MCP Logs vs Activity Guard – Security Scanner, Activity Log with IP blocking

AI agents talk to WordPress sites directly now. Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and a growing list of MCP clients can connect to your site, read content, place orders, edit posts, or call any custom tool you expose. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is the open standard that makes this possible. The problem is that by default you cannot see any of it. Requests arrive, things change, and there is no record of what an agent did, when it did it, or which user it acted as. MCP Logs writes a row for every MCP request the moment it hits your site. You get the route, the ability that was called, the user it acted as, the request body, the response, and whether it succeeded. All of it is browsable in a React admin page built with @wordpress/components, so it looks and behaves like the rest of WordPress. Version 1.1.0 adds the other half: detection rules that watch the traffic as it arrives, email alerts when one trips, and a kill switch that stops all MCP access in one click. A log you can actually search Filter by date range, ability name, and user. Sort any column, set page size between 10 and 500, and run full-text search across stored request and response bodies. Click a row to open the request and response in collapsible panels, copy either to your clipboard, or trace a single agent session end to end. Export the current view to CSV when you need to hand findings to someone else. Detection rules that run on every request Three rules evaluate after each logged request: Request velocity per session. Catches an agent stuck in a loop. Destructive tool use. Watches a list of abilities you nominate. It can populate that list for you by scanning previously seen tool names for delete, remove, and drop. Error storms. Catches an integration that has started failing. Each rule has its own enable toggle, threshold, time window, severity, and auto-disable setting. Detected events land in a Security Events tab with filters, stat cards, CSV export, and a per-event “mark as reviewed” so your queue reflects what you have already handled. Open any event and Session Replay steps through the full request timeline for that MCP session. Alerts arrive as HTML email stating whether the offending request ran or was blocked, with a one-click, nonce-protected link to disable MCP access. A 15-minute cooldown per rule and per session stops an alert storm. There is an optional daily digest, separate recipient lists for alerts and digests, and a test button so you can confirm delivery before you rely on it. A kill switch that keeps the record Turn off all MCP access from the admin screen, or let a detection rule trip it for you. Blocked requests are still logged before they are rejected, so the audit trail stays complete while access is off. Callers get a 503 explaining why access was disabled and when. A site-wide admin notice stays up until you turn it back on. Works with whichever MCP server you run MCP Logs is not an MCP server for your site and does not expose your content to agents. It detects requests by the Mcp-Session-Id header, which is part of the MCP transport spec, so traffic from any compliant server lands in the same table. If your site runs more than one, you get one log instead of several. Built for both halves of the audience If you run the site: install, activate, and open Tools then MCP Logs. There is no setup screen and no configuration. Logging starts the moment an MCP client makes a request. If you build on it: there is a full REST API covering every admin feature, authenticated via WordPress Application Passwords or WooCommerce API keys. The plugin is also MCP-aware itself, registering a server with ten abilities so an agent can introspect its own activity log. Source ships under src/ and builds with npm run build. Why log deletion is not exposed to AI agents The plugin registers ten MCP abilities. The two log-deletion abilities, clear-old-logs and clear-all-logs, are deliberately left out of that set. The same tool set reads log content that an untrusted caller can influence. Pairing that with a one-call wipe would let planted text steer an administrator’s agent into erasing the audit trail. Deletion stays available in the admin screen and over REST, where a human is doing it. Sites that accept the trade-off can re-add the abilities with the alfmcp_mcp_server_abilities filter. REST API Eighteen endpoints under /wp-json/activity-log-for-mcp/v1/: GET /requests for a list with filters, sort, and pagination GET /stats for totals, success rate, and calls per ability GET /sessions/{id} for every request in a session, in order GET /search for full-text search across routes, abilities, and bodies GET /errors for recent failed executions and HTTP