WordPress Plugin GitHub Updater

Composer library for handling WordPress plugin updates from GitHub repositories. Built on yahnis-elsts/plugin-update-checker with built-in rate-limit mitigation.

Features

• Automatic updates from GitHub releases or branch commits.
• Rate-limit mitigation: Configurable check intervals (default 6h) and throttling (72h when update already known).
• GitHub token support for private repos and higher API limits (60 → 5000 requests/hour).
• Release-asset filtering using regex.
• Branch selection (default: main).
• Canonical static API (GitHubUpdater::init) plus backward-compatible wrapper.
• Error handling with WP_DEBUG logging.

Installation

composer require soderlind/wordpress-github-updater

This automatically includes yahnis-elsts/plugin-update-checker as a dependency.

Requirements

• PHP 7.4+
• WordPress plugin context (ABSPATH must be defined).
• A GitHub repository with releases or branch updates.

Quick Start

use Soderlind\WordPress\GitHubUpdater;

GitHubUpdater::init(
	github_url:   'https://github.com/username/plugin-name',
	plugin_file:  __FILE__,
	plugin_slug:  'plugin-name',
	name_regex:   '/plugin-name\.zip/',
	branch:       'main',
	check_period: 6,            // Hours between checks (default: 6)
	auth_token:   '',           // Optional GitHub token
);

Positional equivalent:

\Soderlind\WordPress\GitHubUpdater::init(
	'https://github.com/username/plugin-name',
	__FILE__,
	'plugin-name',
	'/plugin-name\.zip/',
	'main',
	6,   // check_period
	''   // auth_token
);

With GitHub Token (for private repos or higher rate limits)

GitHubUpdater::init(
	github_url:   'https://github.com/username/private-plugin',
	plugin_file:  __FILE__,
	plugin_slug:  'private-plugin',
	auth_token:   defined('MY_PLUGIN_GITHUB_TOKEN') ? MY_PLUGIN_GITHUB_TOKEN : '',
);

Backward Compatibility API

GitHub_Plugin_Updater is still available for existing integrations.

\Soderlind\WordPress\GitHub_Plugin_Updater::create(
	'https://github.com/username/plugin-name',
	__FILE__,
	'plugin-name',
	'main',
	6,  // check_period
	''  // auth_token
);

\Soderlind\WordPress\GitHub_Plugin_Updater::create_with_assets(
	'https://github.com/username/plugin-name',
	__FILE__,
	'plugin-name',
	'/plugin-name\.zip/',
	'main',
	6,  // check_period
	''  // auth_token
);

Configuration

GitHubUpdater::init(...)

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
github_url	Yes	-	Full repository URL (https://github.com/owner/repo)
plugin_file	Yes	-	Absolute path to the main plugin file
plugin_slug	Yes	-	Plugin slug used by WordPress
name_regex	No	''	Regex to match release asset zip filename
branch	No	'main'	Branch to track
check_period	No	6	Hours between update checks. Set to 0 to disable automatic checks.
auth_token	No	''	GitHub personal access token for private repos or higher rate limits

Rate-Limit Mitigation

This library includes built-in protection against GitHub API timeouts/overload:

1. Configurable check interval: Default is 6 hours (vs. upstream default of 12h). Adjust via check_period.
2. Throttled checks: When an update is already known, checks are reduced to every 72 hours.
3. Token authentication: Provide a GitHub token to increase rate limits from 60 to 5000 requests/hour.
4. Error logging: API errors are logged when WP_DEBUG is enabled.

Recommended Integration Pattern

From your main plugin file:

// Autoloaded via Composer
use Soderlind\WordPress\GitHubUpdater;

GitHubUpdater::init(
	github_url:   'https://github.com/owner/repo',
	plugin_file:  __FILE__,
	plugin_slug:  'my-plugin',
	name_regex:   '/my-plugin\.zip/',
	branch:       'main',
	check_period: 6,
);

Workflow Templates

This repository includes two workflow templates in .github/workflows/:

• on-release-add.zip.yml — Release-triggered build + upload
• manually-build-zip.yml — Manual build/upload for a provided tag

Copy them into your plugin repository at .github/workflows/.

Workflow Checklist

1. Set PLUGIN_ZIP to your plugin zip file (example: my-plugin.zip).
2. Keep composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader so dependencies are packaged.
3. Keep the verification step that checks vendor/yahnis-elsts/plugin-update-checker exists in the zip.
4. Ensure name_regex in PHP matches your zip filename convention.

Troubleshooting

Updates do not appear

1. Confirm your plugin file, slug, repo URL, and branch are correct.
2. Publish a release with an attached zip that matches name_regex.
3. Trigger a manual update check in WordPress Admin (or wait for scheduled checks).

Dependency is missing in release zip

If plugin-update-checker is not in vendor/, updater setup fails. In WP_DEBUG, you will see:

GitHubUpdater (your-plugin-slug): Missing dependency yahnis-elsts/plugin-update-checker...

GitHub API rate limits

The library includes built-in rate-limit mitigation:

• Check interval: By default, checks only every 6 hours.
• Throttling: When an update is already available, checks reduce to every 72 hours.
• Token auth: Pass a GitHub token via auth_token to increase limits from 60 to 5000 requests/hour.

If you still hit rate limits, increase check_period or add a GitHub token.

Private repositories

Pass your GitHub personal access token via the auth_token parameter:

GitHubUpdater::init(
	github_url:  'https://github.com/username/private-repo',
	plugin_file: __FILE__,
	plugin_slug: 'private-plugin',
	auth_token:  MY_GITHUB_TOKEN,
);

Real-World Reference

WordPress plugins at https://github.com/soderlind

License

GPL-2.0-or-later.