SiteSelf Connector

Àpèjúwe

SiteSelf is a service that works on your WordPress site for you — updating
content, adjusting your design, keeping an eye on things — and reports back in
chat. This plugin is the part that lives on your site, and it exists so your
agent can work on your theme and plugin files rather than content alone.

What it can do

  • Read and write files inside your themes and plugins folders
  • Tell your agent how the site is built: WordPress and PHP versions, active
    theme, installed plugins, and which company hosts the site
  • Clear caches
  • Keep a log of everything it did, readable under Tools SiteSelf

What it will not do, by design

  • It never runs code that is sent to it. There is no remote code execution.
  • It never reads credentials belonging to other services. It reads a short,
    fixed list of settings that describe how your site is built, and refuses
    anything that looks like a key, token or password.
  • It writes only inside your themes and plugins folders. Both folders are
    resolved before anything is written, so ../ cannot climb out of them, and a
    file that turns out to be a shortcut to somewhere else (a symlink) is refused
    rather than followed.
  • It cannot edit files that WordPress itself would not let you edit. Whether a
    request is allowed is WordPressÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’s decision, using the same permissions as its
    built-in editors — so DISALLOW_FILE_MODS, DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT, a managed
    host that switches file changes off, and multisiteÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’s rule that only a network
    administrator may touch shared plugin files all apply here too.
  • Before replacing a file it keeps a copy of the previous version, and it
    refuses to save PHP that has a syntax error.

How access works

The plugin adds no new way into your site. Every request must come from a
signed-in WordPress user with the right permissions, using WordPressÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’s own
application passwords — which you create, and can revoke at any time under
Users Profile Application Passwords. Deactivating this plugin stops file
access immediately.

External services

This plugin connects your site to SiteSelf, a service run by Refact at
https://siteself.com. The plugin is the site-side half of that service and is
not useful without it.

The plugin makes no outbound requests of its own. It sends nothing anywhere,
on any schedule. What it does is answer requests that SiteSelf makes to your
site, and it answers them only when they carry a signed-in WordPress user with
administrator permissions — an application password that you created and can
revoke.

What leaves your site when SiteSelf asks. A status request returns a
description of how this site is built:

  • your siteÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’s name, home address, admin address and language
  • your WordPress and PHP version numbers
  • every plugin installed, with its version and whether it is active
  • your active theme, its version, and whether it is a child theme
  • which company hosts the site, any must-use plugins that identify them, and
    whether the host reports this as a staging copy
  • the server software string and the file path WordPress is installed at
  • how many published posts and pages you have
  • whether this site permits file changes
  • a public key this plugin creates for the site, so that moving to a new
    domain does not look like a different site. The matching private key never
    leaves your server — not to SiteSelf, not in any request.

Other requests return the contents of a file inside your themes or plugins
folders, a folder listing, or one of a short fixed list of WordPress settings
that describe how the site is built. Nothing else is readable, and anything
whose name looks like a key, token, secret or password is refused.

Your siteÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’s content is not sent by this plugin. No visitor data, analytics or
personal data of your users is collected, sent or stored by it.

Service terms: https://siteself.com/terms
Privacy policy: https://siteself.com/privacy

Ìgbéwọlẹ̀

This plugin does nothing on its own. It is the site-side half of a service, so
there is a short setup after you activate it.

  1. Install and activate the plugin.
  2. Create an application password: Users Profile Application Passwords.
    Give it a name you will recognise, such as “SiteSelf”, and copy the password
    WordPress shows you. It is shown once.
  3. Sign in at https://siteself.com and add this site, pasting in the site
    address, your WordPress username and that application password.

There are no settings to configure. Tools SiteSelf shows what your agent
has done, the previous versions of any file it replaced, and a button that
disconnects the site.

To stop it at any time: revoke the application password under your profile, or
deactivate the plugin. Either takes effect immediately.

FAQ

Can I see what the agent has done?

