Most outages start with “just a quick plugin update.” This guide suggests simple habits to reduce risk and recover faster when an update breaks the site.
Risk reducers
- Update one plugin at a time so you know what broke
- Avoid bulk updates on production when you can
- Know how to disable plugins via the filesystem or WP-CLI
Recovery mindset
- Expect that some updates will fail
- Have a rollback or disable plan (and test it once)
FAQ
The site is in maintenance mode and won’t come back.
Remove the .maintenance file and fix the underlying cause (often permissions, disk full, or timeout). See fixing WordPress stuck in maintenance mode.
We just upgraded PHP and now a plugin is broken.
Disable the plugin (rename its folder or use WP-CLI), then update or replace it. See debugging WordPress after a PHP upgrade for a full flow.
Related
- Fixing WordPress stuck in maintenance mode — recovery when update fails
- Using WP-CLI for server-side WordPress recovery — disable plugins from shell
- Debugging WordPress after a PHP upgrade — after PHP version bump