PatchOn Agent
Agent plugin that securely connects your site to PatchOn, an AI service that safely runs your WordPress updates for you.
Solid choice
PatchOn Agent is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 10+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 2 months ago, and scores 64/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where PatchOn Agent stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| backup | >100 |
| maintenance | >100 |
| management | >100 |
| regression | #13 |
| updates | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
About PatchOn Agent
From the official readme · v1.2.2Description
PatchOn is an AI service that runs your WordPress plugin, theme, and core updates for you. It reproduces your production site in a staging environment, lets AI verify whether each update can be applied safely, and applies only the updates that pass every check to production. If an update ever fails, one click restores your site. This plugin acts as the agent connecting your WordPress site to PatchOn.
Getting Started
This plugin requires the PatchOn service (patchon.jp) and does not function on its own. Activation alone performs no external communication and does not redirect you. Clicking “Start PatchOn” on the welcome screen opens a consent dialog describing the data that will be sent; confirming it with “Agree and Start” registers your site anonymously and, if updates are available, starts the first inspect-and-update run. No account is required to get started — you need one only to:
- view detailed inspection results
- configure automatic updates
- use paid features
Main Features
- Pre-inspection — in a staging environment, AI compares before / after screenshots of your site to detect layout breakage and fatal errors
- Inspect and update — a manual run goes from inspection to production rollout in one action, applying only updates that passed every check
- Automatic updates with inspection — the site is inspected on a schedule and only updates that passed every check are applied
- Backups — taken automatically right before each update and downloadable for a plan-based retention period
- One-click restore — if an applied update fails, one click puts your site back to the pre-update backup
This plugin (the free distribution on WordPress.org) does not write patched code to your site files, even when it detects a problem. AI auto-repair, which fixes the code causing a problem found during a pre-inspection, is provided by the separately distributed PatchOn Agent Pro extension plugin (available to paid plan subscribers). This plugin writes to your site files in only two cases: applying the updates themselves through the standard WordPress upgrader, and the one-click restore, which runs only on your explicit request and writes your own backed-up plugins, themes, MU plugins, and wp-content drop-ins (and your database) back to the site.
Data Sent
Once you have consented on the consent screen, running a “Pre-inspection” or “Apply update” sends the following data to PatchOn and related external services. See the Privacy Policy for details.
- Site URL / WordPress version / PHP version / DB version
- List and versions of installed plugins, themes, and MU plugins
- List of available updates (names and versions of plugins, themes, and WordPress core). While the site is connected, this is sent automatically once a day
- Site files prior to update application, used for the pre-update backup:
wp-config.php, active and to-be-updated plugins and themes, MU plugins, andwp-contentdrop-ins (such asobject-cache.php) - Contents of WordPress debug.log (used to detect issues)
- A full copy of your site’s database, taken during a pre-inspection and reused as the pre-update backup. It may include personal data stored on your site, such as member accounts or contact-form submissions
External services
This plugin depends on the following external services. No external communication is performed merely by activating the plugin; it starts only after you explicitly click the “Agree and Start” button on the consent screen shown on first use.
PatchOn API (https://patchon.jp and its subdomains)
The backend for all inspection, repair, update, and database-dump operations. Two host names are used, both operated by Rocketa Inc. and routed to PatchOn’s infrastructure:
https://patchon.jp/api/*— site registration, pre-inspection control, apply-update control, billinghttps://dump.patchon.jp/*— database-dump control endpoints and signed-URL chunk uploads for pre-inspections and pre-update backups
Provider: Rocketa Inc. (rocketa.co.jp)
When data is sent:
- On click of the “Agree and Start” consent button (one-time): anonymous site registration and UUID issuance
- Once a day while connected (daily check-in): the list of available updates and plugin version
- When the user runs a “Pre-inspection”, or when automatic updates run their scheduled inspection: list of plugins / themes, debug.log, full database copy
- When the user runs an “Apply update”, or when automatic updates apply an update that passed every check: a backup (site files and a full database copy) and the application result
- When the user runs the one-click restore after a failed update: restore control requests and progress status (the backed-up files and database themselves are downloaded from cloud storage at that time, not sent)
What is sent: see the “Data Sent” section above
- Terms of Service: https://patchon.jp/terms
- Privacy Policy: https://patchon.jp/privacy-policy
- Subprocessors: https://patchon.jp/subprocessors
AWS S3 (Tokyo region, accessed via PatchOn)
Storage destination for the site backup (zip) and the database copy (uploaded in chunks). Uploads and downloads are performed only against pre-signed URLs issued by PatchOn on a per-request basis. The customer site does not hold any S3 credentials. During a one-click restore, the backed-up site files and database chunks are downloaded from S3 in the same way.
