WP-CLI as the file owner:

config.yaml

sites:
  - name: "Production"
    path: /var/www/html
    run_as: www-data

💡

Mixed Environments: A single Update-Watcher configuration can monitor sites across different environments. For example, you might monitor a native production site, a ddev development site, and a Docker Compose staging site, all from the same config file.

Notification Grouping: When monitoring multiple WordPress sites, update notifications are grouped by site name. This makes it easy to see at a glance which sites need attention.

Send WordPress update notifications to Slack, Discord, Email, Telegram, or any of the other 16 supported notification channels.

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WordPress Update Monitoring - Core, Plugin & Theme Update Notifications

Prerequisites

Adding via CLI

Configuration Reference

Site Object Properties

YAML Configuration Example

Supported Environments

How It Works

Step 1: Detect environment

Step 2: Check core updates

Step 3: Check plugin updates

Step 4: Check theme updates

FAQ

Tips

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