OpenStation vs PixelVault – Media Library Folders & Asset Manager

wp-admin forgets. OpenStation doesn’t. You know the moment. You’re deep in a post and you need one image from the Media Library. You click over, find it, click back, and everything you had going is gone. Your scroll position, your half-typed thought, the three other things you had queued up in your head. That’s not a bug you hit. That’s the design. wp-admin shows you one screen at a time, and every navigation throws the last one away. It has worked this way since 2003, like a fridge that empties itself every time you close the door. WordPress has rebuilt almost everything else. The editor, the site editor, the patterns, the styles. The admin’s one-screen-at-a-time model is the layer nobody touched. OpenStation touches it. Install it and admin screens become draggable, resizable windows. Edit a post while the Media Library sits open next to it. Drag an image from one window straight into the other. Keep comments open in the corner. Reload the browser and your window layout — open pages, positions, sizes, and window states — comes back where you left it. OpenStation itself is free, GPL, and opt-in per user. One click in the admin bar turns it on for you. One click turns it off. Nobody else on your site sees anything change, and deactivating the plugin restores the classic admin exactly. No Core patches and no lock-in. Optional AI providers may charge for their service. Built and maintained by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Jetpack, WooCommerce, and Tumblr. Work on more than one thing at once Admin pages open as windows, including pages added by most other plugins. Drag them, resize them, snap them, tile them, minimize them to a taskbar. The admin menu becomes a dock of icons. Two editors open at once is one click away. Never lose your place Moving between open windows leaves each page in place. Across reloads, OpenStation remembers your open pages, window positions, sizes and states, virtual desktops, and focus. Closing a window with unsaved changes warns you first. A desk you can actually put things on Drop posts, media, and links right onto the wallpaper. Sort them into folders. Trash them to a Trash that actually holds things. The stuff you’re working on this week can just sit out where you can see it. One desktop per job Virtual desktops, the way your operating system does them. One for writing. One for the store. One for comment triage. One for that redesign you keep poking at. Switch between them without closing anything. Find anything with Cmd+K The full WordPress command palette, plus slash commands from your plugins, all under one keystroke. Turn on the optional AI assistant and you can ask it things like “which post had the comment asking for the recipe?” and it searches your own content to answer. (Requires an AI provider configured in Settings → Connectors on WordPress 7.0+. Details under “External services” below.) See how your site fits together The Corkboard is an interactive, zoomable map of how your posts, pages, and products link to each other. Pan around it. Find the orphans. Find the hubs. Running a store? Orders, Products, Coupons, and Customers become browsable folders with stock and sale ribbons. Open a customer to see their lifetime spend and what they buy most. Follow a product to its buyers, or a coupon to who redeemed it. Make it yours Wallpapers, from color presets to animated scenes to your own photo. Live widgets pinned to the desktop: drafts, stats, recent comments, a focus timer. Uploadable desktop themes, including a built-in Legacy theme that brings the old WordPress blue back in one click. And Mio, a soft-body desk companion that drifts across your wallpaper and gets bumped around by your windows. Off by default. You’ll turn it on. For developers Extend OpenStation through documented PHP and JavaScript APIs. Register windows, icons, wallpapers, widgets, commands, and settings tabs through stable openstation_register_* PHP APIs and a typed JavaScript API; customize dock items through documented hooks; add AI tools with the WordPress Abilities API. Copy-paste examples live in the developer docs on GitHub. External services No external service is required for OpenStation’s desktop interface. The optional AI Assistant and two user-initiated enrichment features make the external requests described below. AI Assistant The optional AI Assistant sends data to the AI provider you configure in WordPress’s Settings → Connectors (for example OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google). Generation is routed through WordPress 7.0’s built-in AI Client, which supplies the credentials stored in Connectors. The plugin never handles an API key itself. With no provider configured in Connectors, no external AI requests are made. When the AI Assistant is enabled and a user invokes it (via Cmd+K or the slash-command palette): What is sent: the user’s prompt, the conversation history