GPL Downloads Auto Updater — Documentation

Getting Started
Installation
Authentication
Checking for Updates
Auto-Update Settings
Rollback
White Label
Troubleshooting
FAQ

Getting Started

The GPL Downloads Auto Updater is a WordPress plugin that delivers premium plugin and theme updates directly to your WordPress dashboard. Once installed and connected to your GPL Downloads account, updates for any product in the catalogue will appear automatically alongside your standard WordPress updates — no manual downloading or reinstalling required.

Requirements

WordPress 5.0 or higher
An active GPL Downloads All Access membership
PHP 7.4 or higher

Installation

Step 1 — Download the plugin

Download the Auto Updater client plugin from your GPL Downloads account: https://www.gpldownloads.com/downloads/gpl-downloads-auto-updater

Step 2 — Install on your WordPress site

Log in to your WordPress admin
Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin
Choose the downloaded zip file and click Install Now
Click Activate Plugin

Step 3 — Connect your account

Once activated, a new GPL Downloads menu item will appear in your WordPress admin sidebar. Click it to open the settings page and connect your account (see Authentication below).

Authentication

To receive updates, the Auto Updater needs to verify that your active All Access membership is active.

Go to GPL Downloads in your WordPress admin sidebar
Enter your GPL Downloads username or email address
Enter your GPL Downloads password
Click Connect

On successful connection, you will see a green Connected status showing your account name and email. The plugin will immediately run its first update check.

Your connection is secured using a JWT token that is valid for 30 days and refreshes automatically — you should not need to reconnect unless you change your password or your membership lapses.

Checking for Updates

Once connected, the Auto Updater checks for available updates twice daily automatically. When updates are found they appear in:

WordPress Dashboard → Updates — alongside your standard plugin updates
GPL Downloads settings page — showing a count of available updates with a direct link

Manual check

To trigger an immediate check at any time:

Go to GPL Downloads in your WordPress admin
Click Check for Updates Now

The last checked time is displayed at the bottom of the settings page.

Auto-Update Settings

By default, updates are shown in your dashboard but not installed automatically. You can enable automatic installation globally and control which plugins auto-update on a per-plugin basis.

Accessing auto-update settings

Go to GPL Downloads → Auto-Update Settings

Global toggle

The Enable automatic updates checkbox is the master switch. When turned off, no GPL Downloads plugins will auto-install regardless of per-plugin settings. This is useful when you want to pause all automatic updates temporarily — for example before a major site change.

When enabled, updates will be automatically installed during the twice-daily scheduled checks.

Per-plugin control

The per-plugin table lists every GPL Downloads plugin detected on your site. Each plugin can be set to:

Auto — installs automatically when the global toggle is on
Manual — appears as an available update in your dashboard but will not self-install

Note: Only plugins from the GPL Downloads catalogue are affected. All other plugins and themes on your site are managed by WordPress as normal.

The per-plugin list populates after your first update check. If a plugin is not listed yet, run a manual check first.

Rollback

If an update causes unexpected issues, you can instantly revert to the previous version using the rollback feature.

How to rollback

Go to Plugins in your WordPress admin
Find the plugin you want to rollback
Click the Rollback to x.x.x link that appears in the plugin action links (below the plugin name)
Confirm the prompt

The previous version will be reinstalled immediately. The rollback is logged in the Update Log (see below) with a Rollback status.

Update Log

Go to GPL Downloads → Update Log to see a full history of all updates and rollbacks on your site, including the version changed from and to, the date, and whether it was an automatic or manual update.

Note: The rollback link only appears after a plugin has been updated at least once through the Auto Updater. Rollbacks are free and do not count against your daily update credits.

White Label

The Auto Updater includes full white-label support, allowing developers and agencies to rebrand the plugin for client sites.

Accessing white-label settings

On the main GPL Downloads settings page, scroll down to the White Label Settings section.

