How Manage GPL detects update availability

Understanding where update information comes from makes it easier to reason about timing (why a version you just saw released isn't showing yet) and about differences between what WordPress reports and what Manage GPL reports.

The two sources

Manage GPL has two sources of "what's the latest version":

1. For premium plugins/themes: Manage GPL syncs its catalogue hourly — current versions, changelogs, and download URLs are cached server-side so the dashboard can show "update available" without hitting any third-party service from your browser.
2. For WordPress.org plugins and themes: the connector plugin on your site consults WordPress's own update API during each inventory pull and reports what WordPress thinks is the latest. Our own WordPress.org metadata cache also refreshes every 6 hours on our side.

When does the inventory pull happen?

Inventory pulls are on-demand:

• When you open a site's detail page, Manage GPL refreshes its inventory (with a 15-second debounce — so if you hit refresh twice in a row the second one is a no-op).
• When you click the Refresh button on the site detail page.

Critically: there is no WordPress-cron-based background inventory pull. We used to do that — it caused problems on managed hosts that disable WP-Cron — and removed it in connector version 1.7.0.

Why your dashboard might lag reality

• Fresh premium release: a plugin released 10 minutes ago on GPL Times won't appear as an update in Manage GPL until the next hourly catalogue sync.
• Fresh WordPress.org release: WordPress's own update API caches for up to 12 hours on a per-site basis. Until the site's cache expires or you force-refresh, WordPress doesn't know about the new version — and thus neither does Manage GPL.
• You haven't opened the site in a while: inventory is only pulled when you interact with the site's page. There's a stale-inventory refresh cron that catches up sites you haven't touched in over an hour, but worst-case lag is ~75 minutes.

Forcing a fresh check

• Click Refresh on the site's detail page → forces a new inventory pull (respects the 15-second debounce).
• On the WordPress side, Dashboard → Updates → Check again forces WordPress to re-check WP.org. Manage GPL will pick up the new versions on the next inventory pull.

Version classification

Every installed plugin/theme is classified as one of:

• premium: sourced from GPL Times — updates via Manage GPL's download proxy.
• wporg: public WordPress.org plugin or theme.
• connector: the Manage GPL Connect plugin itself.
• other: a plugin that isn't on GPL Times and isn't on WordPress.org (custom, private, or discontinued).

We can only trigger updates for the first three; other items show as informational only.