for the active session, and tool-call metadata. The plugin’s built-in tools (search_posts, search_pages, search_comments) run WordPress’s native keyword search and may include excerpts of the matching posts/pages/comments in tool results, which are then sent back to the provider as part of the agentic loop. When it is sent: on user-initiated AI requests, and (if an administrator enables “Score new comments with AI”) on comment-save hooks for spam analysis. Posts, pages, and taxonomy terms are not sent automatically. Why it is sent: to obtain model completions and tool-call decisions that drive the AI Assistant. Who provides the service: whichever provider you configured in Settings → Connectors. Which provider (and endpoint) receives the data depends entirely on that configuration. Review the chosen provider’s own terms and privacy policy (e.g. OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google). URL shortcut favicons When an authorized user creates a desktop shortcut to an external URL, OpenStation asks that URL for its page HTML and favicon so the shortcut can display the site’s icon. The request is made from your WordPress server and sends the requested URL, the server’s IP address, an OpenStation user-agent string, and normal HTTP request metadata to the operator of that site. This happens only when a user creates the shortcut. The destination site’s terms and privacy policy apply. WordPress.org plugin information When an authorized user opens or refreshes parts of OpenStation’s Plugins window, OpenStation may request public plugin details, update metadata, and review excerpts from WordPress.org. These requests send plugin slugs, the site’s locale, and normal HTTP request metadata to WordPress.org. This information is used only to display and manage plugins. Review the WordPress.org Privacy Policy. OpenStation’s OAuth relay does not contact a service by itself. Third-party plugins that configure the relay may contact their own providers and are responsible for disclosing those services. Credits OpenStation is brought to you by Automattic. The plugin is open source under GPLv2-or-later; contributions are welcome on GitHub. Third-party libraries The plugin bundles the following third-party JavaScript library, loaded on demand only when a feature that needs it is in use: PixiJS (MIT License) — used by the Corkboard window, built-in canvas wallpapers (e.g. the animated WordPress logo), the Mio desk companion, and the Inkfall typing game. PixiJS is loaded from the plugin’s own assets/vendor/ directory; no CDN requests are made. Data files The Inkfall game’s word list (assets/games/inkfall/words.txt) is generated from the following sources (attribution also ships in the file’s header): FrequencyWords by Hermit Dave (CC-BY-SA 4.0) — English word-frequency ranking derived from the OpenSubtitles corpus. english-words by dwyl (Unlicense) — used as a validity filter. LDNOOBW English list (CC-BY 4.0) — used as an exclusion filter.

📁 PixelVault is the free way to organize your WordPress media library with unlimited, drag-and-drop media folders, and now to present those folders as a downloadable Document Library on the front end. Sort images, videos, PDFs, audio, and documents into nested, colour-coded folders right inside the Media Library, then publish any folder as a browsable asset manager for your visitors. Stop scrolling through hundreds of unsorted attachments. PixelVault lets you categorize media into folders and subfolders, filter instantly, and find any file in seconds — a proper file manager for your WordPress media. Folders are virtual — physical files never move, no URLs change, nothing breaks, and standard WordPress export/import keeps working without any special steps. 🆕 Document Library block (new in 1.2.0) Turn any media folder into a browsable, downloadable document library on the front end, no page builder required. The PixelVault Document Library Gutenberg block renders a folder as an accessible file browser with a sidebar folder tree, breadcrumb navigation, in-library search, pagination, and per-file downloads. 🗂️ Folder tree and breadcrumb: visitors browse nested folders without page reloads 🔍 Search and pagination: find files fast inside large folders ⬇️ Per-file download plus Download-all ZIP: grab one file or the whole folder in a click 🎨 Three design presets (Cards, Compact, Minimal), with an accent colour and a framed option ♿ Accessibility-first: full keyboard navigation (WAI-ARIA tree pattern), screen-reader friendly 📱 Fully responsive: grid and list layouts adapt to mobile 🔒 Respects folder visibility: restricted folders stay hidden from guests Perfect for knowledge bases, press kits, resource centres, download portals, and product documentation. ✨ Core Features 📂 Unlimited nested folders and subfolders — no depth limit, no folder count limit 🔗 Assign files to multiple folders — one file can appear in as many folders as you like 🎨 Folder colour coding — colour-label