The “Debugger & Troubleshooter” plugin provides essential tools for WordPress site administrators to diagnose and resolve issues efficiently. It offers a dedicated section in the WordPress dashboard that displays comprehensive site health information and powerful debugging toggles.

Key Features:

Troubleshooting Mode: Activate a unique, session-based “Troubleshooting Mode” for your current browser session. This means any changes you make are temporary and only visible to you. This mode allows you to:
- Simulate Plugin Deactivation: Selectively “deactivate” plugins. The plugin’s assets and code will be disabled for your session only.
- Simulate Theme Switching: Preview any installed theme, while the public-facing site continues to use the active theme.
User Role Simulator: View your site as any other user or role (e.g., Subscriber, Editor) to test permissions and content visibility. This is session-based and includes a safe “Exit” button in the Admin Bar.
Live Debugging: Start logging PHP errors, warnings, notices and WordPress deprecation notices with a single click, without editing wp-config.php. Errors are logged without being displayed on the site.
Smart Log Viewer: Repeated errors are grouped with a count, filterable by level (Fatal, Warning, Notice, Deprecated, Database) and by source, and searchable. Every entry shows which plugin or theme caused it, even when the error is thrown inside WordPress core (identified from the stack trace). Includes auto-refresh, download and clear.
Performance Profiler: See why a page is slow. For your own requests only, it records load time, memory, a hook timeline, database query time per plugin, slow and duplicate queries, external HTTP requests and per-plugin load time. A live summary appears in the admin bar.
Comprehensive Site Information: Get a quick, organized overview of your WordPress environment in collapsible cards. This includes detailed PHP, Database, and Server information, a full list of all themes and plugins with their status, and important WordPress constants.
Copy to Clipboard: A one-click button allows you to copy all the site information, making it incredibly easy to share with support forums or developers.
SMTP / Mail Debugger: Send a test email and see the exact error if delivery fails.
PHP Compatibility Checker: Scan WordPress core, your active theme and active plugins for deprecated functions and syntax that may break when upgrading PHP. Results displayed in a responsive card layout with clear warnings and incompatibility counts.
Conflict Checker: Systematically identify plugin conflicts through a binary search process. Narrow down suspect plugins by answering whether each group resolves the issue, all within a safe session-based mode.
Safe Debugging & Cache Bypassing: All troubleshooting actions are session-based. The plugin automatically attempts to bypass caching when Troubleshooting Mode is active, ensuring your changes are reflected instantly.
User-Friendly Interface: An intuitive dashboard interface makes it easy to access all features.
Admin Notices: Clear notices alert you when Troubleshooting Mode is active.

This plugin is an invaluable tool for developers, site administrators, and anyone who needs to debug WordPress issues without risking site downtime or affecting user experience.

Usage

Once the plugin is installed and activated, navigate to Tools > Debugger & Troubleshooter in your WordPress dashboard.

1. Site Information

The top section provides a comprehensive overview of your WordPress environment, organized into collapsible cards that are closed by default. Click on any card title to expand it and view the details.

2. Troubleshooting Mode

This session-based feature allows you to simulate theme switches and plugin deactivations without affecting your live website for other visitors.

3. User Role Simulator

Safely view your site as another user or role (e.g., “Subscriber” or “Editor”) without knowing their password. This is perfect for testing capabilities and content restrictions.

4. Live Debugging

Log errors without editing wp-config.php.

Enable Live Debug: Click this button to start logging PHP errors, warnings, notices and WordPress deprecation notices to wp-content/debug.log (or your custom WP_DEBUG_LOG path). Errors are never shown to visitors.
Smart Log Viewer: Errors are grouped, colour-coded by level and attributed to the plugin or theme responsible. Click an entry to see the full message and stack trace. Use the level buttons, source dropdown and search box to narrow things down, or switch to the Raw view to see the log as-is. Turn on Auto-refresh to watch new errors arrive.
Download / Clear Log: Save a copy of the full log, or clear it with a click.

5. SMTP / Mail Debugger

Send a test email to check your site’s mail configuration. If sending fails, the exact error is shown.

6. Conflict Checker

If you are experiencing an issue on your site, use the Conflict Checker to identify the culprit plugin. The plugin systematically deactivates groups of plugins using your session-based Troubleshooting Mode, asking whether the issue persists after each step. Once the culprit is found, you can deactivate it with one click.

7. PHP Compatibility Checker

Check whether WordPress core, your active theme and your active plugins are ready for a newer PHP version. Select a target version and click “Run Compatibility Check” to get a report for each item, with clear warnings and incompatibility counts.

8. Performance Profiler

Open the Performance tab and click Enable Profiler. For the next 24 hours, every request you make (front end, admin, AJAX and REST) is profiled. Visitors and other users are not affected. A summary (time, queries, memory) appears in the admin bar; click it to open the full report with the timeline, query time per plugin, slowest and duplicate queries, external HTTP requests and plugin load times.