WordPress maintenance controls for one connected site

WordPress has no maintenance switch in wp-admin, so most people use a plugin or a .maintenance file. With CMDPress, open the connected site’s record and turn on maintenance mode without signing in to WordPress. Turn it off from the same place when the work is done, then check uptime and performance to confirm the site came back healthy.

Create a file named .maintenance in the WordPress root folder, next to wp-config.php, containing <?php $upgrading = time(); ?> on one line. WordPress then shows every visitor, including logged-in admins, its “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance” notice until you delete the file. A wp-content/maintenance.php file can replace that notice with your own page.

Delete the .maintenance file from the WordPress root folder using your host’s file manager or FTP. WordPress creates that file during updates and removes it when they finish, so it gets left behind when an update is interrupted. Then rerun the update that failed and check uptime in CMDPress to confirm the site responds again.

Clear it wherever the cache lives: your caching plugin, your host, or a CDN, since WordPress itself has no clear cache button. In CMDPress, open the site record and clear caches from its maintenance controls without signing in to WordPress. If the site sits behind Cloudflare, purge that cache too from the site’s Cloudflare view.