folders for instant visual orientation 🖱️ Drag-and-drop sidebar — reorder folders, move files, and create subfolders by dragging ⚡ Auto-assign uploads — new files go straight into whichever folder is selected 🔍 Search and sort — find folders instantly; sort manually, by name, or by file count ⌨️ Keyboard shortcut — press “n” to create a new folder 🖲️ Right-click context menu — Rename, Delete, Lock, Create subfolders, Copy gallery shortcode, Import ZIP to folder, Download all files 🌐 RTL language support — full right-to-left layout 🛠️ Organisation and Productivity Tools 📦 ZIP File Import Right-click any folder and choose “Import ZIP to folder”. Upload a .zip archive and PixelVault extracts and assigns every image, video, audio file, and PDF directly into that folder. 🗺️ Media Usage Map Right-click any image and choose “Where is this used?” to see every post, page, or custom post type that references the file — useful before replacing or deleting files. ⬇️ Bulk Download as ZIP Right-click any folder to download all its files as a ZIP archive. 🔒 Folder Locking Lock any folder to prevent accidental renaming, deletion, moving, or file reassignment. Locked folders display a padlock badge. 📊 Storage Analytics Full storage overview with total size, average file size, file-type breakdown chart, top-10 largest files, and per-folder size distribution. Available under Settings → Analytics and as a WordPress Dashboard widget. ✏️ Bulk Alt Text Editor Batch-edit alt text on all images that are missing it — useful for accessibility and image SEO. Edit multiple files at once without opening each one individually. 🔄 Media Replace Swap any file in place, keeping the same URL and attachment ID. All existing references on posts and pages continue to work automatically. 🎯 Smart Filters Dynamic built-in views that update automatically: Missing Alt Text, Unused Files, Recent Uploads, and Large Files. 🗂️ Auto-Categorise Existing Media Bulk-organise your existing media library in one click via the import icon at the bottom of the folder panel. Choose a rule: 📅 By Year — creates a folder per year (e.g. 2023, 2024). 🗓️ By Month — creates a folder per month (e.g. January 2024, February 2024). 🏷️ By File Type — creates Images, Videos, Audio, PDFs, Documents, and Spreadsheets folders. Choose Unassigned only to leave already-organised files untouched, or All files to reassign everything. PixelVault previews the result before making any changes. 🚚 Import from Other Plugins One-click migration from FileBird, Real Media Library, WP Media Folder, and Enhanced Media Library. Folder hierarchy and all file assignments are copied automatically. Go to Settings → Tools → Import from Another Plugin. The original plugin’s data is never modified. 💾 Export and Import Back up your entire folder structure as a JSON file and restore it on any WordPress site — no SQL required. 🔐 Role Permissions Granular folder access per WordPress user role: control who can create, edit, and delete folders independently. 🧩 Gutenberg, Elementor, and Divi 📚 PixelVault Document Library block — publish a folder as an accessible, downloadable file library with a folder tree, search, pagination, and Download-all ZIP 🖼️ PixelVault Gallery block — insert a folder’s contents as a responsive gallery with lightbox directly in the block editor 📝 [pixelvault_gallery] shortcode — classic editor, widgets, and theme template support 🎛️ Elementor — folder panel works inside the Elementor media modal 🏗️ Divi — folder panel works in the Divi backend builder and the Divi Front End Builder 🌍 Universal compatibility — PixelVault hooks into WordPress’s native media modal, so it works with any theme or page builder 🏛️ Architecture: Virtual Taxonomy PixelVault stores folder assignments in WordPress’s native taxonomy tables (wp_term_relationships). Physical files stay exactly where they are. Deleting a folder never deletes files. 👩‍💻 For Developers Full REST API and documented action/filter hooks. 🔌 REST API — Full CRUD at /wp-json/rayetun-medianest/v1/folders. Authenticate with X-WP-Nonce. ⚙️ Action hooks (selection): rayetun_medianest_folder_created( $term_id, $folder_id, $args ) rayetun_medianest_folder_renamed( $term_id, $new_name ) rayetun_medianest_folder_moved( $term_id, $new_parent, $old_parent ) rayetun_medianest_folder_deleted( $term_id, $folder_object ) rayetun_medianest_folders_reordered( $ordered_term_ids ) rayetun_medianest_attachment_assigned( $attachment_id, $term_ids, $context ) 🔧 Filter hooks (selection): rayetun_medianest_get_folders( $folders, $post_type ) — modify the folder list rayetun_medianest_auto_assign_target( $term_id, $attachment_id ) — override the upload target folder rayetun_medianest_smart_folders( $defs ) — register custom dynamic folders JavaScript hooks (via @wordpress/hooks) let you add items to the folder/image context menus and the bulk-action bar. A full list of PHP and JavaScript hooks with examples ships in HOOKS.md inside the plugin.