Everything below reflects the current release (v1.0.0). From install to a fleet-wide standard is typically one afternoon.
You need WordPress 6.0+ on PHP 7.4+, an administrator login, and the plugin zip plus licence key from your purchase email. The auditor is read-only — it measures the site against your baseline and reports; it never modifies anything.
Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the zip from your purchase email, install and activate. It adds a Drift Auditor item to the admin menu. It's read-only — it never changes the site.
Open Drift Auditor → Licence and paste the key from your purchase email. Keys are domain-based — no account, no phoning home.
On your best-kept site, either fill in the baseline editor by hand or click Adopt this site as the baseline — its installed plugins, versions, permalink, cron, debug, update and security settings become the standard in one click. Review and tweak before you roll it out.
Click Export baseline (JSON). You get a small file — sda-baseline-yoursite-date.json — that IS your agency standard. Keep it with your other agency assets; version it if you like.
On each client site, install the plugin and use Import a baseline to upload the JSON. The audit re-scores instantly against your standard. Importing is never locked, so every site can receive the standard.
The compliance ring shows 0–100 with a verdict — Compliant, Minor drift, Drifting, Severe drift — and every deviation as expected vs actual. Preview report gives you the branded, print-ready copy for the client.
The screens you'll actually live in.
0–100 against the baseline with a plain verdict. Weighted: banned plugins and public debug output move the number more than a permalink mismatch.
Approved plugins, banned plugins, versions, admin accounts, permalinks, cron, debug, update policy, security — each with a severity chip and expected-vs-actual findings.
One click turns the current site's state into the standard. Run it on the golden site, not the problem child — then review before exporting.
The standard travels as JSON. Export from the golden site (Pro), import anywhere (free) — the whole fleet measured against the same file.
A staging site can flip "WP_DEBUG allowed" without failing the audit, while production sites stay strict. The baseline is per-site after import, so targeted exceptions are easy.
Your logo, colour and agency name, the ring, the verdict and every finding — print-ready evidence for re-alignment work.