Simple maintenance mode for block themes. Shows a maintenance template to logged-out visitors.
Planned Outage for Block Themes is a lightweight plugin that enables maintenance mode for WordPress block themes. When enabled, logged-out visitors see your custom maintenance template while logged-in users can browse the site normally.
Features:
- Uses native block theme templates
- Create maintenance pages in the Site Editor or as theme files
- Logged-in users bypass maintenance mode
- Configurable expected duration (Retry-After header)
- Pre-launch mode for sites that aren’t live yet
- Optional search engine bot access during maintenance
- Bypass link to let non-logged-in users preview the site during maintenance
- Admin bar indicator when maintenance mode is active
- Duration warning after 3 days of maintenance (except in pre-launch mode)
- Returns proper 503 status code for SEO
- Cache plugin detection with admin warning and automatic cache flushing
Requirements:
- WordPress 6.3 or higher
- A block theme (like Twenty Twenty-Five)
FAQ
How do I create a maintenance template?
You have two options:
- Site Editor: Go to Appearance > Editor > Templates, create a new template named “maintenance”
- Theme file: Add a
maintenance.html file to your theme’s /templates/ folder
Who can see the site when maintenance mode is enabled?
All logged-in users can browse the site normally. Only logged-out visitors see the maintenance template. You can also enable search engine bots to bypass maintenance mode, or generate a bypass link for non-logged-in users.
What is the Expected Duration setting?
This sets the Retry-After HTTP header, which tells search engines how long to wait before checking your site again. Options range from 30 minutes to 1 day. You can also select “Pre-Launch (indefinite)” for sites that aren’t live yet, which disables duration tracking and admin warnings.
What is the Bypass Link?
When enabled, the plugin generates a secret URL you can share with anyone who needs to view the site during maintenance without logging in. A 12-hour cookie is set on first visit so they can navigate freely. You can regenerate the link at any time to invalidate the previous one.
Should I enable Search Engine Access?
For short maintenance periods (under 2 hours), the default settings are fine. For longer maintenance (over 2 hours), consider enabling search engine access. For maintenance lasting more than a day, always enable it to prevent pages from being removed from search indexes.
What status code is returned?
The plugin returns a 503 (Service Unavailable) status with a Retry-After header, which tells search engines the site is temporarily unavailable.
Will this work with caching plugins?
The plugin detects popular full-page cache plugins (Surge, WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Fastest Cache, LiteSpeed Cache, WP Rocket) and displays a warning on the settings page when one is active. Caches are automatically flushed when settings are saved to ensure the maintenance page is served immediately.
Server-level caches (Nginx FastCGI cache, Varnish, Cloudflare, etc.) cannot be detected or flushed by the plugin. If maintenance mode is not working and you use server-level caching, flush that cache manually.
How to uninstall the plugin?
Simply deactivate and delete the plugin. The plugin stores options prefixed with pobt_ which are removed when you deactivate the plugin.
ChangeLog
Unreleased
- Added cache plugin detection with admin warning when maintenance mode is active
- Added automatic cache flushing when plugin settings are saved
- Added support for detecting Surge, WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Fastest Cache, LiteSpeed Cache, and WP Rocket
- Added fallback cache detection via advanced-cache.php dropin and wp-content/cache/ directory
- Added no-cache headers on all bypass responses to prevent reverse proxy cache poisoning
- Fixed bypass link, logged-in user, and bot responses poisoning server-level caches
- Fixed maintenance template not rendering when a static front page is set in Settings > Reading
1.1.0
- Added bypass link feature for sharing preview access with non-logged-in users
- Added pre-launch mode (indefinite duration) that disables time tracking and admin warnings
- Bypass link sets a 12-hour cookie for seamless navigation
- Regenerate bypass link to invalidate previous links
1.0.0
