WP Debug Toolkit (WPDT) adds custom tests to the WordPress Site Health system and provides its own Site Health page with additional checks specific to the plugin. Together, these tests surface configuration problems that affect debugging, logging, and viewer functionality.
WordPress Site Health is at Tools > Site Health in the admin dashboard. WPDT’s own Site Health page is at Debug Toolkit > Site’s Health. Both pages display test results, but the WPDT page includes internal checks not present in the WordPress version.
WPDT registers the following tests in the standard WordPress Site Health panel:
Reports whether WP_DEBUG is enabled. On production environments, an error (critical) result appears if debug mode is active — leaving it on can degrade performance and fill log files. On staging and development environments, a warning appears if debug mode is disabled, since errors go unreported.
Verifies that WP_DEBUG_LOG is enabled and that the log file path is writable by the PHP process. If logging is disabled, errors occur silently with no record. If the log path is not writable, WordPress cannot create or append to the log file.
Warns if WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY is enabled. Displaying errors in browser output exposes internal paths, database details, and code structure to visitors. This test flags any site where WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY is true.
Checks that debug.log is both readable and writable by the PHP process. A read-only log file prevents WPDT from parsing its contents. A non-writable log file means WordPress cannot append new errors.
The Debug Toolkit > Site’s Health page runs additional checks:
Verifies that wp-config.php is writable by the PHP process. WPDT needs write access to toggle debug constants. If the file is read-only, the toggle switches on the Overview page cannot apply changes.
Checks that the standalone viewer directory has correct file permissions. Incorrect permissions can prevent the viewer from loading or block API requests.
Confirms that the WordPress uploads directory is writable. WPDT stores query log data in the uploads directory, so write access is required for query logging features.
Each test produces one of three statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green (good) | Correctly configured, no action needed |
| Orange (recommended) | Not critical, but should be addressed to avoid potential issues |
| Red (critical) | Broken or misconfigured, needs fixing for the feature to work |
Orange results do not prevent WPDT from functioning but indicate a suboptimal configuration. Red results mean a specific feature is non-functional until the issue is resolved.
The WPDT Site Health page provides fix actions for common problems:
0755 for directories, 0644 for files). Use this when the viewer permissions check fails.wp-config.php is writable with is_writable() and tests whether chmod() can elevate permissions. This is a non-destructive test that does not write to the file.Site Health test results are cached for 5 minutes. If you make a change and want to see updated results immediately, wait for the cache to expire or reload the page after the cache period.
