Displays a prominent admin bar label showing the current environment: DEV (green), STAGING (orange), or LIVE (red) to prevent accidental changes.
Environment Indicator adds a prominent visual indicator to the WordPress admin bar showing the current site environment. This high-visibility indicator helps prevent accidental changes on production sites by making the environment instantly recognizable to logged-in users.
Perfect for developers, agencies, and teams managing multiple environments (development, staging, production) across different sites.
Key Features
Smart Environment Detection
* Automatically detects environment using WordPress core constants (WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE)
* Supports popular hosting providers: WP Engine, Pantheon, Kinsta, Flywheel
* Legacy Bedrock constant support (WP_ENV)
* Subdomain-based heuristics (dev.example.com, staging.example.com)
* Manual override option for custom setups
Customization Options
* Custom Colors – Match your branding or personal preferences for each environment
* Custom Labels – Rename DEV/STAGING/LIVE to LOCAL, UAT, PRODUCTION, or anything you prefer
* Role-Based Visibility – Control which user roles can see the indicator (great for client sites)
Visual Enhancements
* Admin bar label (always visible)
* Full admin bar background coloring (high-visibility option)
* Browser tab prefix – instantly identify environments across multiple tabs
* Top border in wp-admin screens
* Admin footer watermark
* Dashboard widget showing environment status and system information
Export/Import
* Export settings as JSON to deploy across multiple sites
* Import settings from JSON file
* Perfect for agencies managing client sites with consistent configurations
Multisite Compatible
* Full support for WordPress multisite installations
* Network-wide settings when network-activated
* Per-site settings when activated on individual sites
How It Works
Detection runs in this order:
- WordPress core constant:
WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE
- Legacy constant:
WP_ENV
- Hosting provider constants (WP Engine, Pantheon, Kinsta, Flywheel)
- Subdomain patterns (dev, staging, test, qa)
- Default to LIVE if no detection
You can always override automatic detection and manually select the environment.
Perfect For
- Developers – Never accidentally deploy to the wrong environment
- Agencies – Manage multiple client sites with consistent environment indicators
- Teams – Everyone instantly knows which environment they’re working in
- Managed Hosting – Works out-of-the-box with WP Engine, Pantheon, Kinsta, and Flywheel
Zero Impact on Visitors
The indicator only displays for logged-in users. Public visitors see no performance impact or visual changes.
Development
Development of this plugin happens on GitHub: https://github.com/BSolveIT/environment-indicator
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome!
Screenshots
Settings page showing DEV environment with live preview badge and manual detection mode
Settings page with automatic detection enabled showing LIVE environment via subdomain detection
Dashboard widget displaying environment status, detection method, site URL, and system versions
Customization options with custom labels and custom colors enabled, plus color pickers
Settings page showing STAGING environment with orange admin bar background coloring
Visual enhancements toggles and role-based visibility settings with user role selection
Does this affect public visitors?
No. The indicator only displays for logged-in users who can see the WordPress admin bar. There is zero impact on public visitors.
Can I customize the colors?
Yes! Enable custom colors in Settings → Environment Indicator and choose any color for DEV, STAGING, and LIVE environments.
Can I change the labels from DEV/STAGING/LIVE?
Absolutely. Enable custom labels and rename them to anything you want: LOCAL, UAT, PRODUCTION, or company-specific terms.
Does it work on multisite?
Yes. When network-activated, settings are managed network-wide from Network Admin → Settings → Environment Indicator.
Which hosting providers are supported?
Environment Indicator automatically detects environments on:
* WP Engine (WPE_ENVIRONMENT)
* Pantheon (PANTHEON_ENVIRONMENT)
* Kinsta (KINSTA_ENV_TYPE)
* Flywheel (FLYWHEEL_CONFIG_DIR)
* Any host using WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE or WP_ENV constants
Can I restrict who sees the indicator?
Yes. Enable role-based visibility and select which user roles can see the environment indicator. This is useful for client sites where you don’t want clients to see the indicator.
Does this plugin block actions or restrict editing?
No. Environment Indicator is visual only. It does not restrict editing, block actions, or change how WordPress behaves. It simply provides a clear visual reminder of which environment you’re working in.
What happens if no environment is detected?
If no environment constants or recognized subdomain patterns are found, the site defaults to LIVE. You can override this using manual mode in the settings.
Can I export settings to use on other sites?
Yes! Use the Export/Import feature to download your settings as JSON and import them on other sites. Perfect for agencies deploying the same configuration across client sites.
Can I see the environment in my browser tabs?
Yes! Enable “Browser Tab Prefix” in Visual Enhancements and your page titles will show the environment, e.g. [DEV] Dashboard or [LIVE] Edit Post. This makes it easy to identify environments when you have multiple tabs open.
How do I set the environment constant?
Add one of these lines to your wp-config.php file:
For WordPress 5.5+:
define( ‘WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE’, ‘development’ ); // or ‘staging’ or ‘production’
For legacy Bedrock:
define( ‘WP_ENV’, ‘development’ ); // or ‘staging’ or ‘production’
ChangeLog
1.1.0
- New: Browser tab prefix – prepends environment label to page titles (e.g. [DEV] Dashboard)
- New: Works in both wp-admin and front-end for logged-in users
- Enhancement: Easily identify which environment each browser tab belongs to
1.0.7
- Enhancement: Added Plugin URI header for WordPress.org integration
- Enhancement: “View details” link now works in Plugins admin screen
1.0.6
- Fix: Updated function prefix from ‘ei_’ to ‘i365ei_’ for WordPress.org compliance (4+ character requirement)
- Fix: Improved $_FILES sanitization with proper file type validation using wp_check_filetype()
- Fix: Updated filter_input to use proper sanitization with direct $_POST handling
- Fix: Added explicit CSS color escaping for inline styles with hex validation
- Security: Enhanced input validation throughout settings handling
1.0.5
- Fix: Added translators comment for sprintf() placeholder in detection.php
- Fix: Replaced parse_url() with wp_parse_url() in dashboard-widget.php for consistency
- Fix: Sanitized $_FILES input in settings.php for WordPress.org compliance
- Fix: Reduced tags to 5 (WordPress.org limit)
1.0.4
- Fix: Updated text domain to match plugin slug (365i-environment-indicator) for WordPress.org compliance
1.0.3
- Fix: Removed negative margins from dashboard widget to improve integration
- Enhancement: Widget footer now properly contained within widget boundaries
1.0.2
- Fix: Dashboard widget settings button layout and sizing improvements
- Fix: Button now properly fits within widget footer container
- Enhancement: Improved icon placement with space-between layout
1.0.1
- Enhancement: Redesigned dashboard widget with professional, modern UI
- Enhancement: Added gradient header with rainbow accent bar
- Enhancement: Color-coded card icons with gradient backgrounds (blue, green, purple, orange)
- Enhancement: Smooth hover animations and micro-interactions
- Enhancement: Improved responsive design for mobile devices
- Enhancement: Better typography with proper font weights and spacing
- Enhancement: Enhanced settings button with animated arrow on hover
- Fix: Separated import/export form from main settings form to prevent save button triggering file upload prompt
- Fix: Improved visual hierarchy and information architecture
1.0.0
- Initial release
- Automatic environment detection (WordPress core, WP Engine, Pantheon, Kinsta, Flywheel)
- Custom colors for each environment
- Custom labels for each environment
- Role-based visibility controls
- Dashboard widget with environment status
- Export/Import settings functionality
- Visual enhancements (admin bar background, top border, footer watermark)
- Full multisite support
- Subdomain-based detection heuristics
- Manual environment override
