WooFlow Guard — Safe Updates for WooCommerce

WooFlow Guard — Safe Updates for WooCommerce

WooCommerce updates are important, but they can also break checkout, payment gateways, shipping rules, or theme templates.
WooFlow Guard helps you update with confidence by testing updates on a staging clone first, running automated synthetic tests, and generating a clear report you can review before going live.

Workflow (How It Works)

1. Clone your store into a safe staging environment (separate path + separate DB prefix).
2. Select updates (WooCommerce, extensions, and themes) you want to test.
3. Run staging test updates and let WooFlow Guard apply updates on staging only.
4. Run synthetic tests (Quick or Full suite) to validate key store flows.
5. Review the report (pass/warn/fail verdict, details, and comparisons).
6. Apply to live when you are satisfied — with automatic snapshots and rollback support.

Key Features

• Staging clone automation: Create, rebuild, and delete staging from the WordPress admin.
• Update selection: Choose exactly which plugin/theme/core updates to test (and save selections for scheduled runs).
• Synthetic test suites: Quick suite for fast smoke coverage and Full suite for broader coverage.
• Action Scheduler support: Runs background tasks reliably on WooCommerce sites (with WP-Cron fallback).
• Clear reporting: Test results, timings/thresholds, errors, and a simple overall verdict.
• Snapshots & rollback: Automatic pre-live-update snapshots with one-click restore if needed.
• Notifications: Email notifications, plus optional Slack webhook alerts for test runs, live updates, and rollbacks.
• Setup Wizard: Guided onboarding with environment checks and sensible defaults.
• Multisite aware: Basic support and network overview for multisite installs.

Included Synthetic Tests (Examples)

WooFlow Guard includes a growing set of synthetic tests designed for WooCommerce stores.
The exact tests available may depend on your store setup and installed features.

• Homepage / Shop / Product page load checks
• Cart and Checkout page load checks (detect common WooCommerce/Blocks breakages)
• Add-to-cart flow checks
• Place a safe test order on staging using a staging-only test gateway (no real payment is captured)
• REST API health checks and 404 detection
• Extra URL checks (optional)

Reports & Comparisons

• Verdict: Safe / Risky / Failed, based on test status and configured thresholds.
• Baseline comparisons: Compare a new report against your baseline to spot regressions.
• Report compare: Compare two reports side-by-side when needed.
• Operational visibility: See what was updated, what tests ran, and any errors encountered.

Requirements

• WordPress: 5.8+
• WooCommerce: 7.0+
• PHP: 7.4+
• Filesystem access: WordPress must be able to write to the staging directory and snapshot storage.
• Background processing: WP-Cron must be functional; Action Scheduler is used when available (WooCommerce includes it).

Important: Staging creation and update testing can be resource-intensive on very large stores.
For best results, use a hosting environment with adequate disk space and stable background processing.

Installation

1. Install and activate the plugin like any standard WordPress plugin.
2. Go to WooCommerce → WooFlow Guard.
3. Run the Setup Wizard to check requirements and configure defaults.
4. Create staging, run a baseline test, and start testing updates.

Support

Need help? When contacting support, include:
(1) a screenshot of the error,
(2) your WooFlow Guard Environment Information section,
(3) recent WooFlow Guard logs (if available),
and (4) whether WP-Cron is disabled on your site.

Changelog

• 1.0.0 – Initial release

Live Demo: View Demo (demo/demo)