Available options

Field	Description
Plugin Name	Replaces “GPL Downloads Auto Updates” throughout the admin
Admin Menu Label	Changes the sidebar menu label
Plugin Description	Shown in the plugins list under the plugin name
Author Name	Replaces “GPL Downloads” in the By line
Author URL	The URL the author name links to

Leave any field blank to keep the default value. Changes take effect immediately after saving.

Troubleshooting

“Invalid username or password”

Double-check you are using your GPL Downloads login credentials, not your WordPress site credentials
Try logging in at gpldownloads.com directly to confirm your credentials are correct
If you have recently changed your password, use the new password

“No active All Access subscription found”

Log in to your GPL Downloads account and confirm your membership shows as Active
If your subscription has recently renewed, allow a few minutes and try again
If you have a lifetime membership and are seeing this error, please contact support

Updates not appearing after connecting

Click Check for Updates Now on the settings page to trigger an immediate check
Confirm the plugins you expect updates for are in the GPL Downloads catalogue and have the AUTO UPDATE · YES badge on their product page
Go to WordPress → Tools → Site Health and check the Cron section to confirm WordPress cron is running on your site

A specific plugin is not showing an update

Check the plugin’s product page on GPL Downloads — if there is no AUTO UPDATE · YES badge, it may not yet be classified for auto-updates
The plugin folder name on your site must match the slug in the GPL Downloads catalogue. If you believe there is a mismatch, contact support with the plugin folder name

“This download link has expired”

Download tokens are valid for 2 hours from the time of the update check
Click Check for Updates Now to generate a fresh token, then proceed with the update immediately

Update fails with “The package could not be installed”

Check your WordPress file permissions — WordPress needs write access to the wp-content/plugins directory
Ensure your hosting does not block outbound connections to gpldownloads.com
Try the update again — occasional timeout issues can cause one-off failures

The site shows as still connected after disconnecting

From version 1.0.4 onwards, disconnecting automatically removes the site from the GPL Downloads server. If you are on an older version, update the client plugin and reconnect, then disconnect again
Alternatively, log in to your GPL Downloads account, go to My Account → Auto Updates, and disconnect the site manually from there

Token expired — being asked to reconnect

Tokens refresh automatically 5 days before expiry, as long as the cron is running on your site
If your site has been offline or cron is not running, the token may have lapsed. Simply reconnect with your credentials

FAQ

Does the Auto Updater work with any WordPress site? Yes — install the client plugin on any WordPress site connected to your All Access membership.

How many sites can I connect? There is no hard limit on the number of sites. Each connected site is visible in your account under My Account → Auto Updates.

Will it update plugins I downloaded from elsewhere? No — the Auto Updater only manages plugins and themes available in the GPL Downloads catalogue. All other plugins are handled by WordPress as normal.

Do updates use my daily download credits? Yes, each plugin update counts as one download credit from your daily allowance. Re-downloading the same plugin within the same day does not cost an additional credit. Rollbacks are free.

What happens if my membership expires? The Auto Updater will no longer be able to authenticate, and updates will stop. Your plugins will remain at their current versions until your membership is renewed.

Can I use the Auto Updater on client sites? Yes — install it on any site and use the white label settings to rebrand it. Your clients will not see any GPL Downloads branding unless you choose to keep it.

Is my password stored on the site? No — your password is used once to authenticate and is never stored. Only a secure JWT token is saved locally, which expires after 30 days.

What is the difference between Auto and Manual mode? In Auto mode, the plugin installs updates silently during the scheduled check. In Manual mode, the update is flagged in your dashboard, but you click to install it yourself — useful for plugins where you want to review the changelog before updating.

Can I roll back a theme? Rollback is supported for plugins and themes.

The rollback link is not appearing — why? The rollback link only appears after a plugin has been updated at least once through the Auto Updater. If you have just installed a plugin and it has never been updated via the system, there is no previous version to roll back to.