Paul Bunyan for WordPress changelog

1.1.3

• How long messages and routine detail are kept, how many markers are kept, and which other roles may read the screens are now settings in the free plugin.
• Watching database queries is a setting you turn on. It uses WordPress’s SAVEQUERIES for the request. Profile one page always includes queries.
• The developer functions have new names. If your own code calls them, check the new names in Logging functions before you update, because the old names no longer work.
• Paul Bunyan no longer changes the order of your active plugins. To time every plugin’s loading, copy the optional mu-loader file into wp-content/mu-plugins. It finds Paul Bunyan wherever it is installed, and only when it is active.
• Old temporary support accounts from version 0.19 are deleted only when an administrator presses the button.
• Every value read from the request, a cookie, the command line, an imported file or a browser report is cleaned before use.
• The browser timing script is added through WordPress’s script queue.

1.1.2

• Browser timing reports are accepted only from pages this site built in the last 12 hours, with limits per visitor and per hour, so nobody can flood the log.
• When the log is well over its size limit, the cleanup runs every hour and trims browser timings before warnings and errors.
• The Space meter, the notice and the size limit all measure the same thing.
• Short keys and tokens in link addresses (8 characters or more, letters and digits mixed) are masked before they are stored.
• Filtering Messages by PB-2806 or PB-2807 lists every visit counted for that code.
• Query tracing no longer trims the query list that another debugging tool relies on.
• Works with databases that store table names in lower case.
• Reset and uninstall remove every setting Paul Bunyan stores.
• Emails sent by a WordPress background process, such as WooCommerce’s deferred order emails, no longer count as PB-2301 (email sent while the visitor waits).
• Add-ons can add their own tools to the Site setup cards.

Professional 0.20.5

• Broken links: Replace and Undo keep scripts, embeds, forms and styles in the post for every user, including users who are not allowed to post raw HTML.
• Broken links: Replace also updates the address saved in a block’s settings, so cover, file and image blocks open in the editor without an “invalid content” warning.
• Broken links: image sets (srcset) are left exactly as they were unless one of their addresses changes.
• With two copies installed, deleting one no longer removes the license and settings the other uses, and the notice explains how to remove the extra folder safely.
• Give support access: a link opened twice at the same moment signs in only once.
• License: entering the same key again does not restart the 3-day grace period, and an update check can no longer mark an ended or canceled key as active.

1.1.1

• Browser timing reports must carry a signature from a page this site built.
• More personal data is kept out of the log: user names and passwords in links, keys and tokens in link paths, codes and addresses in email subjects, and fields named like keys, sessions, phone numbers and addresses.
• The rebuild that gives empty space back to the database runs at most once a week, and only when there is more than 50 MB to give back.
• “Delete these kinds of message” keeps messages with a PB code, as it says.
• A missing log table is recreated on the next write.
• Query tracing stays off for WP-CLI and cron, and keeps memory in check on very long requests.
• Largest paint (PB-2805) is no longer counted for pages that sat in a background tab.
• A visit that is poor on more than one Web Vital is counted under each code.
• Checks of your own site’s address verify its security certificate.
• Scripts and styles load the standard WordPress way.

Professional 0.20.4

• Broken links: Replace changes only the link or image address itself, with Undo for the last ten replacements.
• Broken links have their own codes: PB-2610, PB-2611 and PB-2612. They replace PB-2601 to PB-2603, which clashed with the free plugin’s codes for slow functions and hooks.
• Missing pages that visitors hit are recorded at a limited rate, and saved pages are re-checked from one queue.
• Give support access: each link works once, a support account cannot make new links, and accounts are deleted on time even while Professional is off.
• License: Professional switches off after 30 days with no answer from the license server, and back on at the next good answer.
• Safe mode is no longer set off by out-of-memory or time-limit errors.
• The AI settings say exactly what is sent and when.

1.1.0

• A size limit for the log, 100 MB by default. The daily cleanup trims routine detail first, then the oldest messages, and gives the empty space back to the database.
• Your data shows what takes the room, by kind of message and by age, with a Free space now button.
• A notice on Paul Bunyan’s screens when the log nears its limit.

1.0.0

• First version submitted to WordPress.org.
• Give support access moves to Paul Bunyan Professional. The free plugin keeps Get support with Copy support details, and free support is on the WordPress.org forum. Support accounts made with an earlier version are removed when you update, unless Professional is active.

Professional 0.20.3

• Works safely alongside older versions of the free plugin.
• If anything goes wrong while it loads, Professional switches itself off and shows the reason, instead of affecting the site. A “Try again” button turns it back on.

Professional 0.20.2

• A release on the store without its zip can no longer switch off a valid license.

Professional 0.20.1

• The daily license check also sends the site’s WordPress and PHP versions, so we know which versions to test against. Nothing else about the site is sent.

