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GWD Connect

GWD Connect

By graphicwebdesigninc
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Description

GWD Connect is a comprehensive WordPress site management plugin built by Graphic Web Design, Inc. It provides automatic backups, log monitoring, uptime tracking, automatic updates, and a powerful migration REST API — all from your WordPress admin.

To activate the Backup, Log Monitoring, and Uptime dashboards, please contact Graphic Web Design, Inc. for API activation.

Full Backup Engine

  • Database backups via mysqldump with PDO fallback
  • Filesystem archiving via tar with PharData fallback
  • GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) retention policy — daily, weekly, monthly tiers
  • Real-time AJAX progress bar during backup
  • SHA-256 integrity verification for all backup archives
  • Large file and directory detection with customizable exclusions
  • Secure backup download from WordPress admin
  • WP Cron scheduled automatic backups
  • Optional sync with backup.gwd.app dashboard

Log Monitoring

  • Auto-discovers debug.log, PHP error log, and server error logs
  • Multi-format log parsing (WordPress, Apache, Nginx, syslog)
  • Pattern normalization and deduplication — groups similar errors
  • Hourly distribution analysis with visual bar chart
  • Severity classification: fatal, error, warning, notice
  • Smart file position tracking for efficient re-reads
  • Log file size alerts — configurable email notifications when logs exceed a threshold
  • Clear individual log files from admin
  • Optional sync with logs.gwd.app dashboard

Uptime Monitoring

  • Real-time uptime status and response time tracking
  • SSL certificate expiry monitoring
  • Incident history with start, end, and duration
  • 24-hour response time chart with native Canvas rendering
  • 30-day uptime percentage calculation
  • Email notifications on confirmed downtime and recovery
  • Optional sync with up.gwd.app dashboard

Auto Updates

  • Automatically updates WordPress core (minor and major versions)
  • Automatically updates plugins, themes, and translations
  • Email notifications when plugins are updated

Migration REST API (GWD Connector)

  • Swap the entire WordPress filesystem from a tar.gz or zip archive
  • Patch specific directories without wiping the rest (partial deployment)
  • Write individual files remotely
  • Swap the entire database from a SQL dump
  • Serialization-aware URL search-replace across all database tables
  • Scan and fix wp-config.php for hardcoded URLs
  • Full migration orchestration combining all steps

All API endpoints require authentication via the X-GWD-Key header. Manage your API key from the GWD Connect settings page.

Screenshots

  • Backups — run on-demand or scheduled backups with real-time progress tracking
  • Log Monitoring — view parsed error logs with severity badges and hourly distribution
  • Uptime Monitoring — response time chart, uptime percentage, and incident history

Installation

  1. Upload the plugin files to wp-content/plugins/graphic-web-design-inc/ or install through the WordPress plugin screen.
  2. Activate the plugin.
  3. Navigate to GWD Connect in the admin menu.
  4. Configure your notification email on the Settings tab.
  5. To activate the Backup, Logs, and Uptime dashboards, contact Graphic Web Design, Inc. for API activation.

FAQ

How do I activate the Backup, Logs, and Uptime dashboards?

GWD Connect provides extremely useful functionality out of the box without activation — including automatic backups, log monitoring with size alerts, uptime tracking, and auto-updates. Activation provides additional tools for managing multiple websites at once through the GWD Central dashboards. To activate, contact Graphic Web Design, Inc. to request API activation for your site. Once activated, the dashboards will connect automatically.

What is the API Key for?

The API key authenticates requests to the GWD Connector REST API, which provides bulk migration and deployment capabilities for your WordPress site.

How do I use the migration API?

Add the X-GWD-Key header to your requests. Visit the GWD Connect settings page for your API key and endpoint documentation.

Is the migration API safe to use?

All endpoints support a dry_run parameter to validate operations without making changes. Always test with dry_run first.

Does the plugin work without the dashboards?

Yes. Automatic updates and email notifications work out of the box. Backups can run locally without dashboard sync. The dashboard connections (backup.gwd.app, logs.gwd.app, up.gwd.app) are optional.

How do backups work?

GWD Connect creates database dumps using mysqldump (with PDO fallback) and filesystem archives using tar (with PharData fallback). Backups follow a GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) retention policy with daily, weekly, and monthly tiers. You can run backups manually or schedule them via WP Cron.

What log files does the plugin monitor?

The plugin auto-discovers WordPress debug.log, PHP error logs, and server error logs (Apache and Nginx). It parses multiple log formats and groups similar errors using pattern normalization.

How do log size alerts work?

Configure an email address and a file size threshold (default 100 MB) on the Logs tab. The plugin checks log file sizes daily via WP Cron and sends an email notification when any log file exceeds the threshold. Alerts use size-bucket tracking to avoid duplicate notifications until the file grows significantly.

How does uptime monitoring work?

