Rune Rasmussen
Automated updates can be one of the biggest time-savers in WP Umbrella — but without control over which versions are installed, automation can quickly become a problem instead of a benefit. For agencies, developers and administrators managing production sites, blindly installing every new version (including minor and major releases) introduces unnecessary risk and reduces trust in automated updates.
This feature request proposes version-aware automated updates, allowing users to automate safely without giving up control.
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The problem
Today, automated updates apply to all new versions of a plugin (core or theme if added) — regardless of whether the release is a patch, minor, or major update.
This is especially problematic for complex and business-critical plugins such as WooCommerce, where:
  • Minor and major releases frequently introduce breaking or behavioural changes
  • These updates often require testing, staging, or client approval
  • Patch and security releases, on the other hand, should usually be installed automatically
As a result, many users either:
  • Disable automated updates entirely, or
  • Manually babysit updates — defeating the purpose of automation
This makes automated updates less usable for agencies and professionals managing real production environments.
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Proposed solution
Add version-level filtering to automated updates, based on semantic versioning (SemVer).
  1. Global update rules
Allow users to define a default rule for all plugins/themes:
  • Patch releases only (e.g. 1.2.3 → 1.2.4)
  • Patch + minor releases (e.g. 1.2.3 → 1.3.0)
  • All releases (including major)
  1. Per-plugin overrides
Allow individual plugins/themes to override the global rule, for example:
  • WooCommerce → patch only
  • Yoast SEO → patch + minor
  • Small utility plugin → all releases
  1. Simple SemVer-based logic
  • Detect version type based on version string structure
  • Optionally allow a short delay (e.g. only auto-install patch releases after X days)
This does not need to be perfect SemVer enforcement — even basic version segmentation would cover the vast majority of real-world cases.
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Why this matters (broader impact)
✅ Safer automated updates for production sites
✅ Higher adoption of automation among agencies and developers
✅ Fewer incidents caused by unintended upgrades
✅ Aligns WP Umbrella with professional update workflows already used in staging-first environments
Many plugins already follow semantic versioning in practice. Even when they do not do so perfectly, having version-aware automation is still vastly safer than treating all updates as equal.
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Summary
This feature does not remove automation — it makes automation trustworthy.
Giving users control over which types of updates are installed automatically allows WP Umbrella to remain fast and efficient, while also being safe enough for serious production use.
If this is important for your workflow as well, please upvote and share your thoughts. �