site-update

name: site-update description: "Use when performing WordPress site maintenance: updating plugins, themes, or core. Executes a safe update cycle with pre-flight page checks, automatic snapshots, controlled update execution with anti-loop protection, post-update verification, error log inspection, and automatic rollback decisions. Also handles stuck maintenance mode cleanup."

WordPress Site Update & Maintenance

Working Philosophy

Updates are the most common cause of site breakage. This skill treats every update as a potential risk and applies a verify → snapshot → update → verify → decide cycle. Never rush. Never skip verification. Never leave a site in maintenance mode.

If the assistant has browser capabilities, it MUST use them for visual verification of pages before and after updates. If not available, rely on mcm/site-health and mcm/error-log for verification.

When to Use

• User asks to update plugins, themes, or WordPress core
• A scheduled maintenance task triggers updates
• User asks to check for and apply available updates
• User wants a safe, verified update process with rollback capability

Inputs Required

• The site URL (to visit pages for visual verification)
• Which updates to apply: all available, or specific plugins/themes/core
• Whether the user wants to approve each update individually or batch them

Execution Order

Follow these phases strictly. Each phase depends on the previous one completing successfully.

Reference Files

Detailed instructions for each phase are in the references/ directory:

• pre-flight.md — Phase 0: Site health baseline, page visual checks, error log baseline.
• update-execution.md — Phases 1–4: Discovery, planning, snapshots, and update execution with anti-loop protection.
• post-flight.md — Phases 5–7: Post-update verification, rollback decisions, and maintenance mode cleanup.

Critical Rules

Anti-Loop Protection

Some plugins ship updates with incorrect version metadata. This causes a cycle where the update "succeeds" but mcm/list-updates still shows the same plugin as needing an update. You MUST implement this protection:

1. Maximum 2 attempts per plugin/theme. After the first update, check mcm/list-updates for that specific item.
2. If the update still appears after the second attempt, STOP and flag it as a potential version mismatch.
3. For flagged items: download the plugin/theme ZIP directly and compare the version header in the main plugin file against what WordPress reports. Report the discrepancy to the user.
4. Never attempt a third update for the same item in the same session.

Maintenance Mode Safety

WordPress creates a .maintenance file in the site root during updates. If an update fails mid-process, this file can remain and lock the entire site.

• After ALL updates complete (success or failure), always verify that the site is not stuck in maintenance mode.
• Check by visiting the site URL. If it shows "Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance", the .maintenance file must be removed.
• Use mcm/delete-maintenance to check and remove the .maintenance file from the WordPress root.
• This check is mandatory — it must happen even if all updates succeeded.

Never Update MCP Content Manager

The plugin mcp-content-manager-for-wordpress is the communication bridge. Updating or deactivating it will terminate the session immediately. Always skip it in update lists.

Verification Checklist

At the end of a maintenance session, ALL of these must be confirmed:

• Pre-flight page screenshots/checks were captured
• All items had snapshots created before updating
• Each update was verified (max 2 attempts per item)
• Post-flight page checks match pre-flight (no new errors)
• Error log was reviewed for new entries
• Site is NOT in maintenance mode
• Any failed updates were reported with rollback recommendation
• User was informed of final status for every item