errors GET /tool-performance for per-ability call count, error rate, and unique users GET /filters for distinct ability names and users GET /export-csv for a server-side streamed CSV download DELETE /requests to clear all logs DELETE /retention to delete logs older than a given date GET /security-events for detected events with filters and pagination GET /security-events/stats for alert counts, active sessions, and top rule over 7 days GET /security-events/export-csv for a CSV of detected events PUT /security-events/{id}/acknowledge to mark an event reviewed DELETE /security-events/clear-acknowledged to remove reviewed events GET|PUT /security-settings to read or update detection and alerting settings POST /security-settings/test-alert to send a test alert email MCP abilities The plugin registers an MCP server (activity-log-for-mcp-server) with ten abilities: get-activity for paginated log retrieval with filters get-stats for summary metrics with an optional date range get-activity-by-session for a full session trace, with optional body exclusion for lighter payloads search-activity for full-text search across stored requests and responses analyze-errors for recent errors with full details get-tool-performance for per-ability performance metrics get-security-events for detected events with filters get-security-stats for alert counts, active sessions, and top rule over 7 days acknowledge-event to mark a security event reviewed test-alert to send a test alert email Privacy and data handling Everything stays in your WordPress database. Logs live in {prefix}alfmcp_requests and detected events in {prefix}alfmcp_security_events. There is no telemetry, no third-party call, and no external dependency at runtime. Credential-bearing headers including Authorization, Cookie, and X-Api-Key are replaced with [redacted] before anything is written, so the log never becomes a store of replayable credentials. Add your own header names with the alfmcp_sensitive_headers filter. Request and response bodies are stored up to 64 KB each and truncated beyond that, adjustable with alfmcp_max_body_bytes. You control retention and can clear everything from the admin screen or over REST. Disclaimer MCP Logs is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any AI provider or the Model Context Protocol project. “MCP” and “Model Context Protocol” are referenced solely to describe the open protocol that this plugin observes. Privacy Policy MCP Logs records REST API requests that contain the Mcp-Session-Id header. Logged data includes request routes, methods, headers, bodies, response data, user IDs, and timestamps. Credential-bearing headers are redacted before storage. All data is stored in your WordPress database and is never transmitted to external services.

Activity Guard is a free WordPress plugin that covers four things most plugins charge separately for: a complete activity log, an IP-based security firewall, a plugin vulnerability scanner, and WooCommerce abandoned cart analytics. Alerts go out in real time to Slack, Telegram, or email, all from one dashboard. Most activity log plugins stop at logging. Most security plugins don’t touch WooCommerce. Plugins like WP Activity Log, Simple History, and Stream do logging well — Activity Guard adds real-time Slack and Telegram alerts, an IP firewall with emergency shutdown, CVE vulnerability scanning, and WooCommerce abandoned cart recovery analytics, all at no cost. No paid tier required for any of it. No other free plugin on WordPress.org combines these four in one place: a complete audit log, an IP security firewall, a multi-database vulnerability scanner, and WooCommerce analytics with cart recovery tracking. Activity Guard Website | Documentation | Pro Support WordPress Activity Log Activity Guard records every meaningful change on your site, including the IP address, username, timestamp, and the exact change made. The audit log covers: User logins, logouts, and failed login attempts User registrations, role changes, and profile edits Pages, posts, and custom post types: create, edit, delete, status changes Plugin and theme activations, deactivations, updates, and deletions WordPress core settings and configuration changes Menu, widget, and sidebar modifications Email delivery tracking via a full email log Form submissions from Contact Form 7, SimpleForm, and others Admin settings changes and debug log events Cron job scheduling and background process tracking Script modification and file change detection Visitor traffic monitoring with an on/off toggle Visual charts summarize your audit log at a glance. No need to scroll through raw log tables to understand what’s happening on your site. Security Firewall and IP Blocking Activity Guard actively blocks threats rather than just recording them. IP blocking by