Admin Code Search is a lightweight developer tool that lets you search code directly from the WordPress admin area — no FTP or terminal access required.

It scans active plugins, themes, and MU plugins line-by-line and shows matching results with file paths and line numbers.

Designed for quick debugging, code tracing, and locating specific hooks, functions, or strings across a site.

A simple, fast code search tool for developers working inside WordPress.

Why use Admin Code Search?

Searching through plugin and theme files manually is slow and often requires FTP, file manager access, or local copies.

Admin Code Search brings that functionality directly into wp-admin, allowing you to:

Search plugin, theme, and MU plugin code instantly
Locate functions, hooks, and strings across files
Debug third-party plugins more efficiently
Work directly on live environments without leaving WordPress

Features

Search inside active plugins, themes, and MU plugins
Case-sensitive or case-insensitive search
Partial match, whole word match, or match entire line exactly
Custom file extensions (e.g. php, js, css)
Line-by-line scanning for better performance on large codebases
Displays file path, line number, and highlighted match
Shows result count summary
Limits broad searches to the first 500 matches
Includes a Clear button to reset the search form and results
Excludes common heavy directories (vendor, node_modules, uploads, cache, .git, .svn)
Admin-only access for security

Typical Use Cases

Locate where a function or hook is defined
Find all occurrences of a specific string
Debug custom integrations or third-party plugins
Debug issues without FTP access
Quickly explore unfamiliar codebases without leaving wp-admin

Who is this for?

WordPress developers
Freelancers working on client sites
Agencies maintaining multiple projects
Anyone who needs quick code search inside WordPress

Notes

Large searches may take longer on sites with many plugins or large codebases. Results are processed in real time.

To keep output manageable, the plugin limits results to the first 500 matches and shows a warning when that limit is reached.

Privacy

This plugin does not send any data to external services.