- Provider: Amazon Web Services, Inc.
- Endpoint: https://*.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com (pre-signed URLs only)
- When data is sent: when the user runs a “Pre-inspection” (database copy) or an “Apply update” (backup: site files and database copy)
- What is sent: site files (zip) and a full copy of the database
- AWS Privacy: https://aws.amazon.com/privacy/
Installation
- From the WordPress admin dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New, search for “PatchOn Agent”, and install.
- Activate the plugin. No outbound communication occurs at this point, and you are not redirected anywhere.
- Open “PatchOn” from the admin menu. A welcome screen introduces what PatchOn does and lists the updates detected on your site (read locally).
- Click “Start PatchOn”. A consent dialog opens describing the data that will be sent; click “Agree and Start”. Clicking this button is treated as your explicit consent to begin external communication, and the plugin registers your site anonymously with PatchOn. If updates are available, the first inspect-and-update run starts.
- To view detailed inspection results or configure automatic updates, open “PatchOn > Settings” and click “Connect this site to a PatchOn account” to register or log in.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from WordPress’s built-in auto-updates?
Built-in auto-updates apply updates without checking whether they are safe — at best, WordPress detects a fatal error afterwards and rolls that update back, without fixing the cause. PatchOn inspects every update for layout breakage and fatal errors before applying it, and applies only the updates that pass. Paid plans also test form submissions and, through the PatchOn Agent Pro extension, let AI repair custom code that would break with an update before it is applied.
Is there a fee to use this plugin?
The plugin is distributed free of charge, and anyone can run pre-inspections and apply updates. Paid plans add AI auto-repair, additional inspection targets, and more comprehensive support. See https://patchon.jp/pricing for plan details.
What’s the difference between the Free, Standard, and Business plans?
Free: visual regression checks on 3 URLs, monthly automatic updates (off by default), and 7-day retention of pre-update backups Standard (paid): visual regression checks expanded to 10 URLs, weekly automatic updates with a configurable day and time slot, form testing, AI auto-repair (requires the separately distributed PatchOn Agent Pro extension plugin), 30-day backup retention, and email support Business (paid): adds mobile visual regression checks, 90-day backup retention, and Slack Connect support See Pricing for details.
Does the plugin send any data to external services just by being activated?
No. Activation alone does not send any data externally. Communication starts only after the user explicitly clicks the “Agree and Start” button on the consent screen.
Where is my data stored?
In AWS (Tokyo region). See the Privacy Policy for details.
If I delete the plugin, will my data also be deleted?
When the plugin is deleted, the configuration values it stored in your local database (such as the connection UUID) are removed automatically. However, the corresponding site data on PatchOn is retained. To request full deletion of your cloud-side data, please reach out through the contact form.
Are automatic updates safe?
Updates are applied only after they pass inspection in a staging environment, and a backup is taken automatically right before each update. If anything goes wrong, you can restore your site with one click from the WordPress admin. If you would rather not handle recovery yourself, support-assisted recovery is available on paid plans.
