How to Post a Slack Message When a WordPress Plugin Is Updated

If a team looks after your site, plugin updates belong in the channel where they already talk. Zapify posts to Slack every time a plugin is updated, with its name and the old and new version. It uses the free A plugin is updated trigger and the Send a Slack message action. Slack is a Zapify PRO integration.

What this automation does

The automation is one trigger plus one action:

• Trigger: A plugin is updated (WPADMIN_PLUGIN_UPDATED, WP Admin)
• Action: Send a Slack message (SLACK_SEND_MESSAGE, Slack)

When a plugin is updated, by hand or automatically, Zapify posts a short message to the Slack channel you choose. It runs once for each plugin.

Before you start

• A Slack app for your workspace with a bot user OAuth token (starts xoxb-), created under OAuth & Permissions in your Slack app's settings — see Slack's authentication basics if you're setting one up for the first time. The bot needs the chat:write scope.
• The bot invited into the channel you want it to post to — Slack won't let it post to a channel it isn't a member of.

How to build the automation

Step 1: Connect Slack

1. Go to Settings → Connections and click Add New.

2. Choose Slack, paste in the bot user OAuth token, and name the connection something like Site alerts Slack.

3. Save.

See Connections for how this screen works generally.

Step 2: Create a new automation

1. In the WordPress admin, go to Zapify → Automations.
2. Click Add New to open the builder.
3. Name it clearly, such as Post plugin updates to Slack.

Step 3: Add the "A plugin is updated" trigger

1. Click Add Trigger.
2. Choose WP Admin as the app.
3. Select the trigger A plugin is updated.
4. In the Plugin field, pick one plugin to watch, or leave it on Any plugin to be told about every plugin update.

Step 4: Add the "Send a Slack message" action

1. Click Add Action.
2. Choose Slack as the app.
3. Select Send a Slack message.

Step 5: Configure the action

Field	Required	What it does
Connection	Yes	The Slack connection you set up in Step 1.
Channel	Yes	A channel name (#site-updates) or ID. The bot must already be a member.
Message	Yes	The text to post. Insert tokens to say what changed.
Post as	No	Overrides the bot's display name for this message. Leave empty to use the bot's own name.

For example:

• Channel: #site-updates
• Message: {Plugin name} was updated from {Old version} to {New version} (automatic: {Automatic update}).

Step 6: Set the steps Live and save

1. Set both the trigger and the action to Live. A new automation starts as Draft and will not run until its steps are Live.
2. Click Save.

Tokens you can use

Token	What it holds
Plugin name	The plugin's name, read from the plugin on disk.
Plugin file	The plugin's file inside the plugins folder, such as akismet/akismet.php.
Plugin version	The version installed now. After an update this is the new version.
Plugin author	The author named in the plugin.
Old version	The version before the update.
New version	The version after the update.
Automatic update	yes when WordPress updated it on its own, no when someone did it by hand.
Actor user ID / Actor username	The logged-in person who did it. Empty (and 0) when nobody was logged in, as with an automatic update.

How to test it

Update a plugin that has an update waiting. The message should appear in the channel within a minute, or open Zapify → Logs to see what Slack answered.

Conclusion

With the free A plugin is updated trigger and the Send a Slack message action, the whole team sees every plugin change. For WordPress itself, see posting to Slack when WordPress is updated. To keep a permanent record too, see logging plugin updates to a Google Sheet.

FAQs

Is this free in Zapify?

The trigger is free. The Slack action needs an active Zapify PRO licence and a Connection.

Why does Slack say the channel was not found?

The bot has to be invited into the channel first. Type /invite @YourBot in the channel, then run the automation again.

Could this be noisy?

On a site with many plugins, a bulk update posts one message per plugin. Post to a quiet channel of its own, or set the trigger's Plugin field to one plugin that matters.

Does it run for automatic updates?

Yes. WordPress updates run from its background task, with nobody logged in. The automation still runs, Automatic update holds yes, and Actor user ID and Actor username are empty.

Does it report when Zapify itself is updated?

No. Zapify cannot watch itself being replaced, so its own activation, deactivation and updates are left out. The Plugin dropdown does not list it.

Do I need to write any code?

No. Everything is configured in the Zapify visual builder.