What is AddoBase

What is AddoBase? It is the free connector that every AddoCore WordPress add-on runs on. You install it once per site. It links the site to your AddoCore account, shows which add-ons you hold a license for, switches them on or off within your licensed sites and installs their updates.

What is AddoBase responsible for on a site?

AddoBase handles licensing, switching and updates for AddoCore plugins, and nothing else. It adds no features for visitors or editors. It does four jobs:

• Account link. A one-time browser flow links the site to your AddoCore account. Sites that cannot use that flow use a license key instead.
• License state. Twice a day, through WP-Cron, AddoBase asks AddoCore which add-ons the account owns, how many sites each license covers and which add-ons are switched on for this site. It stores the answer in the WordPress database.
• Switching. It reserves or frees a site in your license, installs the add-on when needed and activates or deactivates it with WordPress’ own plugin functions.
• Updates. Every AddoCore plugin carries an Update URI that points at addocore.com, so WordPress asks AddoBase for new versions instead of wordpress.org.

How do AddoBase and its add-ons fit together?

Every paid AddoCore plugin is an add-on of AddoBase and lists it as a required plugin (Requires Plugins: addobase). WordPress 6.5 and newer will not activate an add-on while AddoBase is missing. When WordPress loads its plugins, each add-on registers itself with AddoBase. AddoBase then starts the add-on’s licensed features only if its license is active for this site.

Addofy is the first add-on: a calmer WordPress and WooCommerce admin. The overview of all AddoBase add-ons explains how they behave in general. Add-ons are licensed per number of sites and billed yearly. Most come with a free trial for 1 site that needs no payment details; see WordPress plugin trial and licenses. AddoBase itself is free and needs no license.

What is AddoBase’s place in wp-admin?

It adds one top-level menu item, AddoBase, for users with the manage_options capability (administrators). The screen has two parts.

• The connection card. Its heading reads Connect this site, Connected or Using a license key. Below it are the buttons Connect with AddoCore, Check now and Disconnect, depending on the state, and a line such as “Last checked 5 mins ago.”
• The Add-ons table. The columns are Add-on, License, On this site and Version, with one action button per row.

From the table you install and switch on an add-on, start a trial, or install a new release with Update to x.y.z. The AddoBase version and its own update button sit at the bottom of the screen. A site without any add-ons shows “No add-ons yet. Connect this site to see the add-ons available for your account.” Outside this screen, AddoBase only shows a notice when there is something to do, for example “Your AddoCore add-ons need a connected AddoBase to work.”

What is AddoBase’s behaviour when a license is missing?

It removes nothing. An add-on without an active license stays installed and active in the Plugins list, but AddoBase does not start its licensed features. The On this site column then reads “Installed, licensed features off”. Settings and data stay in the database. Once the license is active again, the features start on the next page load.

AddoBase never deletes a plugin, and it only deactivates an add-on when someone clicks Switch off. If an add-on throws an error while it starts, AddoBase catches it and shows “<name> could not start: <message>” as an admin notice. The rest of the site keeps working.

What is AddoBase’s fallback when AddoCore is unreachable?

The last known license state stays valid for 96 hours. AddoBase keeps that state in an option, not in a transient, so flushing the object cache does not switch paid add-ons off. After 96 hours without a successful check, licensed add-ons pause and administrators see “AddoBase could not reach AddoCore for too long, so licensed add-ons are paused until it can.” They resume on their own after the next successful check, or right away when you click Check now.

What is AddoBase not?

Knowing what is AddoBase also means knowing its limits:

• It is not a feature plugin. On its own it changes nothing on the front end of your site.
• It is not tied to wordpress.org. AddoBase and its add-ons get their updates from addocore.com.
• It is not a multisite tool. AddoBase supports single sites only.

What do you need to run AddoBase?

• WordPress 6.5 or newer
• PHP 8.1 or newer
• A single site; WordPress multisite is not supported
• HTTPS on the site address to connect it to your account (plain HTTP only works on local development hosts such as .test or localhost)
• A free account on addocore.com
• An administrator account in WordPress

What is AddoBase’s data footprint?

Two options and one cron event. The first option holds the site credentials, encrypted. The second holds the last license state AddoCore sent. The cron event addobase_refresh_state runs the twice-daily check.

Deactivating AddoBase stops the cron event but keeps the credentials, so reactivating it needs no new connection. Deleting AddoBase from the Plugins screen removes both options and the cron event, and tells AddoCore to unlink the site. That frees the places this site held in your licenses.

Where do you go after reading what is AddoBase?

You now know what is AddoBase: the free layer between your WordPress site and your AddoCore licenses. The next step is to install and connect AddoBase. The free download is on the AddoBase product page.