Feature Request: Branch Lock for WordPress Core Updates

Hi MainWP Team and Community,

with WordPress 7.0 approaching, many agency owners face a situation that MainWP currently cannot handle natively: staying on a minor branch deliberately while a new major version is available.

The current limitation

MainWP lets you ignore a core update or update to the latest version. There is no option to say: "Stay on the 6.9.x branch. Apply minor updates within that branch. Do not touch 7.0."

The only workaround would be wp-config.php edits per site — which defeats the entire purpose of centralized management.

The Feature Request: Branch Lock

A simple, MWP-native control on the Updates or Site Settings level:

• A toggle: Enable Branch Lock — yes / no

• A branch input field: e.g. 6.9

• Behavior: MWP recognizes any 6.9.x update as valid and applicable. Any version outside that branch (7.0, 7.1 etc.) is treated as "up to date — no action required."

This is different from "Ignore Core Update" because it does not lock a specific version — it locks a branch, so minor and security updates within that branch still flow through normally.

Why this matters

WordPress 7.0 is announced as a significant architectural release. Many agencies managing dozens or hundreds of client sites need time to test compatibility before committing to a major version jump — but they still want to keep client sites patched within the current branch in the meantime.

A Branch Lock feature would make MainWP the go-to solution for exactly this kind of professional, risk-aware update management.

There was a standalone WordPress plugin once that allowed locking to a specific version number. It’s long outdated and had a critical flaw: it required manually entering the exact version per site, not a branch. The Branch Lock concept improves on this significantly by being branch-aware, centrally managed, and integrated into the MainWP workflow.

Thanks for considering this.