Rocket.net WordPress Plugin Management API Guide

🚀 Rocket.net WordPress Plugin Management

Complete API Guide for Managing WordPress Plugins at Scale

⚠️ CRITICAL: Always use the /v1/sites/{id}/plugins endpoint for WordPress plugin management. Never use file system APIs or WP-CLI for checking plugin status.

Why This Guide Exists

Managing WordPress plugins across hundreds of sites requires the correct API endpoints. Using the wrong endpoints (file system or WP-CLI) will give you incomplete or incorrect information. This guide shows you the correct way to manage plugins via the Rocket.net API.

✅ Correct Endpoint: GET/POST/PATCH/DELETE /v1/sites/{id}/plugins
This queries WordPress directly and shows plugin status, version, and activation state.

❌ Wrong Endpoints (Don’t Use):

/v1/sites/{id}/files – File system API (doesn’t show WordPress status)
/v1/sites/{id}/wpcli – WP-CLI (unreliable, returns null on many sites)
/v1/sites/{id}/file_manager/files – File manager (for files, not plugins)

Step-by-Step Guide

1 Authentication

Always authenticate first to get a JWT token. The token expires in 7 days.

$creds = @{
    username = 'your-email@example.com'
    password = 'your-password'
}

$login = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri 'https://api.rocket.net/v1/login' `
    -Method Post `
    -Body ($creds | ConvertTo-Json) `
    -ContentType 'application/json'

$token = $login.token
$headers = @{
    Authorization = "Bearer $token"
    'Content-Type' = 'application/json'
}

Important: If you get 401 errors, re-authenticate to get a fresh token.

2 List All Sites (with Pagination)

Rocket.net accounts can have 100+ sites. Always paginate to get all sites.

$allSites = @()
$page = 1

do {
    $response = Invoke-RestMethod `
        -Uri "https://api.rocket.net/v1/sites?page=$page&page_size=100" `
        -Method Get `
        -Headers $headers
    
    $allSites += $response.result
    $page++
} while ($response.result.Count -eq 100)

Write-Host "Total sites: $($allSites.Count)"

⚠️ Warning: The default API call returns only 10 sites. Using page_size=100 gets 100 sites per page. Always loop until result.Count < 100.

3 Check Plugins on a Site

Use the Plugins API endpoint to see what WordPress knows about.

# Find site by domain
$site = $allSites | Where-Object {
    $_.domain -match 'example.com'
}

# List all plugins
$plugins = Invoke-RestMethod `
    -Uri "https://api.rocket.net/v1/sites/$($site.id)/plugins" `
    -Method Get `
    -Headers $headers

# Check for specific plugin
$mlPlugins = $plugins.result | Where-Object {
    $_.name -like '*ml-plugin-manager*'
}

if ($mlPlugins) {
    $mlPlugins | ForEach-Object {
        Write-Host "Found: $($_.name)"
        Write-Host "  Status: $($_.status)"
        Write-Host "  Version: $($_.version)"
    }
}

Plugin Object Properties:

name - Plugin display name (e.g., "ml-plugin-manager-3.0.19")
status - "active" or "inactive"
version - Version number
slug - Plugin slug (may be empty)

4 Delete a Plugin

Use DELETE with the exact plugin name from the list.

$deleteBody = @{
    plugins = "ml-plugin-manager-3.0.19"
} | ConvertTo-Json

Invoke-RestMethod `
    -Uri "https://api.rocket.net/v1/sites/$($site.id)/plugins" `
    -Method Delete `
    -Headers $headers `
    -Body $deleteBody

Write-Host "Deleted: ml-plugin-manager-3.0.19"

Notes:

Use the exact name from the plugin list (not slug)
For multiple plugins: "plugins": "plugin1,plugin2,plugin3" (comma-separated)

5 Install a Plugin

Method A: Install from URL (Recommended for custom plugins)

$installBody = @{
    custom_url = "https://example.com/plugin.zip"
    activate = $true
} | ConvertTo-Json

Invoke-RestMethod `
    -Uri "https://api.rocket.net/v1/sites/$($site.id)/plugins" `
    -Method Post `
    -Headers $headers `
    -Body $installBody

Method B: Install from WordPress.org

$installBody = @{
    plugins = "plugin-slug"
    activate = $true
} | ConvertTo-Json

Invoke-RestMethod `
    -Uri "https://api.rocket.net/v1/sites/$($site.id)/plugins" `
    -Method Post `
    -Headers $headers `
    -Body $installBody

6 Activate/Deactivate a Plugin

# Activate
$activateBody = @{
    plugin = "ml-plugin-manager/ml-plugin-manager.php"
    status = "activate"
} | ConvertTo-Json

