Maintenance Mode

Maintenance Mode

When you need to make major changes to your site — a redesign, a WordPress core upgrade, a database migration — the last thing you want is visitors stumbling onto a broken or half-finished page. Maintenance mode lets you take your site offline for visitors while you keep working behind the scenes, then bring it back with a single click when you are ready.

When Maintenance Mode is enabled, FlyWP changes your site’s status from Active to Maintenance and serves a default maintenance page to all visitors. You retain full access to the WordPress admin and can continue making changes — only public visitors see the maintenance screen.

How It Works

1. You toggle maintenance mode on from the site’s Settings tab.
2. FlyWP dispatches a background job that configures the web server to intercept incoming requests and return the maintenance page.
3. Your site’s status badge updates to Maintenance in real time via WebSocket notifications (a technology that pushes live updates to your browser without needing a page refresh), so you can confirm the change immediately in the dashboard.
4. When you are finished, toggle maintenance mode off. FlyWP dispatches a second job that restores normal traffic flow, and the status returns to Active.

Note

The status change is reflected in real time across all open dashboard sessions. If a team member is viewing the same site, they will see the status update automatically.

Enabling Maintenance Mode

Navigate to the site’s detail page and click the Settings tab. From there:

1. Find the Maintenance Mode toggle.
2. Click the toggle. A confirmation dialog will appear asking you to confirm.
3. Confirm the action. The site status changes to Maintenance.

Disabling Maintenance Mode

When your work is done, turning maintenance mode off is just as fast:

1. Return to the site’s Settings tab.
2. Click the Maintenance Mode toggle again.
3. Confirm the action. The site status returns to Active and visitors can access your site normally.

What Visitors See

While maintenance mode is active, all public requests receive a maintenance page indicating that the site is temporarily unavailable. The web server serves this page directly, so it loads quickly regardless of the state of your WordPress installation.

Tip

Maintenance mode is ideal for major updates such as WordPress core upgrades, theme redesigns, or database migrations where you want to prevent visitors from encountering broken pages.

When to Use Maintenance Mode

Scenario	Recommended
Major WordPress core or plugin updates	Yes
Theme redesign or migration	Yes
Database schema changes	Yes
Minor content edits	No — visitors will not notice
Routine plugin updates	No — these are typically fast enough

Do not leave maintenance mode enabled indefinitely. Search engines that repeatedly encounter a maintenance page may temporarily de-index your site.

Related Pages

• Site Settings
• Site Sleep and Wake
• Site Management