Professional 0.20.0

• New Broken links screen: links to your own pages, and images and files from your media folder, that lead nowhere, with a suggested fix and one-click Replace (PB-2601, PB-2602, PB-2603).

Professional 0.19.3

• Give support access, moved from the free plugin.

0.19.1

• New Get support screen: where to ask, and Copy support details, a plain-text block of versions, theme, active plugins and cache setup to paste into a ticket or forum post. It holds no keys, email addresses or visitor data.

0.19.0

• New Go Professional screen: what the paid add-on adds, with this site’s own numbers from the last 7 days, and its prices. It disappears once Professional is installed.
• A one-line tip about Professional where it would help, one at a time, only on Paul Bunyan’s own screens and only for administrators. Each can be dismissed, and Settings turns them all off.
• After two weeks of use, Fix first asks once for a review on WordPress.org, with Maybe later and Don’t ask again.

0.18.1

• Very large queries, such as a big serialized option being saved, no longer slip past the query summary. When a query is too large to summarize, only its kind and table are kept, so no values from it are ever stored.

0.18.0

• Ask AI moves to Paul Bunyan Professional, with the new “Explain this” button and an AI summary in the email report. The free plugin keeps the AI report: copy it or download it and paste it into any AI assistant. Ask AI settings already saved, key included, carry over to Professional.
• New hooks let add-ons put their own tools on the report, on each request and on each finding.

0.17.0

• Ask AI works with the AI service you choose: Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI, Google (Gemini), or any service that accepts the OpenAI chat format, including a model on your own computer.
• Answers are shown formatted, with everything the service sends escaped first.
• Ask AI says exactly what is missing when it is not ready, and explains common errors.

0.16

• New look: a side menu grouped by task, a header with the switch, and every screen restyled. The Inter typeface is bundled; nothing is loaded from another server.
• Each request is tagged visitor, logged in or administrator (the kind of user only, never who), with filters on Messages and Overview.
• “Time before the site answered” separates the wait before PHP started from the time PHP spent (PB-2808).
• The Database screen names the plugin or theme behind each large autoloaded option, and flags those whose owner is not active.
• The Background screen shows Action Scheduler work by plugin: waiting, late, failed and done.
• Save one request as a single HTML file to send to a plugin’s support desk.
• Read-only abilities for AI assistants on WordPress 6.9 and later.
• The safety switch now counts a request against Paul Bunyan only when its own cost is over the limit and also at least a tenth of the request, so a server that is overloaded for everyone does not trip it.

0.15.0

• Paul Bunyan is now two plugins: the free edition, with all recording and every diagnostic screen, and the separate Professional add-on.
• History: 3 days of full detail and 7 days of summary.

0.14.0

• Two sites: compare a live site with staging.
• Scheduled page checks (PB-2901, PB-2902) and reports by email.
• A new install profiles the home page on first look, so the first screen is not empty.

0.13

• String pool: file names, function names, call paths and query shapes are stored once and referenced, as the original Paul Bunyan did with file names.
• Core Web Vitals per page from real visitors (PB-2805, PB-2806, PB-2807).
• “Got slower” detection (PB-2108) and requests running at the same time.
• Browser reports from a cached copy of a page are marked as such.

0.12

• Your data: what is stored, download messages as CSV or JSON, carry a setup to another site, delete messages or reset everything.
• Read-only access for chosen roles.
• Option to keep only the table and caller of slow queries, not the query text.

0.11

• Profile one page on demand as a logged-out visitor, with every hook watched, even while recording is off.
• Compare two requests side by side.
• Memory per plugin on the Plugins screen.
• When another profiler is running, its wrapper is no longer named as the caller.

0.10.0

• The switch: on, off, on for a set time, or on for one browser only.
• define( 'PAUL_BUNYAN_OFF', true ); in wp-config.php switches it off with no login.
• The safety switch (PB-1008).
• WP-CLI: wp pb status, on, off, fix, report and log.

0.9.0

• Plugins screen: what each plugin and the theme cost per request, split by kind of request.

0.8

• Fix first: one ranked list of what costs the most, with what it means and what to do.
• Database: query shapes ranked by total time, and slow queries explained in words (PB-2504).
• Site setup checks, PB-3001 to PB-3009.

0.7

• Processor (CPU) time and memory per request (PB-2104, PB-2105).

0.6

• PB codes: every notice and finding has a number with a fixed meaning and a note on what to do.
• Paul Bunyan reports when its own log is incomplete.
• Messages from many requests can be tied into one trail, and your code can record things that should never happen.

0.2 to 0.5

• Request timeline, markers and comparison, browser timing, the Overview, background jobs and business events.
• Hook watching reworked: overhead cut from about 190 ms to about 13 ms per page on the test store.