Dev and staging mode: keep a test site out of search and email

A test copy of a site can send real emails to customers, charge real cards or end up in Google. Dev / staging mode (Baza Helper > Dev / staging) prevents that. When the tool is switched off on the dashboard, none of its effects run.

When it applies

Choose the Mode:

• Automatic: detect the environment uses the WordPress environment type (WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE) and the address of the site. localhost, .local, .test, staging., dev. and IP addresses count as non-production.
• Always on (this is not the live site)
• Always off

The Status line tells you whether Dev / staging mode is on or off right now.

What it does

• Show a “not the live site” badge in the admin bar, so nobody mistakes the copy for production.
• Keep the site out of search engines: adds noindex through the robots meta and the X-Robots-Tag header, makes robots.txt say Disallow: / and sets the WordPress visibility option to discourage search engines.
• Block outgoing email. The site is told the mail was sent, but it never leaves the server.
• Block requests to payment services. List the hosts in Blocked hosts, one per line. Subdomains are included, and the plugin that made a blocked request receives an error.

See what was blocked

Blocked so far lists the last 50 blocked emails and requests, with the time. Clear log empties it after you confirm.

A warning on a live site

On a live site, if Discourage search engines from indexing this site in Settings > Reading is ticked, Baza Helper shows a warning with a link at the top of the dashboard and the Technical SEO tab. Only administrators see it.