To install a plugin on many WordPress sites at once, you need a dashboard that can push a plugin package to each site and a companion plugin on those sites that accepts it. In Siteward that means installing Siteward Advanced Child on each target site, then using Fleet Plugins in Siteward Pro to upload one ZIP and install it across every selected site in a single run.
Updating, activating and deactivating plugins across a fleet is straightforward. Installing a brand new plugin on thirty sites is the job everyone puts off, because doing it by hand means thirty logins, thirty uploads and thirty chances to miss one. This guide covers how to do it in one pass, and explains the one piece of setup that catches people out.
Why the free companion plugin cannot install plugins
Siteward ships two companion plugins for the sites you manage, and it is worth understanding why before you pick one.
The free Siteward Child is distributed through WordPress.org, and the WordPress.org plugin guidelines do not permit a plugin to install other plugins from a third-party package. That rule exists for good reason: it stops a plugin becoming an unreviewed delivery channel for arbitrary code. It also means the free child genuinely cannot offer installation, no matter how the request is signed.
Rather than argue the point, we split the plugin. Siteward Advanced Child is the same code plus one extra module, distributed from omniswp.com instead of WordPress.org. It is still free, still GPL, and still needs no licence key.
| Siteward Child | Siteward Advanced Child | |
|---|---|---|
| Monitoring, backups, health | Yes | Yes |
| Core, plugin and theme updates | Yes | Yes |
| Activate, deactivate, uninstall | Yes | Yes |
| Install from an uploaded ZIP | No | Yes |
| Where it comes from | WordPress.org | omniswp.com |
| Updates itself | Yes, via WordPress.org | Yes, via omniswp.com |
A site runs one edition or the other, never both. Most sites are perfectly happy on the free child. Use the Advanced edition on the sites you actually want to push plugins to.
Step 1: put Siteward Advanced Child on the target sites
On a site that has no Siteward companion yet:
- Download Siteward Advanced Child.
- On the site, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the ZIP, then Install Now and Activate.
- Open Settings → Siteward Connection and copy the site’s REST URL and its one-time connection key.
- In your dashboard, open Siteward → Add Site and paste them in.
From then on it updates itself like any other plugin, so this is a one-time job per site.
Step 2: switching a site that already runs the free child
This is the part worth reading carefully. Both editions store the dashboard connection under the same names, which is deliberate: it means a paired site keeps its pairing when you switch. But it also means the order matters.
- Deactivate Siteward Child. Do not delete it yet.
- Upload and activate Siteward Advanced Child.
- Check the site still syncs from your dashboard.
- Now delete Siteward Child.
Two things to know:
Do not activate the second edition before deactivating the first. They declare the same code, so the second one cannot load. From version 0.7.1 you get a plain-English notice explaining this and the site keeps working, but the tidy path is to deactivate first.
From version 0.7.1, deleting the old edition is safe. The companion plugin now refuses to clear a connection that another edition is still using. On earlier versions, and on sites still running the original omnis-child plugin from before the rename, deleting the old copy will wipe the pairing and you will have to reconnect the site. On those, deactivate and leave it in place.
Step 3: push the plugin to every site at once
Fleet plugin management is part of Siteward Pro. Once your target sites are on the Advanced edition:
- Open Siteward → Fleet Plugins.
- In the Sites sidebar, select the sites you want to install to. The install button tells you how many of them can actually be installed to.
- Click Install to selected, choose your plugin ZIP, and tick Activate after install if you want it live immediately.
- Click Install. A progress view shows each site completing in real time.
The ZIP is uploaded to your dashboard once and reused for every site, so you are not re-uploading it per site. Any selected site running the free child is skipped and named, so nothing fails silently.
This works equally well for a premium plugin you have downloaded from your account and for anything you have built yourself. There is no requirement that the plugin exists on WordPress.org.
Is this secure?
Installing is one more signed action on the same connection everything else uses. Each site is paired with your dashboard through an OpenSSL keypair generated during a one-time handshake. Every request, including an install, carries a signature verified against the stored public key, with timestamp and nonce checks that block replay. A request that is not signed by the dashboard the site is paired with is rejected before it is read.
The dashboard always initiates the traffic. The companion plugin never calls out on its own, and does nothing at all until it is paired.
Common questions
Do I have to put the Advanced edition on every site?
No, and you probably should not. Use it on the sites you want to push plugins to. Everything else can stay on the free WordPress.org child, which updates itself through the normal WordPress update screen.
Does Siteward Advanced Child cost anything?
No. It is free and GPL with no licence key. Fleet Plugins, the dashboard feature that pushes a plugin to many sites in one run, is part of Siteward Pro. The feature list shows what is free and what is Pro.
Can I install directly from the WordPress.org repository by name?
Not currently. Installation is from a ZIP you upload, which covers both repository plugins (download the ZIP from the plugin page first) and premium or custom plugins.
What if a site is not offered as an install target?
It is running the free child. Switch it using the steps above, then use Rescan fleet on the Fleet Plugins page so the dashboard picks up the change straight away.
Where to go next
If you are setting up from scratch, start with the documentation, which covers installing the dashboard and connecting your first site. If you are weighing this against a hosted service, the MainWP and ManageWP comparison covers how a self-hosted dashboard differs.
See it on your own sites.
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