manual entry, CIDR range, or conditional rule Emergency Shutdown: force-logout every active session on your site with one click Cloudflare Turnstile login protection against bots and brute force attacks Login rate limiting to stop credential-stuffing Bot detection and automatic IP blocking Restrict or fully disable XML-RPC access Core file integrity scanner to detect unauthorized file changes File integrity monitoring across plugins and themes Block TOR network access Block vulnerability scanner user agents HTTP security headers: custom, logged, and enforced WordPress version hiding 404 error tracking and suspicious HTTP request alerts Admin dashboard visitor tracking Cron job failure and site downtime monitoring The Emergency Shutdown feature is specific to Activity Guard: one click and every logged-in session on your site ends immediately — useful when you detect a breach in progress and need everyone out now. Plugin Vulnerability Scanner Activity Guard scans every installed plugin and theme against multiple vulnerability databases before problems develop: Detect plugins with known CVEs across NVD, WPVulnerability.net, and the WPAzleen private API Flag outdated plugins not compatible with your WordPress version Identify abandoned plugins not updated in over a year Warn about plugins with low install counts or poor ratings No other free activity log plugin on WordPress.org includes a built-in multi-database vulnerability scanner. WooCommerce Activity Log and Analytics Activity Guard logs every WooCommerce event and adds analytics built specifically for store owners. Order tracking covers status changes, payments, refunds, and cancellations. You also get stock level changes and low-stock events, coupon creation and usage, product pricing edits, billing and shipping address updates, customer registration changes, and real-time shipping status updates. The abandoned cart and incomplete-order analytics go further than basic logging. The dashboard shows checkout drop-off rates, recovery potential, recovery rate, and how customers interact with their carts before leaving. This tells you where revenue is being lost, not just that it was lost. WooCommerce abandoned cart analytics with recovery rate tracking is included free. No competing free activity log plugin on WordPress.org provides this. Slack and Telegram Notifications Activity Guard sends alerts the moment a critical event occurs, across four channels: Slack: route alerts to any channel, tag specific users or groups with @mentions Telegram: real-time activity and security alerts direct to your Telegram chat Email: configurable per event type Admin dashboard: in-panel notification view Events that trigger alerts include core file changes, plugin and theme updates (with the username that triggered the update), WooCommerce orders, payments, coupon usage, incomplete order follow-ups, product edits, stock changes, login and registration events, page and post changes, form submissions, and admin settings changes. A daily digest and weekly plugin download summary are also available. You can schedule notifications for specific times and control exactly which events send alerts. Admin and Developer Tools Maintenance mode toggle from the dashboard Menu and widget change tracking Plugin and theme activation and deactivation logs Script modification detection HTTP security header change logging Debug log and fatal error detection Email log: full delivery history for all outgoing WordPress emails Contact Form 7 and SimpleForm integration alerts Who Uses Activity Guard WooCommerce store owners use it to track every order, coupon, product change, and shipping event, and to recover revenue with abandoned cart analytics. Site administrators use it to know exactly who changed what, instantly log out suspicious users, and maintain a clean audit trail. Agencies and developers use it to monitor plugin updates, configuration changes, fatal errors, and debug logs across client sites. Security-focused admins use it to block IPs, scan for CVEs, monitor file integrity, and trigger emergency shutdowns. Multi-author sites use it to hold contributors accountable with full user activity logging and role-change tracking. Join us: Facebook | YouTube | X / Twitter Competitor Analysis Search the WordPress plugin directory for an activity log plugin and a handful of names come up again and again, so it is worth being clear about where Activity Guard actually fits among them. WP Activity Log is the biggest name in the category, with the broadest event coverage of any activity log plugin and support for tracking third-party plugins like ACF, Gravity Forms, and LearnDash. It is a genuine alternative to Activity Guard for pure logging depth, but Slack and SMS alerts sit behind WP Activity Log Premium, and there is no IP firewall, no