Orbit
Orbit moulds WordPress default behaviour to simplify the CMS experience, protect users from changing settings that should be reserved for website developers, and reinforce areas of the CMS that tend to be fragile or noisy.
The plugin is unapologetically opinionated to fit the needs and preferences of our web agency. The default choices (including which features are configurable via filter hooks) are pragmatic for agency-managed WordPress sites where full administrative control is withheld from everyday CMS editors.
Must-Use Plugin Context
Orbit is designed to be installed as a Must-Use (mu-plugin) in modern Composer-based WordPress projects (such as our Nebula stack). It initialises automatically without requiring manual activation in the admin UI.
Key Feature Summary
Orbit operates across several core operational domains:
- Synced Theme Patterns: Keeps block theme pattern files as the single source of truth in version control while making them function as real synced patterns (with pattern overrides) in the editor.
- Branded Emails: Automatically wraps plain text and Gravity Forms emails in a responsive, styled HTML template with design parity with WooCommerce emails.
- UI Cleanup & Admin Bar: Simplifies the WordPress admin navigation, hides unused dashboard widgets, customises the login screen logo, and displays an environment badge in the toolbar.
- Security & Privacy Hardening: Disables REST API user enumeration endpoints, disables XML-RPC, strips unnecessary head tags, enforces standard security HTTP headers, and masks WordPress version info.
- Capabilities & Role Management: Grants or restricts specific management capabilities for Editors and Shop Managers across Site Editor, User management, Gravity Forms, and Privacy options.
- Performance & Utilities: Fast 404 responses for missing static asset files, remote media hotlinking from production environments, website health check REST endpoint, PHP error-log noise reduction, and automatic search engine index suppression on non-production.
- Third-Party Integrations: Standardised configuration for WooCommerce tracking and Store API rate limits, Action Scheduler cleanup retention, and Altcha challenge URL cache-busting.
- Filters & Hooks Reference: A comprehensive reference of all available WordPress filters, constants, and options provided by Orbit.
Quick Documentation Sitemap
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Installation & Vendored Deps | Installing Orbit via Composer and managing Mozart-namespaced third-party dependencies |
| Synced Theme Patterns | Authoring block patterns with Synced: true, override stability contracts, and caching |
| Branded Emails | Template file override structure and styling customisation hooks |
| UI Cleanup | Admin menu, toolbar, login screen, and environment badge controls |
| Security Hardening | Baseline security headers, REST API endpoint protection, and header link removal |
| Capabilities & Access | Granular permission settings for Editor and Shop Manager roles |
| Performance & Utilities | Fast 404s, production media hotlinking, health endpoints, and error bitmasks |
| Integrations | WooCommerce, Action Scheduler, and Altcha performance & safety tweaks |
| Filters & Hooks Reference | Full list of PHP filters, hooks, constants, and default values |