Changelog
1.2.2
- Fix: When no update could be applied (all were held back or could not be inspected), the run no longer reports success with an empty list — it now clearly reports that nothing was applied
- Fix: Consent given again on an already-confirmed site no longer promises a confirmation step that never comes
1.2.1
- Fix: Where multiple sites share one database, backups and one-click restore now cover only your own site’s tables — previously a restore could also roll back a neighbouring site’s data (existing backups are protected too)
- Fix: Inspections no longer fail on sites whose database contains generated (computed) columns or database views
1.2.0
- New: Automatic updates — paid plans run the pre-inspection weekly with a configurable day and time slot, the Free plan can opt in to a monthly run, and results arrive as a report email per run
- New: Updates that passed every check are applied to production automatically after a backup is created, while updates that needed AI repair, require visual review, failed, or could not be inspected are never applied automatically (a manual-only mode is available)
- New: One-click restore from the update screen puts your site files (plugins, themes, MU plugins, and
wp-contentdrop-ins) and database back to the pre-update backup, self-driving in the background so it continues if you close the tab - New: A manual run now inspects the selected updates in staging and applies the passing ones to production in the same action (“inspect and update”), with FTP-based servers falling back to inspection only
- New: Inspection URLs are registered automatically at start and confirmed by you on the first run, then reused unattended on later runs
1.1.5
- Fix: Applying several plugin or theme updates in one run could silently skip some of them, reporting them as successful while leaving them unchanged
- Fix: AI-repaired customizations are now written back to production only after the corresponding plugin or theme update has actually succeeded
- Fix: Applying an update could stall right after the pre-update backup finished, leaving nothing updated
1.1.4
- Improvement: Pre-update backups now capture the database incrementally, reusing the unchanged parts of the most recent pre-inspection snapshot and falling back to a full dump whenever anything looks inconsistent
- Improvement: Backup archives are now built in a single pass, reducing the backup phase from minutes to seconds on sites with thousands of plugin and theme files
- Improvement: The update screen now indicates whether an incremental or full backup is in progress and asks you to keep the tab open until it finishes
- Improvement: Large pre-update backups now continue on the server even if you close the browser tab, with a scheduled health-check that restarts a stalled run
- Fix: Inspection target URLs with non-ASCII slugs (such as Japanese permalinks) were corrupted on save
- Fix: A plugin that was active before an update could be left deactivated after the update finished
- Fix: Updates requiring a newer PHP or WordPress version than your live site runs are now excluded from the update run instead of being applied
- Change: Canceling a pre-inspection now also stops it on the backend, and the cancel button is no longer shown during the production update step
- Change: Updates that could not be inspected are no longer applied to your production site
- Change: The consent screen now states that your site’s files and database are sent during a pre-inspection, replacing wording that implied parts containing personal information were excluded
1.1.3
- New: Updates on every plan now create a backup (site files and a full database dump) stored in PatchOn cloud storage with a plan-based retention period and downloadable from the update screen, and the consent screen and privacy policy were updated to cover this storage
- Fix: Multiple bugs where a failed update could be misreported as successful, including copy failures during the upgrade, concurrent runs leaving maintenance mode stuck, stale update caches, and a locale-dependent misclassification on Japanese sites
- Improvement: The Pro extension required for applying AI repairs can now be installed and activated with one click from the update screen
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best PatchOn Agent alternatives
All backup plugins →
FAQ
PatchOn Agent: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 13, 2026
Is PatchOn Agent free?
Yes. PatchOn Agent is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is PatchOn Agent safe to use in 2026?
PatchOn Agent is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 10+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 2 months ago, and scores 64/100 on our health check.
How many websites use PatchOn Agent?
PatchOn Agent is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 633 times since it launched in May 2026. It was downloaded 81 times in the last 30 days.
Does PatchOn Agent work with WordPress 7.1?
PatchOn Agent is officially tested up to WordPress 7.0.7, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does PatchOn Agent need?
PatchOn Agent requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was PatchOn Agent last updated?
The latest version, 1.2.2, was released on August 9, 2026 (2 months ago).
Who makes PatchOn Agent?
PatchOn Agent is developed and maintained by Rocketa.
What are the best alternatives to PatchOn Agent?
The most popular alternatives to PatchOn Agent are All-in-One WP Migration and… (5M+ installs), UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Mi… (4M+ installs) and Jetpack (3M+ installs).
Powered by PageForge
Want thousands of pages that rank like these? Build them in an afternoon.
This directory runs on the same engine as PageForge. Turn any spreadsheet, CSV or API into thousands of fast, SEO-ready WordPress pages — with schema, internal links and AI-written copy baked in.
- CSV, Google Sheets & API data sources
- AI content, schema & internal links per page
- Works with Elementor, Gutenberg, Yoast & Rank Math
- Free on WordPress.org — no credit card