vulnerability scanner, and no WooCommerce analytics at any tier. Activity Guard includes Slack and Telegram alerts, an IP firewall, vulnerability scanning, and WooCommerce abandoned cart analytics in the free version, with a narrower focus on the WordPress admin rather than enterprise SIEM exports. Activity Log Pro is the closest match on structure. Its free tier also adds real security-adjacent value beyond plain logging, with Login Flood Guard and severity-tagged events, so anyone comparing the two is comparing like for like on ambition. Where Activity Guard pulls ahead is in what ships free versus what is gated: Activity Log Pro’s Slack and webhook routing live behind its Premium “Log Channels” feature, while Activity Guard’s Slack and Telegram alerts, IP blocking, vulnerability scanning, and WooCommerce cart recovery analytics are all included at no cost. Beyond those two, most of the other names that show up nearby are lighter tools solving a narrower slice of the same problem, or a different problem entirely. Activity Log – Monitor & Record User Changes (Aryo) is a lightweight, beginner-friendly logger with email-only notifications and no Slack, Telegram, IP firewall, or vulnerability scanning. Activity Logs, User Activity Tracking, Multisite Activity Log from Logtivity is built for agencies managing many client sites and does send Slack alerts, but it works by connecting each site to Logtivity’s hosted service with an API key rather than running standalone, and it has no IP firewall, no vulnerability scanner, and no WooCommerce analytics. Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal is a genuinely strong free WAF and malware scanner, but it is not an activity log at all: it does not track content edits, role changes, or WooCommerce events, and its alerts are email-only through the CleanTalk cloud account it requires. Error Log Viewer by BestWebSoft has nothing to do with user activity either, it is a PHP and WordPress error log reader with email notifications, useful for debugging but unrelated to security monitoring or audit trails. So of the plugins that show up in a “wordpress activity log” or “wp activity log alternative” search, only WP Activity Log, Activity Log Pro, Aryo Activity Log, and Logtivity are actually built for the same job as Activity Guard: tracking what changed on a WordPress site and who changed it. Among those four, Activity Guard’s combination of free Slack and Telegram alerts, an IP firewall with emergency shutdown, a CVE vulnerability scanner, and WooCommerce abandoned cart analytics, all in the free version with no external account required, is what sets it apart. External Services Slack Webhook Integration Activity Guard sends notifications to your Slack workspace using a Slack incoming webhook URL that you provide. To set one up: Create a Slack app or use an existing one Enable Incoming Webhooks in the app settings Add a webhook to your workspace Paste the webhook URL into Activity Guard settings No data is stored by Slack beyond what you configure in your own Slack workspace. See Slack’s privacy policy for details. Cloudflare Turnstile Activity Guard uses Cloudflare Turnstile for login bot protection. When Turnstile is enabled, your login page communicates with Cloudflare’s verification servers. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy for details. Plugin Vulnerability Scanner – Data Sources WordPress.org Plugin API: retrieves plugin metadata including latest version, last updated date, rating, and active install count. Privacy Policy WPAzleen API: private endpoint for known vulnerabilities by plugin and version. No sensitive data is transmitted. Privacy Policy WPVulnerability.net: public API for CVE-based vulnerability data. Privacy Policy National Vulnerability Database (NVD): official CVE data from NIST. Privacy Policy All scans run locally using public metadata and vulnerability feeds. Activity Guard does not collect, store, or transmit any personal information during scans. Freemius Activity Guard uses the Freemius SDK for optional telemetry. No data is collected by default. Data collection only starts after you explicitly confirm in the admin notice. See the Freemius privacy policy for details. WPAzleen Settings API Loads display settings for the Pro upgrade modal in the plugin admin area. No personal data is transmitted. WPAzleen Privacy Policy Source Code The source files for all compiled/minified JavaScript and CSS in this plugin are publicly available at: https://github.com/wpazleen/activity-guard Build instructions: Clone the repository or visit the src directory directly. Run npm install in the root to install dependencies. Run npm run build to compile JavaScript and CSS assets. Compiled files output to build/. Contributions, bug reports, and pull requests are welcome.