Development Assistant is an open-source WordPress plugin that brings practical debugging and customer-support tools into the WordPress admin area. It helps site owners, developers, and support teams diagnose problems without repeatedly editing configuration files or assembling temporary troubleshooting workflows by hand.
WordPress.org · Support · Report a bug · Security
- Manage WordPress debugging: Enable and inspect
WP_DEBUG,WP_DEBUG_LOG, andWP_DEBUG_DISPLAYfrom the admin interface. Configuration changes are validated, backed up, and rolled back when they cannot be verified. - Work with the debug log: Review, download, clear, and protect the WordPress debug log without reaching for server tools for every support session.
- Create temporary support access: Create a support user, choose when it expires, copy its credentials, or share access by email with an optional message.
- Isolate plugin conflicts: Temporarily deactivate plugins during diagnosis and restore their previous activation state when troubleshooting is complete.
- Download installed plugins: Download plugin packages directly from the Plugins screen for inspection, testing, or transfer to a sandbox.
- Restore the original state: Reset Development Assistant data and restore the debug configuration and temporary plugin state managed by the plugin.
Development Assistant treats changes to wp-config.php and .htaccess as
recoverable operations. It checks whether the host permits modification, keeps
protected recovery data, verifies writes, and rolls back failed changes instead
of reporting success prematurely.
The plugin also distinguishes temporary support state from permanent WordPress configuration so deactivation and reset behavior remain explicit and predictable.
- WordPress 5.0 or later
- PHP 7.4 or later
Install Development Assistant from Plugins → Add New in WordPress, or download it from the official WordPress.org plugin page. Versioned release archives, including prereleases, are also available from GitHub Releases.
To install a downloaded archive manually, open Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin in WordPress and upload the ZIP file.
After activation, open the Development Assistant settings in the WordPress admin area and enable only the tools needed for the current troubleshooting session.
- Use the WordPress.org support forum for installation, configuration, and usage questions.
- Use GitHub Issues for reproducible bugs and focused feature proposals.
- Report suspected vulnerabilities privately according to SECURITY.md.
Start with CONTRIBUTING.md before proposing a change. The following documents define the development and project-maintenance rules:
- Development environment and commands
- Architecture
- Release policy for verified release maintainers
- Code of Conduct
- Support policy
- Security policy
Development Assistant is licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later.