OpenStation vs UltimaKit – WordPress Admin Tools, Security & Performance Optimizer

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.

UltimaKit is a modular WordPress toolkit that replaces 50+ single-purpose plugins with a single, lightweight plugin. Enable only the modules you need — disabled modules run zero code, so your site stays fast no matter how many features you unlock. 30+ free modules. Zero performance bloat. Whether you’re a freelancer managing client sites, an agency needing white-label tools, or a site owner tired of juggling 20 plugins — UltimaKit gives you everything in one clean dashboard. What Users Are Saying “Finally a plugin that does everything without slowing my site down. Replaced 12 plugins in one go.” “The modular approach is genius — I only run what I need. My PageSpeed score jumped 8 points after switching.” “Perfect for client sites. White labeling is flawless and the agency tools save me hours every week.” Plugins You Can Uninstall Today Switch to UltimaKit and safely remove all of these: Yoast Duplicate Post → UltimaKit’s Duplicate Pages & Posts SVG Support / Safe SVG → UltimaKit’s SVG Upload Disable Gutenberg → UltimaKit’s Gutenberg Manager WPS Hide Login → UltimaKit’s Change Login URL Limit Login Attempts Reloaded → UltimaKit’s Login Security Redirection → UltimaKit’s 301 Redirect Manager Cookie Notice / GDPR Cookie Compliance → UltimaKit’s GDPR Tool Simple Custom CSS and JS → UltimaKit’s Code Manager WP Maintenance Mode → UltimaKit’s Maintenance Mode Post Types Order → UltimaKit’s Drag & Drop Sort Order Code Snippets → UltimaKit’s Code Snippets Manager Query Strings Remover → UltimaKit’s Remove Query Strings Heartbeat Control → UltimaKit’s Heartbeat Manager Disable Emojis → UltimaKit’s Disable Emojis & Embeds Most Popular Free Modules Duplicate Posts & Pages — One-click cloning for posts, pages, and custom post types SVG Upload — Safely upload SVG logos and icons to the Media Library Disable Gutenberg — Revert to the Classic Editor for specific post types or the whole site Hide Admin Notices — Move plugin banners out of your dashboard into a dedicated panel Change Login URL — Secure your /wp-admin from bots by customizing the login URL Drag & Drop Post Order — Reorder Posts, Pages, and CPTs visually Code Snippets Manager — Add PHP, JavaScript, and CSS snippets without editing theme files Heartbeat Control — Reduce server load caused by the WordPress Heartbeat API Disable XML-RPC — Block the most common DDoS and brute-force attack vector Login Security — Auto-lock IPs after repeated failed login attempts All Free Features Content & Post Management Duplicate Pages & Posts — Clone any content with a single click, including custom post types Drag & Drop Post Order — Custom sort order for posts, pages, and CPTs SVG Upload — Enable safe, sanitized SVG file uploads for all or specific roles Auto-Generate Slugs — Create clean, SEO-friendly URL slugs automatically Featured Image Column — View post thumbnails directly in the admin list table Post/Page ID Column — Show object IDs in the admin list for faster debugging Open External Links in New Tab — Auto-add target=”_blank” to outbound links Admin Interface & UX Hide Admin Notices — Move plugin notices to a collapsible panel in the admin bar Clean Up Admin Bar — Remove “Howdy Admin,” WP Logo, and unwanted admin bar clutter Custom Admin Footer — White-label the dashboard footer for clients Login Page Styler — Remove login error hints and animated shake effects Security & Hardening Change Login URL — Rename /wp-login.php to a custom slug to block automated attacks Limit Login Attempts — Lock out IPs after configurable failed login attempts Disable XML-RPC — Eliminate a major attack surface for brute-force and DDoS Hide WordPress Version — Prevent targeted version-based exploits Block “Admin” Username — Refuse creation of the most commonly targeted username Disable File Editing — Prevent theme/plugin file edits from the WordPress dashboard Auto-Logout Inactive Users — Automatically end idle admin sessions Disallow Bad Requests — Filter malicious URL strings and base64 injection attempts Disallow Directory Listing — Hide folder contents from public view Performance & Optimization Disable Gutenberg — Remove block editor overhead where it’s not needed Disable Emojis & Embeds — Strip unnecessary JavaScript from every frontend page load Disable Comments — Turn off comments globally or per post type Disable RSS Feeds — Block content scrapers and save server resources Disable Cart Fragments (WooCommerce) — Fix the #1 WooCommerce performance bottleneck Heartbeat Control — Throttle the WP Heartbeat API to reduce server CPU usage Remove Query Strings — Improve GTmetrix, PageSpeed Insights, and Pingdom scores Custom Code & Design Code Snippets Manager — Add and manage PHP, JS, and CSS snippets with location control (head, footer, init, before/after content) Header/Footer Code — Insert Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, GTM, or any tracking snippet Custom CSS/JS — Add site-wide style and script tweaks without editing theme files GDPR Compliance Tool — Display a cookie consent notice to meet legal requirements Pro Features (Agency Power Tools) SEO Title & Meta Editor — Lightweight meta management without a heavy SEO plugin Custom Post Types (CPT) UI — Register CPTs and Taxonomies visually, no code required Admin Activity Logger — Full audit log of every change made on the site Maintenance Mode — Professional coming-soon pages with countdown timer White Labeling — Rename “UltimaKit” to your own agency brand in the dashboard Advanced WooCommerce Tools — Breadcrumb control, custom “Add to Cart” text, and more Gravity Forms Modules — Advanced analytics, form management, and field utilities Export/Import Settings — Move your entire UltimaKit configuration to client sites instantly 301 Redirect Manager — Manage all redirects from a central dashboard Ban Emails & Blacklist Usernames — Prevent registrations from specific addresses or names Multiple User Roles — Assign more than one role to a user account View All Pro Features & Pricing → SyncSheets: Google Sheets Integration for WordPress → Why UltimaKit Instead of Many Separate Plugins? Every plugin you install adds HTTP requests, database queries, admin menu overhead, and potential security vulnerabilities. Running 15 separate plugins to do what UltimaKit does in one means 15× the update maintenance, 15× the compatibility risk, and a slower dashboard. UltimaKit uses strict module isolation: code for a disabled module never runs. Unlike omnibus plugins that load everything at once, UltimaKit’s architecture means you pay zero performance cost for features you don’t use. Part of the PluginStack Bundle UltimaKit is part of the PluginStack ecosystem — a growing suite of focused WordPress tools built for developers and agencies. Links: Website | Upgrade to Pro | PluginStack Bundle