The plugin checks your site’s availability via WP Cron and records response times, HTTP status codes, and SSL certificate expiry. The Uptime tab displays a 24-hour response time chart, 30-day uptime percentage, and incident history.

What PHP version is required?

GWD Connect requires PHP 8.1 or later.

Can I use this plugin on a multisite installation?

GWD Connect is designed for single-site installations. Multisite support is not currently available.

Where are backups stored?

Backups are stored locally in the wp-content/gwd-backups/ directory. You can optionally sync them with the GWD Central Backup dashboard for remote storage and management.

How do I reset my API key?

Navigate to GWD Connect > Settings in your WordPress admin and click the regenerate button. The new key takes effect immediately — update any external tools using the old key.

Reviews

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Contributors & Developers

“GWD Connect” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Translate “GWD Connect” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

2.9

  • Updated FAQ — clarified that full functionality works without activation
  • Rebranded dashboard references to GWD Central

2.8

  • Dashboard widgets now appear above default WordPress widgets
  • Logs tab cleanup — removed external dashboard link
  • Tested up to WordPress 6.9.4

2.7

  • Bundled logs agent (gwd-logs.php) for direct dashboard-to-agent communication
  • Logs registration now sends agent_url and update_url to logs dashboard
  • REST endpoint (gwd-logs/v1/agent) for remote log retrieval and agent updates

2.6

  • Log size alert system — configurable email and MB threshold with daily cron checks
  • Duplicate alert prevention using size-bucket tracking
  • Alert check runs on plugin activation for immediate detection

2.5

  • Native Canvas line chart for uptime response times with color-coded thresholds
  • Uptime stat cards redesigned with horizontal flex layout
  • Response Codes panel alongside chart (uptime %, success/error counts)
  • Debug settings fix — current runtime status now reads wp-config.php directly instead of PHP constants
  • Bundled backup agent for remote management
  • Disk space check and large file management improvements

2.4

  • Uptime self-monitoring — site checks itself via WP Cron without external dashboard
  • Response time tracking stored locally in wp_options
  • SSL certificate expiry monitoring built into uptime tab

2.3

  • Reports tab with site health overview
  • Admin submenu reordered: Backups, Logs, Uptime, Reports, Settings

2.2

  • Backup improvements — progress bar stability, exclusion list management
  • Log monitoring enhancements — severity badge styling, table highlight improvements
  • Settings tab reorganization

2.1

  • Full backup engine — database dumps (mysqldump + PDO), filesystem archiving (tar + PharData), GFS retention
  • Real-time AJAX progress bar during backup
  • SHA-256 integrity verification, large file detection, exclusion management
  • Enhanced log monitoring — multi-format parsing, pattern normalization, hourly distribution analysis
  • Uptime monitoring — response time tracking, SSL monitoring, incident history
  • WP Cron integration for automatic backups and uptime checks
  • Backup dashboard registration with agent endpoint for remote management
  • Admin submenu navigation (Backups, Logs, Uptime, Settings)
  • Dashboard connections (backup.gwd.app, logs.gwd.app, up.gwd.app) now optional — all features work locally

2.0

  • New Backups tab — register with backup.gwd.app, view status, trigger manual backups, browse history
  • New Logs tab — view WordPress debug.log and PHP error logs, parsed error table with severity counts, optional logs.gwd.app sync
  • New Uptime tab — monitor site status, response time, SSL certificate, and incident history via up.gwd.app
  • Tabbed admin interface expanded from 1 to 4 tabs
  • New CSS styles for log severity badges, warning states, and log table highlighting

1.5

  • Rebranded plugin from “GWD Manager” to “GWD Connect”
  • Updated admin menu, page titles, constants, and function prefixes

1.4

  • Remote debugging capability via REST API (GET/POST /gwd/v2/debug)
  • Admin UI checkboxes for WP_DEBUG, WP_DEBUG_LOG, and WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY
  • Atomic wp-config.php writes for safe constant toggling
  • Automatic cleanup of old plugin basenames to prevent activation errors

1.3

  • Full internationalization (i18n) — all user-facing strings are now translatable
  • Added Text Domain and Domain Path plugin headers
  • Reduced readme.txt tags to WordPress.org maximum of 5

1.2

  • Major update: integrated GWD Connector migration REST API
  • Added bulk migration endpoints (filesystem swap, database swap, URL replace, wp-config fix)
  • Added tabbed admin interface (GWD Connect)
  • Improved API key security (64-character cryptographic key)
  • Fixed security issues (XSS, missing capability checks, input sanitization)
  • Updated notification email handling
  • Requires PHP 8.1+

1.11

  • Bug Fix with outgoing plugin update notification email

1.0

  • Initial release
  • Auto-update for WordPress core, plugins, and themes
  • Email notifications on plugin updates
  • API Token for future integrations

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