MainWP Client Reports Extension

The client report starts being written days before it is sent

A maintenance client pays each month for work that, when it goes well, goes unnoticed: nothing broke. A regular report makes it visible, which is why it is tempting to install a reporting extension on the 30th and send the first one that same afternoon.

A report does not rebuild the past: it only tells what was already recorded. The Child Reports plugin starts logging when it is installed on each site, so a report generated right afterward comes out with empty sections. And since it keeps records for 100 days by default, a longer period means reviewing that setting beforehand, not when the client asks for the review of the year.

MainWP Pro Reports, the successor to Client Reports, turns that data into PDF reports for each client from the MainWP Dashboard. Its real start date is the day you install Child Reports on the sites, not the day you design the template.

What goes into each report

• Recurring or one-time reports, the latter with the dates you choose.
• Configurable sections: updates, posts, pages, users and comments, shown, hidden or only with data.
• Data from active extensions, such as Wordfence, Domain Monitor, Jetpack Protect, Lighthouse, SSL Monitor or Matomo.
• Backups section with BackWPup, BackupWordPress, Solid Backups or UpdraftPlus.
• Tokens for clients, sections and counters, such as [client.name].
• REST API access to report data.

Your brand in the PDF and the email

The Agency and Agency Dark templates serve as a starting point. You can add your logo and colors, write the title, introduction and closing, and change or translate titles, subtitles and table headers. Anyone needing more control can copy a template and edit it in PHP and HTML.

Sending is configured by sender, recipient, reply-to, subject, message, template, BCC and attachments. The report goes out as a PDF attachment or in HTML, and the PDF can carry its own name. With [client.email] as the recipient, each client receives their own.

Before scheduling, you can view the report in HTML, download it as PDF or save it as a draft.

No Child Reports or add-ons, no section

It does not replace the extension that generates each piece of data: the Matomo or backups section appears if that extension is active on your Dashboard. Nor does it work outside MainWP, or report on a site without Child Reports.

Tokens do not fill themselves in either. The details of each client are set per client or per site, and the site value overrides the client value. Per-client sending needs that data, so it has to be in place before the first send.

Child Reports on the sites and the first test

It needs a MainWP Dashboard with the extension installed and the free Child Reports plugin on each child site, which asks for PHP 7.4 or newer. Installation can add it to the sites you select. The order is this:

1. Install Child Reports on the child sites.
2. Install Pro Reports on the Dashboard.
3. Sync the sites so the Dashboard detects Child Reports.
4. Fill in the tokens for each client, per site or from Clients.
5. Create a one-time test report, and wait for several days of activity before scheduling a recurring one.

The Child Reports Dashboard screen shows the version, last report and database size of each site, and flags those with the plugin inactive or out of date.

Extensions that feed the report

MainWP Matomo brings Matomo data to the dashboard and the reports. MainWP Lighthouse and MainWP SSL Monitor also contribute their tokens.

If what you need is to know who changed what on a site, rather than to report to a client, WP Activity Log Pro records each change with its date, user and origin.

Client Reports, tokens and delivery

How does it relate to Client Reports?

Client Reports became Pro Reports, with advanced features such as template-based generation and PDF delivery.

How much history do I have available?

Child Reports keeps 100 days by default, and only holds what was recorded since it was installed on that site.

Can I generate all the reports for a client with several sites at once?

Yes. When you select clients, reports are generated for all their sites.

Can I send each report to its client automatically?

Yes, using [client.email] as the recipient, provided the client details are set.