Mikael Korpela

Miguel Lezama

A tool to observe how a page loads in different themes simultaneously. 
Useful for debugging plugins or Gutenberg blocks.
How to Use:
<ol>
<li>Install several themes you’d like to check out.</li>
<li>Create a new page.</li>
<li>Navigate to Tools → Back To The Theme</li>
<li>Choose if you want to demo editor- or view side.</li>
<li>Select the themes you’d like to check out.</li>
<li>Choose the page you just created. This page will be previewed with all the themes you’ve selected.</li>
<li>Click Do it!.</li>
<li>Scroll to see the page rendered with all the themes you selected.</li>
</ol>
You’ll see your page load with different themes in a bunch of iframes for handy preview and debugging.
A nice list of popular themes to test:
<pre><code>`
</code></pre>
wp theme install \ 
 astra \ 
 colormag \ 
 customizr \ 
 generatepress \ 
 hestia \ 
 hueman \ 
 oceanwp \ 
 shapely \ 
 storefront \ 
 sydney \ 
 twentyeleven \ 
 twentyfifteen \ 
 twentyfourteen \ 
 twentynineteen \ 
 twentyseventeen \ 
 twentysixteen \ 
 twentyten \ 
 twentythirteen \ 
 twentytwelve \ 
 vantage 
 `
See docs for <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/theme/install/" rel="nofollow ugc">wp theme install</a>.
<a href="https://github.com/simison/back-to-the-theme" rel="nofollow ugc">Plugin’s source code on GitHub</a>.

Back To The Theme

See a page with different themes all at once, just like that!

Eli Hanna

⚠️ Important: Development Environment Only
This plugin is designed for development environments like LocalWP, XAMPP, or self-hosted servers. It will not work on most managed hosting providers (WP Engine, Kinsta, SiteGround, etc.) due to security restrictions that disable the <code>exec()</code> function and limit access to PHP binaries.
How It Works
This plugin leverages <a href="https://github.com/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer" rel="nofollow ugc">PHP_CodeSniffer</a> with the <a href="https://github.com/PHPCompatibility/PHPCompatibility" rel="nofollow ugc">PHPCompatibility</a> standard to perform deep static analysis of your PHP code.
Core Components:
<ol>
<li>Bundled Dependencies: Includes PHP_CodeSniffer and PHPCompatibility ruleset</li>
<li>Batch Processing: Scans files in configurable batches (10-100 files) to manage memory usage</li>
<li>Command Execution: Executes PHPCS via PHP’s <code>exec()</code> function with specific parameters</li>
<li>Server-Side State: Stores file lists in WordPress options to optimize AJAX requests</li>
<li>Progressive UI: Real-time batch results with stop/start controls</li>
</ol>
How to Use:
<ol>
<li>Navigate to Tools → PHP Compatibility Scanner</li>
<li>Review the System Check section to ensure your environment is compatible</li>
<li>Select the plugins and/or themes you want to scan by checking their boxes</li>
<li>Configure your scan options:
<ul>
<li>Target PHP Version: Choose the PHP version you want to test against (7.4 – 8.4)</li>
<li>Batch Size: Select how many files to process at once (default: 50 files)</li>
<li>Skip Vendor Directory: Keep checked to skip third-party dependencies</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Click Start Scan to begin the compatibility check</li>
<li>View results in real-time as each plugin/theme is scanned</li>
<li>Review any errors (❌) or warnings (⚠️) found in your code</li>
<li>Click on any target to expand and see detailed compatibility issues</li>
</ol>
Why It Requires Development Environments
<ul>
<li><code>exec()</code> Function: Required to run PHPCS binary – disabled on managed hosts</li>
<li>PHP Binary Access: Needs access to PHP executable – restricted on shared hosting</li>
<li>Composer Dependencies: Requires vendor directory with PHPCS installation</li>
<li>File System Access: Creates temporary files for batch processing</li>
<li>Memory/Time Limits: Long-running scans need relaxed execution limits</li>
</ul>
Supported Environments
<ul>
<li>LocalWP (recommended)</li>
<li>XAMPP/MAMP</li>
<li>Docker WordPress setups</li>
<li>Self-hosted VPS/dedicated servers</li>
<li>Development environments with shell access</li>
</ul>
Unsupported Environments
<ul>
<li>WP Engine (exec() disabled)</li>
<li>Kinsta (security restrictions)</li>
<li>SiteGround (managed hosting limitations)</li>
<li>GoDaddy Managed WordPress (function restrictions)</li>
<li>WordPress.com (no plugin uploads)</li>
<li>Most shared hosting providers</li>
</ul>
<h3>Contributing</h3>
This plugin is actively developed for WordPress development environments. Contributions are welcome, especially:
<ul>
<li>Additional PHP version compatibility rules</li>
<li>Performance optimizations</li>
<li>UI/UX improvements</li>
<li>Hosted environment compatibility solutions</li>
</ul>
<h3>Technical Details</h3>
Dependencies
<ul>
<li>PHP_CodeSniffer: ^3.13 (static analysis engine)</li>
<li>PHPCompatibility: dev-develop (compatibility ruleset)</li>
</ul>
License
GPLv2 or later – same as WordPress core.

Eli's PHP Compatibility Scanner


Good quality plugin and fast support!



Super! Thanks!


Excellent!

A comprehensive WordPress plugin that scans your plugins and themes for PHP version compatibility issues using the  PHPCompatibility ruleset.

Back To The Theme vs Eli's PHP Compatibility Scanner