Invoke-RestMethod `
    -Uri "https://api.rocket.net/v1/sites/$($site.id)/plugins" `
    -Method Patch `
    -Headers $headers `
    -Body $activateBody

# Deactivate
$deactivateBody = @{
    plugin = "ml-plugin-manager/ml-plugin-manager.php"
    status = "deactivate"
} | ConvertTo-Json

Invoke-RestMethod `
    -Uri "https://api.rocket.net/v1/sites/$($site.id)/plugins" `
    -Method Patch `
    -Headers $headers `
    -Body $deactivateBody

⚠️ Critical: Use plugin (singular), not plugins. Use the plugin path: folder-name/main-file.php

Complete Example: Mass Plugin Update

This example shows how to replace an old plugin version across all sites.

# 1. Authenticate
$login = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri 'https://api.rocket.net/v1/login' `
    -Method Post `
    -Body (@{username='email@example.com'; password='password'} | ConvertTo-Json) `
    -ContentType 'application/json'
$token = $login.token
$h = @{Authorization="Bearer $token"; 'Content-Type'='application/json'}

# 2. Get all sites
$allSites = @(); $page = 1
do {
    $r = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://api.rocket.net/v1/sites?page=$page&page_size=100" -Headers $h
    $allSites += $r.result
    $page++
} while ($r.result.Count -eq 100)

# 3. Find sites with old version
$sitesWithOld = @()
foreach ($site in $allSites) {
    try {
        $plugins = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://api.rocket.net/v1/sites/$($site.id)/plugins" -Headers $h
        $old = $plugins.result | Where-Object {$_.name -eq 'ml-plugin-manager-3.0.19'}
        if ($old) {
            $sitesWithOld += [PSCustomObject]@{
                Domain = $site.domain
                ID = $site.id
            }
        }
    } catch { }
}

Write-Host "Found $($sitesWithOld.Count) sites with old version"

# 4. Update each site
foreach ($site in $sitesWithOld) {
    Write-Host "`nUpdating: $($site.Domain)"
    
    # Delete old version
    $delBody = @{plugins="ml-plugin-manager-3.0.19"} | ConvertTo-Json
    Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://api.rocket.net/v1/sites/$($site.ID)/plugins" `
        -Method Delete -Headers $h -Body $delBody
    
    # Install new version
    $installBody = @{
        custom_url="https://example.com/plugin.zip"
        activate=$true
    } | ConvertTo-Json
    Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://api.rocket.net/v1/sites/$($site.ID)/plugins" `
        -Method Post -Headers $h -Body $installBody
    
    Write-Host "  ✓ Updated successfully"
}

Quick Reference Table

Task	Method	Endpoint	Body Example
List plugins	GET	`/v1/sites/{id}/plugins`	None
Install from URL	POST	`/v1/sites/{id}/plugins`	`{"custom_url": "...", "activate": true}`
Install from WP.org	POST	`/v1/sites/{id}/plugins`	`{"plugins": "slug", "activate": true}`
Delete	DELETE	`/v1/sites/{id}/plugins`	`{"plugins": "name"}`
Activate	PATCH	`/v1/sites/{id}/plugins`	`{"plugin": "path", "status": "activate"}`
Deactivate	PATCH	`/v1/sites/{id}/plugins`	`{"plugin": "path", "status": "deactivate"}`

✨ Best Practices

Always authenticate first - Get fresh token for each session
Always paginate - Don't assume first 10 sites are all sites
Use Plugins API - Not files API or WP-CLI
Verify after changes - List plugins again to confirm
Handle errors gracefully - Sites might be down or inaccessible
Test on one site first - Before mass deployment
Use exact plugin names - From the API response, not guessed
Wait between requests - Don't hammer the API

Common Errors & Solutions

Error	Cause	Solution
`401 Unauthorized`	Token expired (7 days)	Re-authenticate to get new token
`404 Not Found`	Wrong site ID or plugin doesn't exist	Verify site ID and plugin name
`400 Bad Request`	Wrong parameter format	Check JSON structure and parameter names
`500 Internal Server Error`	Site might be down	Try again in a few minutes

Why the Plugins API is Correct

WordPress tracks plugins in its database, not just by folder names. The Plugins API queries WordPress directly and returns:

✅ Plugin display name (as WordPress sees it)
✅ Activation status (active/inactive)
✅ Version number
✅ Plugin slug

File system APIs only show folders and files, which doesn't tell you:

❌ If the plugin is active or inactive
❌ What version WordPress thinks it is
❌ If WordPress even recognizes it as a plugin