Description
Debug is a development/production tool for WordPress. It helps you find bugs in your site by letting you toggle WordPress’s built-in debug flags and by emailing you when a runtime error occurs.
Features
- Toggle
WP_DEBUG,WP_DEBUG_LOG,WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY,SCRIPT_DEBUGandSAVEQUERIESfrom the admin settings page. - View, clear and download your
wp-content/debug.logtail (last 1 MB). - Real-time error email notification with a throttled, level-filtered error handler.
- Automatic timestamped backup of
wp-config.phpbefore every save, plus one-click restore.
How it works
The Debug plugin modifies your wp-config.php file to enable or disable WordPress debug constants, and it reads the tail of your debug.log. A backup of wp-config.php is created automatically before each change so you can always roll back.
Note on file permissions
To edit wp-config.php, your server must allow the plugin to write that file. If it cannot, the plugin shows you the code to paste manually instead.
Security & email notifications
Notifications only fire for meaningful error levels (errors and warnings), never for deprecation notices or suppressed (@) code, and emails are queued and throttled so a busy site won’t flood your inbox or SMTP queue.
Screenshots
Installation
- Unzip and upload
debug.zipto the/wp-content/plugins/directory. - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
- Go to the Debug settings page and configure your preferences.
- Hit Save Changes.
FAQ
-
Is my wp-config.php safe?
-
Yes. The plugin creates a timestamped backup of
wp-config.phpbefore every change, and the settings page lets you restore any backup with one click.wp-config.phpis never downloadable from the browser. -
Why am I not getting email notifications?
-
Make sure email notifications are enabled and a valid address is set, and that
wp_mail()works on your host. Only errors and warnings trigger emails. -
The plugin cannot write wp-config.php
-
Check your file permissions. If the file is not writable the plugin shows the exact code to paste into
wp-config.phpmanually.
Reviews
Contributors & Developers
“Debug” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “Debug” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.13
- Security: removed the ability to download
wp-config.php(full credential leak). Debug log download now only serves the log via a cleanadmin-post.phpendpoint. - Security: added strict path allowlisting + traversal guards to all file reads/writes.
- Security: automatic timestamped
wp-config.phpbackup before every save + one-click restore UI. - Security: error handler now only registers when email notifications are on, filters out deprecation/notice noise, respects
error_reporting(), throttles and queues emails, and chains the previous handler. - Fix: broken Settings link
href(missing closing quote) on the plugin list page. - Fix:
esc_html_e()misuse replaced with correct escaping (esc_html,esc_attr,esc_url,wp_json_encode-style safe output). - Fix: tolerant, case/format-insensitive regex in
debug_add_option— no more duplicatedefine()creation. - Fix: nonce action strings standardized + consistent failure notices (no silent no-op, no
die()). - Fix: read tail capped to 1 MB (was only capping the start offset).
- Improvements: enqueued CSS instead of inline
<style>(CSP-friendly), modernized baseline (PHP 7.4+, WP 5.0+),uninstall.phpcleanup.
1.12: Apr 1, 2024
- BugFix: Fix all bug reporting in plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/plugin-check/.
- BugFix: Fix duplicate define variable creation error.
1.11: Mar 25, 2024
- BugFix: Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) issue.
1.10: Jun 29, 2022
- Increase security for direct access of files.
1.9: Dec 15, 2019
- Compatible with new version.
1.7: Mar 2, 2016
- BugFix: Display error not required for email notification enable.
1.6: Jan 24, 2016
- Add: Email Notification Settings on plugin setting page.
- BugFix: Resolved any user to download debug.log and wp-config.php file. now only super admin can download files.
- BugFix: resolved error when large debug.log file load on plugin section. now only load 1.4 MB file only from end of file.
1.5: Sept 30, 2015
- Add: Email Notification Page to Enter Notification email address and email subject.
- Add: Handle any error and send it to your email address on real time system. (no-email delay).
- BugFix: Resolved undefined “scrollHeight” in console log in jQuery. incase of admin debug.log file not exist.
1.4: June 2, 2015
- BugFix: download wp-config.php file for back-up /Downloads/wp-config.php.exe to /Downloads/wp-config.php.
- BugFix: download wp-config.php file for back-up /Downloads/debug.log.exe to /Downloads/debug.log.
- Remove: console.log function from js.
- Add: Add Setting page link on plugin page.
1.3: March 29, 2015
- Add: option for download wp-config.php file for back-up.
- Add: option for download debug.log file.
- Add: Auto scroll down in debug.log file view in admin panel to see latest error log.
1.2: March 4, 2015
- Add: script debug option
- Add: save query debug option
- Add: debug.log file view and clear option from admin panel
1.1: December 30, 2014
- Add: Banner at wordpress Community
- Add: Add change Log Session
1.0
- Rewrite wp-config.php file with Debug variables.
- Add: WP_DEBUG, WP_DEBUG_LOG, WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY Functionality.