Siteward Advanced Child

Which one do I want?

Most sites want the free Siteward Child from WordPress.org. Pick the Advanced edition only for sites you want to push plugin ZIPs to from your dashboard.

• Siteward Child (free, on WordPress.org): monitoring, backups and health, core, plugin and theme updates including premium ones, and activating, deactivating or uninstalling plugins. Updates itself through WordPress.org.
• Siteward Advanced Child (this page): all of the above, plus installing a plugin from a ZIP your dashboard uploads. Updates itself from omniswp.com, with no licence key needed.

WordPress.org does not allow a plugin to install other plugins from a third-party package, which is why this edition lives here instead. It is the same code with one extra module.

A site runs one edition or the other, never both.

How to install

1. Download the ZIP above.
2. On the site you want to manage, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the ZIP, then Install Now.
3. Open Settings → Siteward Connection and copy the site.s REST URL and its one-time connection key.
4. In your Siteward dashboard, open Add Site and paste the key.

After that it updates itself: new versions appear on the site’s Plugins screen like any other update.

Switching a site that already runs Siteward Child

Both editions store the connection under the same names, so a paired site keeps its pairing across the switch. Do it in this order:

1. Deactivate Siteward Child. Do not delete it yet.
2. Upload and activate Siteward Advanced Child.
3. Confirm the dashboard still syncs the site.
4. Now delete Siteward Child.

From version 0.7.1 the free child refuses to clear a live connection when the Advanced edition is active, so step 4 is safe. If your site is on an older version, deactivate the free child and leave it in place rather than deleting it.

What it adds, in detail

One extra signed action, install_plugin, which accepts a plugin package your dashboard uploaded and installs it. Like every other action, it only runs when the request carries a valid signature from the dashboard this site is paired with, checked against the stored public key with timestamp and nonce replay protection. Nothing about the security model changes.

Pushing a plugin to many sites at once is part of Fleet Plugins in Siteward Pro. This plugin itself is free and GPL, and needs no licence key.