Admin Code Search
Admin Code Search interface in the Tools menu.
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
Video Demo
Watch Admin Code Search in action:
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.