Plugiva ClientGuard

Plugiva ClientGuard helps prevent unintended changes in the WordPress admin by adding practical guardrails around sensitive operations, settings, content, and administration areas. It is designed for situations where site owners, clients, teams, or automated tools need to work in WordPress without accidentally changing something important. ClientGuard combines Client Mode with operation-level protection. Client Mode provides a simplified admin experience by hiding selected administration areas, while protection is applied to sensitive operations themselves rather than relying only on whether an admin interface is visible. You can protect plugin and theme operations, critical settings, protected content, and other sensitive WordPress operations while keeping the rest of the admin area usable. Client Mode can also be locked via configuration to prevent it from being disabled from the admin interface: define( 'PCGD_LOCK_CLIENT_MODE', true ); This can be added in wp-config.php or defined programmatically in custom code. When enabled, Client Mode is forced on and cannot be turned off from the dashboard, helping maintain consistent protection. ClientGuard also provides Sentinel, an activity and lifecycle event log for protected operations, configuration changes, bypass activity, and other ClientGuard events. Sentinel helps make changes and protection activity visible rather than leaving them unexplained. On multisite installations, ClientGuard supports site-specific protection and Sentinel event handling while also covering relevant network-level operations. Instead of blocking access aggressively, ClientGuard applies practical guardrails that let users continue working while reducing the chance of unintended changes. ClientGuard is ideal for:

• Site owners managing their own WordPress site
• Developers handing off sites to clients
• Teams that want a simplified and safer admin experience
• Sites where administrative changes need to remain controlled and observable

1.7.0

• Added operational protection for plugin and theme installation, deletion, activation, deactivation, switching, and editing.
• Extended protection to critical settings, including Permalinks and Site Identity options.
• Extended Content Protection to prevent protected pages from being trashed or permanently deleted.
• Added protection for Site Editor and sidebar widget operations.
• Added protection for theme and plugin editor operations.
• Added Sentinel for ClientGuard-related configuration, operational, bypass, and lifecycle event logging.
• Added site-scoped Sentinel event history with retention, clearing, and export tools.
• Added multisite support for Sentinel event handling and network-level protection.
• Added developer filters for customizing protected Site Identity and Permalink options.
• Improved multisite handling, uninstall cleanup, and Sentinel lifecycle management.

1.6.0

• Added Appearance Governance to help prevent unintended changes to menus, widgets, customizer, and site editor settings.
• Added Lock Appearance Management as a standalone protection.
• Improved Client Mode governance to include Appearance management controls.
• Improved settings state handling for governance-managed options.
• Improved menu visibility UI consistency when Appearance Governance is active.

1.5.2

• Added dashboard governance for improved admin consistency.
• Hide WordPress AI dashboard widgets in Client Mode.
• Hide Activity and At a Glance dashboard widgets in Client Mode.
• Hide Activity and At a Glance dashboard widgets when admin menus are hidden.
• Improved dashboard simplification and client-facing usability.

1.5.1

• Improved admin bar consistency by respecting ClientGuard menu visibility settings
• Hidden menus are now also removed from relevant admin bar navigation shortcuts
• Protected content no longer shows frontend Edit shortcuts when editing is restricted
• Improved Client Mode navigation consistency across admin and frontend views
• Refined frontend admin bar governance architecture

1.5.0

• Improved compatibility with modern WordPress operational workflows introduced in WordPress 7.0
• Extended plugin installation protections to REST-based provisioning workflows
• Added Client Mode governance for WordPress AI and Connectors admin surfaces
• Suspends WordPress AI runtime features while Client Mode is active
• Improved operational consistency across admin and REST contexts

1.4.0

• Simplified admin experience by removing unnecessary notices
• Introduced centralized Client Mode messaging
• Added guided onboarding for Client Mode
• Hid critical settings like Site URLs from General Settings
• Improved UX by reducing friction and confusion
• Added nonce validation for secure actions

1.3.0

• Add configuration-based lock for Client Mode via PCGD_LOCK_CLIENT_MODE
• Introduce centralized settings state resolver for consistent UI behavior
• Improve settings and menu UI consistency under Client Mode

1.2.0

• Added Site URL protection to prevent login and access issues
• Added Permalink settings guard in Client Mode
• Improved admin safety with critical settings protection

1.1.0

• Added Client Mode for one-click admin protection
• Improved menu control and UI behavior
• Added ACF integration (auto-hide in Client Mode)
• Enhanced capability handling for plugins and themes
• Improved admin experience with clearer controls

1.0.1

• Refined plugin description and tags for improved clarity and discoverability.

1.0.0

• Initial release.