Geared URL Replacer

Geared URL Replacer gives administrators a review-first workflow for changing stored URLs without running direct SQL replacements.

Create a match rule, choose a replacement and scope, then run the mandatory dry run. The report shows proposed changes before the Apply step becomes available.

Safety-focused workflow

• Matches complete URL values rather than arbitrary text fragments.
• Supports contains, starts with, ends with, exact URL, domain, and path rules.
• Filters internal, external, absolute, or relative URLs.
• Previews every supported change in a resumable dry run.
• Preserves HTML, block markup, JSON, and serialized PHP structures.
• Excludes protected fields such as GUIDs, credentials, sessions, caches, and plugin-owned data.
• Creates a protected rollback snapshot before each verified write.
• Restores only fields that still match the value written by the plugin, so later edits are preserved.
• Uses bounded, resumable batches for scanning, applying, and rolling back.

Supported locations

Default and optional scopes include posts, pages, public custom post types, post metadata, navigation menus, widgets, ordinary options, terms, comments, users, revisions, and explicitly selected safe custom tables.

Important backup notice

Rollback snapshots are recovery evidence for this plugin’s changes. They are not a complete database backup. Create and verify an independent database backup before applying replacements or starting a rollback.

Accessibility

The administrator interface follows WordPress admin patterns, supports keyboard navigation, provides visible focus, associates labels with controls, and announces changing progress and status messages.

Privacy

Geared URL Replacer processes site content locally and does not send content, URLs, reports, telemetry, or personal data to an external service.

Dry-run reports and rollback snapshots can contain excerpts or original stored values. They are kept in protected plugin-owned database tables and are available only to administrators. Ordinary logs redact sensitive values.

By default, rollback snapshots are retained for seven days and plugin data is preserved during uninstall. Administrators can choose one-day, seven-day, thirty-day, or manual retention; run cleanup; delete snapshots; delete completed job history; and explicitly opt into destructive uninstall.

Support

Use the WordPress.org support forum for setup questions and reproducible defects after the plugin is published. Include the WordPress, PHP, and plugin versions plus the visible error code.

Do not post private URLs, credentials, nonces, cookies, database exports, protected report contents, or rollback snapshots in a public support topic. Report suspected security issues privately to the plugin owner.