Clean up legacy WordPress bloat, improve security, and optimize performance with toggleable, opinionated defaults.

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rationalwp

RationalCleanup removes unnecessary WordPress features, hardens security, and improves performance. All 24 options are toggleable with sensible defaults that balance security and compatibility.
<h4>Features</h4>
Head Tags 
Remove unnecessary meta tags and links from the document head:
<ul>
<li>Remove WordPress generator meta tag (hides version number)</li>
<li>Remove WLW manifest link</li>
<li>Remove RSD link</li>
<li>Remove shortlink</li>
<li>Remove REST API discovery link</li>
<li>Remove RSS feed links</li>
</ul>
Frontend Bloat 
Remove scripts and styles that most sites don’t need:
<ul>
<li>Remove emoji detection scripts and styles</li>
<li>Remove jQuery Migrate from frontend</li>
<li>Remove Gutenberg block library CSS</li>
<li>Remove global styles and SVG filters</li>
</ul>
Security 
Harden WordPress against common attack vectors:
<ul>
<li>Disable XML-RPC completely (prevents brute force and DDoS attacks)</li>
<li>Prevent user enumeration (blocks author archives and REST API user endpoints)</li>
<li>Obfuscate login error messages (prevents username discovery)</li>
</ul>
Performance 
Reduce unnecessary WordPress overhead:
<ul>
<li>Disable self-pingbacks</li>
<li>Throttle Heartbeat API (reduces server load)</li>
<li>Extend autosave interval (reduces database writes)</li>
</ul>
Features 
Disable major WordPress subsystems:
<ul>
<li>Disable comments system completely</li>
<li>Disable block editor (force classic editor)</li>
<li>Disable REST API for non-authenticated users</li>
</ul>
Admin Cleanup 
Declutter the WordPress admin dashboard:
<ul>
<li>Remove WordPress Events and News widget</li>
<li>Remove Quick Draft widget</li>
<li>Remove At a Glance widget</li>
<li>Remove Activity widget</li>
<li>Remove Site Health Status widget</li>
</ul>
<h4>Opinionated Defaults</h4>
RationalCleanup uses sensible defaults:
<ul>
<li>Security options: Enabled by default (XML-RPC disabled, user enumeration blocked)</li>
<li>Head cleanup: Mostly enabled (safe, no compatibility issues)</li>
<li>Frontend cleanup: Emoji and jQuery Migrate removal enabled</li>
<li>Breaking features: Disabled by default (comments, block editor, REST API restrictions)</li>
<li>Admin widgets: Disabled by default</li>
</ul>
<h4>RationalWP Menu</h4>
This plugin uses a shared parent menu for all RationalWP plugins. When activated, you’ll see a RationalWP menu in your admin sidebar containing links to all installed RationalWP plugins.

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