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Sky Changelog Notifier

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Sky Changelog Notifier

by Matt Biscay

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Description

Sky Changelog Notifier enhances WordPress automatic update notification emails by including the actual changelog for each updated plugin or theme. This keeps you informed about what changed in each update without having to visit the WordPress.org repository.

Key Features:

  • Automatically fetches and includes changelogs in update notification emails
  • Works with both plugin and theme updates
  • Adds emoji indicators (✅🚀❌) to plugin details modal showing version status
  • Fetches from tagged versions for accuracy, with automatic fallback to trunk
  • Comprehensive caching for optimal performance
  • WP-CLI support for testing
  • Compatible with Easy Updates Manager and other notification plugins

How It Works:

When WordPress automatically updates plugins or themes, this plugin:

  1. Fetches the changelog from the plugin/theme’s readme.txt file
  2. Extracts the specific version’s changelog
  3. Appends it to the update notification email
  4. Caches results for 1 hour to improve performance

Plugin Modal Enhancement:

When viewing plugin details in the WordPress admin, you’ll see:
* ✅ Green checkmark – Your version matches the latest
* 🚀 Rocket – You’re ahead (development version)
* ❌ Red X – Update available

Compatibility:

Works seamlessly with:
* Easy Updates Manager
* Easy Theme and Plugin Upgrades
* Other update management plugins
* Uses high priority (999) to ensure compatibility

Development

Development happens on GitHub: https://github.com/skyminds/sky-changelog-notifier

  1. Upload the sky-changelog-notifier folder to /wp-content/plugins/
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
  3. That’s it! The plugin works automatically
Does this work with manual updates?

No, this plugin only enhances automatic update notification emails. Manual updates don’t trigger these emails.

Can I test if it’s working?

Yes! Use the built-in testing feature:
* Web: /wp-admin/?test_changelog_retrieval&_wpnonce=<nonce> (generate nonce with action sky_changelog_notifier_test)
* WP-CLI: wp changelog akismet 5.3 plugin

Is it compatible with other plugins?

Yes! It’s fully compatible with:
* Easy Updates Manager – for managing automatic updates
* Easy Theme and Plugin Upgrades – for manual ZIP uploads
* Other update management plugins

The plugin uses high priority (999) on filters to ensure compatibility.

Does it slow down my site?

No. All changelog fetches are cached for 1 hour, and the plugin only runs during automatic updates.

3.0.0

  • CRITICAL FIX: Fixed filter callback to use correct auto_plugin_theme_update_email parameter names ($successful_updates instead of $result)
  • CRITICAL FIX: Fixed update item object traversal — now correctly reads $item->item->new_version, $item->item->plugin, $item->name
  • CRITICAL FIX: Extracts slug from plugin file path (e.g. akismet/akismet.php akismet)
  • Removed auto_core_update_email filter (incompatible signature — core updates don’t have plugin/theme changelogs)
  • Handles both success and mixed email types
  • Added nonce verification to admin test endpoint (WPCS/VIP compliance)
  • Full WPCS and WordPress VIP coding standards compliance
  • PHP 8.0+ typed properties, return types, and union types
  • Caches failed readme fetches to prevent retry storms

2.0.0

  • MAJOR REWRITE: Simplified from 846 lines to 319 lines (62% reduction)
  • Removed unnecessary WordPress API fallback
  • Removed complex parallel fetching
  • Removed “closest version” fallback complexity
  • Streamlined to simple, reliable approach: tagged version trunk fallback
  • Kept essential features: changelog in emails, plugin modal emoji, testing, WP-CLI
  • Improved code maintainability and readability

1.2.0

  • CRITICAL FIX: Now fetches changelogs from tagged versions instead of trunk
  • This ensures you get the changelog for the exact version that was installed
  • Added automatic fallback to trunk if tagged version is not available
  • Improved HTTP status code checking for better error handling
  • Fixed regex patterns to support all version number formats (1, 2.0, 1.2.3, etc.)

1.1.0

  • Added compatibility with Easy Updates Manager plugin
  • Improved filter priority handling for better plugin interoperability
  • Enhanced email body handling to preserve modifications by other plugins
  • Comprehensive security and performance optimizations

1.0.0

  • Initial release
  • Improved version matching and fallback logic
  • Better handling of different changelog formats
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