How do I manage WordPress plugins and themes from Faaaster?

The site's WordPress tab lists all installed plugins and themes, with their update status and their known vulnerabilities. Filters let you display only what needs action.

Contents

• Available filters
• What you can do from this screen
• The safe update
• The right habit before an update
• On several sites at once

Available filters

• All — the full inventory
• Vulnerable — components with a known vulnerability; their badge shows the severity (Critical, High, Medium or Low)
• Needs update — those for which a newer version exists
• Plugins
• Themes

Each filter shows its count, which gives you the site's status at a glance.

The inventory updates automatically, usually once a day; the Refresh button reruns it right away.

What you can do from this screen

Actions are run row by row, from the … menu in the Actions column:

• Activate — an inactive plugin or theme;
• Deactivate — an active plugin (not a theme);
• Update — when a newer version exists. The link in the Updates column, which shows that version, does the same thing.

To update several components at once, tick their rows (the box in the header ticks every one with an update among the rows shown), then click Update the selection in the bar that appears.

Faaaster shows the result of each operation, success or error. With the Viewer role, you can view the tab but these actions are grayed out.

Installing and deleting aren't done here. They remain the job of your site's WordPress admin.

The safe update

When it is available for your site (it is not on a Git-managed site), every update, of one row or of a selection, asks you How do you want to update?:

• Safe update (Recommended): each component is copied, updated and then checked, one at a time. If your site stops answering correctly, that component goes back to its previous version on its own. Your site stays online throughout.
• Direct update: the update is applied as is, with no check and no automatic return if something goes wrong.

The safe update offers two options, ticked by default:

• Create a full backup right before the update: your site's files and database, for a few more minutes; the date of your last full backup is shown. If this backup fails, nothing is changed;
• Compare how the site looks before and after (screenshots): the home page and the pages chosen for maintenance are captured before the first update and after the last one, then compared, for about one more minute. A difference is pointed out to you, but undoes nothing on its own.

Follow the operation

A panel shows the steps, then the result for each component: Updated, Put back to its previous version or Not updated, with the reason. You can close it and change pages: the operation goes on. A notice at the top of the WordPress tab opens it again (Follow, then See details once the operation is over); Hide removes it.

The operation also appears in the Events tab (Safe update), with the See the run link.

Go back to the previous version

For 7 days after a safe update, the component's … menu offers Back to version …. Your site is checked: if the previous version stops it from answering correctly, going back is undone. Going back is no longer possible if the component has changed since.

The right habit before an update

No backup is taken automatically before an update run from this tab, except a safe update with its backup ticked, nor before an update run from Central. Create one just before, from the Backups tab with New Backup: if the update breaks the site, Restore brings you back to the previous state.

Start with the Vulnerable filter. It tells you exactly what to handle first: a published vulnerability is a vulnerability already being exploited elsewhere.

On several sites at once

To handle the same plugin across all your sites, go through Central, from the Organization menu. Note: Central covers only plugins — themes and WordPress core are still handled site by site.

👉 What is Central on Faaaster? · How do I back up and restore a site?

Updated on: 11/12/2026