Yes. Tools SiteSelf lists every action with a timestamp.

How do I stop it?

Deactivate the plugin, or revoke the application password under your user
profile. Either one takes effect immediately.

Does it work without the SiteSelf service?

No. This plugin is the site-side half of a service at https://siteself.com.

Can it edit files if my host has locked them down?

No, and that is deliberate. It asks WordPress the same question WordPress asks
before showing you its own file editors. If your host or your wp-config.php
has switched file changes off, this plugin is refused too, and your agent will
tell you which setting stopped it.

Àwọn àgbéyẹ̀wò

Kò sí àwọn àgbéyẹ̀wò fún plugin yìí.

Àwọn Olùkópa & Olùgbéejáde

“SiteSelf Connector” jẹ́ ètò ìṣàmúlò orísun ṣíṣí sílẹ̀. Àwọn ènìyàn wọ̀nyí ti ṣe ìkópa sí plugin yìí.

Àwọn Olùkópa

Túmọ̀ “SiteSelf Connector” sí èdè rẹ.

Ṣe o nífẹ̀ẹ́ sí ìdàgbàsókè?

Ṣàwárí koodu, ṣàyẹ̀wò ibi ìpamọ́ SVN, tàbí ṣe àgbékalẹ̀ sí àkọsílẹ̀ ìdàgbàsókè nípasẹ̀ RSS.

Àkọsílẹ̀ àwọn àyípadà

0.6.0

  • Closed a hole in the file rails. A file that was a shortcut to somewhere else
    (a symlink) could be written through, which meant a write inside your themes
    folder could change a file outside it. Those are now refused. If you have
    deliberately symlinked a theme or plugin file, your agent will now say it
    cannot write to it rather than quietly changing the file at the other end.
  • File editing now uses exactly the permissions WordPress uses for its own
    editors. On a multisite network this is a real change: only a network
    administrator can edit theme and plugin files now, because those folders are
    shared by every site on the network. A single-site administrator is
    unaffected. Sites whose host switches file changes off through a filter
    rather than a constant are now correctly refused as well.
  • Tools SiteSelf and your SiteSelf dashboard now report whether writes are
    actually permitted, rather than only whether the two wp-config.php
    constants are set. The two can disagree, and it was the second one that was
    being shown.

0.5.0

  • Updates now come from WordPress.org, like every other plugin on your site.
    Earlier versions fetched their own updates from siteself.com because this
    plugin was not in the directory yet. Nothing changes on your Plugins screen —
    the update button is in the same place and works the same way.
  • This is the last update that arrives from siteself.com. After it, your site
    checks WordPress.org.

0.4.0

  • Your site can now tell SiteSelf who it is, so moving to a new domain no longer
    looks like a different site. The plugin creates a key the first time SiteSelf
    asks about your site, and keeps it here. The private half never leaves your
    server — not to SiteSelf, not in any request.
  • Nothing else changes, and there is nothing to set up. If you move your site,
    restore a backup, or your host makes a staging copy, SiteSelf can tell which
    one is which instead of guessing from the address.
  • Removing the plugin leaves the key in place, so reinstalling brings your site
    back as the same site. Disconnect, under Tools SiteSelf, is what removes it.

0.3.0

  • Updates now arrive on your own Plugins screen. Earlier versions had no way to
    tell WordPress where newer copies live, so updating meant deleting the plugin
    and uploading a zip by hand. It is now an ordinary one-click update, and can
    be turned on for automatic updates like any other plugin.

0.2.0

  • Renamed from “Refact Agent Connector” to “SiteSelf Connector”, including the
    plugin folder and the REST namespace. WordPress treats a renamed plugin as a
    different one, so this version had to be installed by hand alongside removing
    the old one — the change in 0.3.0 exists so that never happens again.

0.1.0

  • First release: status, file read/write with backups, allowlisted settings
    reads, cache flush, and the activity log.