About this plugin
Pavel Silinskii Maintenance Mode is built for developers and agencies who deploy WordPress sites from scripts and CI/CD pipelines.
Wrap your deploy in two commands:
wp psmm on --for=15m # git pull, composer install, wp core update-db... wp psmm off
If the deploy script fails halfway, the site comes back by itself when the timeout ends — no more sites left in maintenance overnight.
Why not core wp maintenance-mode? Core’s mode locks out everyone, administrators included, shows a plain “Briefly unavailable” message, and has a fixed 10-minute window. This plugin:
- Serves a branded page with HTTP 503 and a Retry-After header matching your timeout
- Keeps the site available to administrators, chosen roles, whitelisted IPs and bypass-link holders, so you can check the deploy before visitors do
- Lets you choose the timeout per deploy: 90s, 15m, 2h, 1h30m
- Never blocks wp-admin, login, the REST API, AJAX, cron or WP-CLI itself
WP-CLI commands:
- wp psmm on [--for=<duration>] — enable, optionally with an automatic timeout
- wp psmm off — disable
- wp psmm status [--format=table|json|yaml] — state, end time and bypass link
- wp psmm is-active — exit code 0 when active, 1 otherwise, for use in scripts
Also works without the command line, from Settings → Maintenance Mode:
- Expected end date with a live countdown and optional auto-disable
- Customizable title, message, logo, background and text colors
- Secret bypass link for clients and testers (valid for 7 days, revocable)
- Preview button and a red “Maintenance Mode: ON” admin bar indicator
- Theme override via psmm-maintenance.php
- No external scripts — no CDN, no tracking