Title: Wonderful Fatal Circuit Breaker
Author: wonderfulplugins
Published: <strong>5.7.2026</strong>
Last modified: 2.10.2026

---

Hae lisäosia

![](https://ps.w.org/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev
=3596863)

# Wonderful Fatal Circuit Breaker

 [wonderfulplugins](https://profiles.wordpress.org/wonderfulplugins/)

[Lataa](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker.1.0.3.zip)

 * [Tiedot](https://fi.wordpress.org/plugins/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/#description)
 * [Arvostelut](https://fi.wordpress.org/plugins/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/#reviews)
 *  [Asennus](https://fi.wordpress.org/plugins/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/#installation)
 * [Kehitys](https://fi.wordpress.org/plugins/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/#developers)

 [Tuki](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/)

## Kuvaus

A broken plugin update can take a whole site down — and WordPress’ built-in recovery
mode only pauses the plugin for the administrator who clicks the recovery link, 
while every visitor keeps seeing the error.

This plugin works like an electrical circuit breaker: it counts PHP fatal errors
per plugin within a configurable time window. When the same plugin keeps crashing(
default: 5 fatals within 10 minutes), the breaker trips and the plugin is deactivated
automatically. Your site keeps running without the broken plugin instead of staying
down.

Plugins your site must not run without (shop, membership, security) can be ticked
off as **protected** — they are never deactivated automatically. For protected plugins
you only get a notification, so a human can decide.

Optionally, a webhook URL (Slack, Discord, n8n, …) can be configured. Whenever the
breaker trips — or a protected plugin keeps crashing — a notification is sent there.

**What the breaker does when it trips:**

 * Removes the broken plugin from the active plugins — without running any of its
   deactivation hooks (the plugin is broken; running its code would be exactly the
   wrong move).
 * Shows a persistent admin notice with the error details until you reactivate the
   plugin.
 * Sends a webhook notification if a webhook URL is configured.

### External services

The plugin has no service of its own. It sends data only to the webhook URL you 
enter on its settings page — Slack, Discord, n8n or whatever you choose — and contacts
nothing else. The terms and privacy policy of the service you point it at apply.

Nothing is sent until you save a URL. After that:

 1. The ”Send test message” button sends a fixed message plus your site address.
 2. When the breaker trips, it sends: site address, the slug of the affected plugin,
    how many fatal errors occurred within which time window, the first line of the 
    error message, and the file and line the fatal came from.
 3. When a _protected_ plugin reaches the threshold, the same data is sent without 
    the file and line, together with the note that nothing was deactivated.

No visitor data is included — no IP addresses, cookies, form contents or accounts.

## Kuvankaappaukset

[⌊The settings page: threshold, time window, webhook URL, and the list of protected
plugins.⌉⌊The settings page: threshold, time window, webhook URL, and the list of
protected plugins.⌉[

The settings page: threshold, time window, webhook URL, and the list of protected
plugins.

## Asennus

 1. Upload the `wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/`
    directory.
 2. Activate the plugin through the ’Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
 3. Go to **Settings > Fatal Circuit Breaker** in your admin dashboard.
 4. Tick off the plugins that must never be deactivated automatically.
 5. Optionally enter a webhook URL and verify it with the **Send test message** button.
    That’s it!

## UKK

### Which error types are counted?

E_ERROR, `E_PARSE`, `E_CORE_ERROR`, and `E_COMPILE_ERROR` — the errors that actually
take a site down. Warnings, notices, and deprecations are ignored.

### Can a single fatal error deactivate one of my plugins?

No. The threshold has a hard minimum of 2, and the default is 5 fatals within 10
minutes. A one-off hiccup never trips the breaker.

### What happens to plugins I marked as protected?

Nothing — they are never deactivated automatically. If a protected plugin keeps 
crashing, you receive a webhook notification (if configured) so you can act manually.
This plugin itself is always protected.

### Can the breaker lock me out of my site?

No. It never deactivates itself, it never touches must-use plugins, and it only 
ever removes a plugin from the active plugins list — nothing is deleted, no files
are written, and no drop-in is installed. Every deactivation can be undone with 
one click on the Plugins screen, and the admin notice tells you which plugin it 
was and why.

### What data leaves my site, and where does it go?

Only to the webhook URL you enter yourself — the plugin has no service of its own
and contacts nothing else. Sent are the site address, the affected plugin slug, 
the error message, file and line, and the threshold that was reached. No visitor
IP addresses, cookies, form contents or account data. Without a webhook URL nothing
leaves your site at all. See ”External services” above.

### Are all fatal errors caught?

Runtime fatals — the vast majority, e.g. a plugin crashing while rendering a page—
are caught. Fatals that happen while WordPress is still loading the plugin files
themselves (e.g. a syntax error in a plugin’s main file) occur before this plugin
can register its handler and cannot be counted.

### Does this work on multisite?

The breaker only manages the per-site active plugins. Network-activated plugins 
are never touched.

### Does this plugin affect my site’s performance?

No. The plugin only runs a very lightweight check at the very end of a PHP process,
and only if a fatal error has occurred. It has no impact on the performance during
normal site operation.

## Arvostelut

There are no reviews for this plugin.

## Avustajat & Kehittäjät

“Wonderful Fatal Circuit Breaker” perustuu avoimeen lähdekoodiin. Seuraavat henkilöt
ovat osallistuneet tämän lisäosan kehittämiseen.

Avustajat

 *   [ wonderfulplugins ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/wonderfulplugins/)

“Wonderful Fatal Circuit Breaker” has been translated into 1 locale. Kiitoksia [kääntäjille](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/contributors)
heidän työstään.

[Käännä “Wonderful Fatal Circuit Breaker” omalle kielellesi.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker)

### Oletko kiinnostunut kehitystyöstä?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Muutosloki

#### 1.0.3

 * Added an explainer video to the plugin description.
 * Tested up to WordPress 7.1.

#### 1.0.2

 * Removed load_plugin_textdomain() call (translations are loaded automatically 
   by WordPress.org since WP 4.6).
 * Prefixed the test-notice transient and WP_Error codes with the full plugin prefix.

#### 1.0.1

 * Coding standards: prefixed global variables in uninstall.php.

#### 1.0.0

 * Initial release.

## Metatiedot

 *  Version **1.0.3**
 *  Last updated **2 viikkoa sitten**
 *  Active installations **30+**
 *  WordPress version ** 6.2 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **7.1.3**
 *  PHP version ** 7.4 or higher **
 *  Languages
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/)
   ja [German](https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/).
 *  [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker)
 * Tags
 * [fatal error](https://fi.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/fatal-error/)[monitoring](https://fi.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/monitoring/)
   [uptime](https://fi.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/uptime/)
 *  [Edistynyt näkymä](https://fi.wordpress.org/plugins/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/advanced/)

## Arvosanat

No reviews have been submitted yet.

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/reviews/)

## Avustajat

 *   [ wonderfulplugins ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/wonderfulplugins/)

## Tuki

Onko sinulla jotain sanottavaa? Tarvitsetko apua?

 [Tukifoorumi](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wonderful-fatal-circuit-breaker/)