EdgeShaping Lite

EdgeShaping Lite is a WordPress implementation of the EdgeShaping AI bot observation framework developed by mare interno. Product details: edgeshap.ing This plugin answers one question:

Which AI bots are reading which pages of your site, and when?

What it does

• Detects AI bot visits using a dictionary of known AI crawlers
• Records bot name, visited URL, and timestamp
• Dashboard with bot visit frequency ranking and most AI-visited pages
• Full access log with date filter and CSV export
• AHQG Matrix — visualizes AI bot visits vs. human search clicks (requires Google Search Console integration)
• AHTG Matrix — visualizes AI bot visits vs. human page views (WordPress's own pageview tracking). Unlike AHQG, no Google Search Console connection required.

What it does NOT do

• It does not block AI bots
• It does not modify your content
• It does not send data externally — all data stays in your WordPress database

Note on CDN environments This plugin observes AI bot traffic at the PHP layer. In environments with a CDN (e.g. Cloudflare, CloudFront), cached requests may not reach PHP and will not be recorded. For full CDN-layer observation, see EdgeShaping. EdgeShaping Framework EdgeShaping is a framework for observing AI bot behavior to understand how AI systems read and interpret your content. For more information, visit edgeshap.ing.

1. Upload the plugin files to /wp-content/plugins/edgeshaping-lite/ or install via the WordPress plugin screen
2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress
3. Navigate to EdgeShaping Lite in the admin menu to view your dashboard

Data collection begins immediately after activation.

2026.9.0

• Changed: version numbering moved to CalVer (YYYY.M.PATCH), since releases are driven by the monthly bot dictionary update.
• Added: IP verification. Bot IP ranges published by each vendor are bundled with the plugin and matched against the recorded IP in the nightly batch. The dashboard and matrices now count only verified visits, so a request merely claiming to be a known crawler no longer inflates your numbers. The access log is unfiltered as before.
• Added: the client IP is now recorded for bot requests and shown in the access log and CSV export. Only bots matched by the dictionary are logged, so no visitor data is stored.
• Changed: the dashboard and matrices now end at yesterday, matching the nightly batch. The access log still shows today.
• Fixed: the dashboard scorecards included noise paths (robots.txt, sitemaps, archives) and did not match the tables below them.
• Changed: bot dictionary updated.

1.6.2

• Fixed: in the AHQG and AHTG matrices, the same page could appear as two separate rows (with and without a trailing slash), splitting its counts. Both axes are now normalized consistently.
• Fixed: category, author, and pagination archive URLs (e.g. /category/, /author/, /page/2/) are no longer mixed into the matrices.
• Changed: the top page is now excluded from both the AHQG and AHTG matrices (it always lands in the same quadrant and only skews the thresholds).
• Changed: the AHQG date range now ends a few days before today, because Search Console data for the most recent days is not yet final. This keeps the human axis from being understated.
• Added: Search Console click data is now imported once per day and stored in your WordPress database, so the human axis remains available even beyond Search Console's own retention window.
• Changed: expanded the spam/scan path filtering used by Inferred Path (dot-files, config files, API and GraphQL probes, etc.).

1.6.1

• Changed: bot dictionary reviewed and corrected; a few entries added and a few unverifiable ones removed.
• Fixed: the upsell notices shown for paid-edition-only screens (REST API, Category Analysis, Access Log detail) referenced an outdated API structure and pricing. Simplified to a generic notice pointing to the purchase page.
• Changed: internal bot-signature data file renamed (no functional change).

1.6.0

• Changed: increased the rolling row limit from 20,000 to 100,000.
• Changed: statistics are now pre-aggregated in a daily batch instead of being computed on every page view, improving admin screen performance.

1.5.0

• Added AHTG Matrix — visualizes AI bot visits vs. human page views. Unlike AHQG, no Google Search Console connection required.
• Added general-purpose bot exclusion list (SEO tools, uptime monitors, scrapers) to keep human traffic counts clean.
• Changed: increased the rolling row limit from 10,000 to 20,000.

1.4.1

• Fixed: full-page cache compatibility (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, LiteSpeed) — AI-crawler hits are now recorded reliably.
• Changed: previously-excluded noise paths (robots.txt, sitemap, etc.) are now kept in the access log instead of being discarded.

1.3.5

• Fixed: uninstalling this plugin while the paid edition is active no longer deletes shared observation data

1.3.4

• Bug fixes (i18n: missing translators comments, escaping, placeholder ordering)

1.3.3

• Bug fixes (internationalization: hardcoded strings wrapped in translation functions)

1.3.2

• Bug fixes (upsell links for paid edition, plugin URL correction)

1.3.1

• Bug fixes (plugin installation path correction, broken documentation link fix)

1.3.0

• Added Inferred Path detection (AI-visited URLs not in sitemap)
• Added Dark Pages detection (sitemap URLs with no AI or human traffic)
• Added sitemap fetching via robots.txt directive
• Added /category/, /tag/, /author/ to default exclude paths

1.2.0

• Added AHQG Matrix with Google Search Console integration
• Added date filter (7 days, 30 days, this month, last month, custom)
• Added CSV export
• Added settings screen for GSC OAuth connection
• Added automatic data cleanup (retention period and row limit)
• Updated bot dictionary to 2026.05 version
• Added path exclusion filter (robots.txt, sitemap, wp-, feed)

1.1.0

• Added data retention settings (120 days default)
• Added rolling row limit (10,000 rows default)
• Added date filter to dashboard and log

1.0.0

• Initial release