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HTML Page Publisher

HTML Page Publisher

By Hossein Karami
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Description

HTML Page Publisher lets you drop a standalone HTML file into WordPress and have it served as a landing page at a clean URL such as https://example.com/pages/your-slug/. No theme changes, no FTP, no page builder.

It is built for the « I made this page with an AI tool, now how do I get it onto my site? » moment. It includes purpose-built cleanup for Claude Design exports, and works with any self-contained HTML page — from ChatGPT, Gemini, or written by hand. (Tools that export React or Vite projects, such as v0 and Bolt, first need to be built or exported to static HTML.)

Key features

  • Upload and publish: one HTML file plus its images — or a whole ZIP bundle (index.html + css/js/images/fonts) — and you get a public URL
  • Drafts and previews: save a page as a draft, share a preview link that works without logging in, publish when ready
  • Custom paths and front page: serve a page at /promo/ instead of /pages/promo/, or make it the site’s front page
  • Global snippets: add GA4/GTM/pixel, fonts or a consent banner to every page from Settings (pages can opt out)
  • SEO: pages are listed in the WordPress XML sitemap, can be marked noindex, and get a canonical link
  • Rename and duplicate: change a slug (the old URL redirects) or copy a page as a new draft
  • REST API and WP-CLI: publish from scripts, CI, or an AI agent — POST /wp-json/htmlpp/v1/pages with an application password, or wp htmlpp publish. A Claude Code skill is included in the GitHub repository.
  • Built-in HTML editor: edit a published page in the dashboard with the native WordPress code editor (syntax highlighting)
  • Version history: every save keeps the previous version; restore any earlier version with one click (restoring is itself undoable)
  • File management: add, replace, or delete a page’s images, CSS, JS, fonts and other files in place — Replace keeps the original filename so existing references keep working
  • Clean Claude Design exports: strips the export-time runtime wrappers Claude Design adds so the published page is pure static HTML; add rules for other tools with the htmlpp_sanitizer_rules filter
  • Configurable URL prefix: default /pages/your-slug/, change to anything you like (e.g. /resources/, /guides/)
  • Optional subdomain routing: point sales.example.com at your site and pages appear at sales.example.com/your-slug/
  • Works on subdirectory installs (e.g. example.com/blog/pages/your-slug/)
  • Cache-friendly: ETag and Last-Modified headers with conditional (304) and HEAD support, so browsers and CDNs revalidate cheaply while edits still show immediately
  • Protected storage: pages are only served at their public URL; direct access to the uploads folder and to version-history snapshots is blocked, and Settings shows whether your web server honours the protection
  • Safe by default: nonce-protected forms, capability checks, path-traversal guards, strict file-extension filtering, and no silent overwrites of live pages
  • Extensible: actions and filters for add-ons (htmlpp_loaded, htmlpp_page_published, htmlpp_before_serve, htmlpp_cache_max_age, htmlpp_allowed_asset_mimes, and more)

Use cases

  • Publishing landing pages generated with Claude Design
  • Publishing any AI-generated or hand-written static HTML page
  • Sales collateral (rate cards, one-pagers, proposals)
  • Campaign landing pages and microsites
  • Rapidly publishing static HTML without touching the theme or FTP

HTML Page Publisher is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Vercel, or StackBlitz. Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, v0 and Bolt are trademarks of their respective owners.

Screenshots

Upload a new page or ZIP bundle and see everything you have published, with each page's title, status and public URL.
Upload a new page or ZIP bundle and see everything you have published, with each page’s title, status and public URL.
Edit a published page in the dashboard with the native WordPress code editor.
Edit a published page in the dashboard with the native WordPress code editor.
Files & Assets: every file of an imported bundle — images, CSS, JS, fonts — with replace and delete in place.
Files & Assets: every file of an imported bundle — images, CSS, JS, fonts — with replace and delete in place.
Settings: URL prefix, optional subdomain, global snippets, and a live check that storage protection is active.
Settings: URL prefix, optional subdomain, global snippets, and a live check that storage protection is active.
Page settings: draft/published, custom path or front page, noindex, rename and duplicate.
Page settings: draft/published, custom path or front page, noindex, rename and duplicate.

Installation

  1. Upload the html-page-publisher folder to /wp-content/plugins/ (or install from Plugins Add New).
  2. Activate the plugin from the Plugins screen.
  3. Go to HTML Pages in the admin sidebar to upload your first page.
  4. (Optional) Visit HTML Pages Settings to change the URL prefix, configure a subdomain, or check storage protection.

FAQ

Can I upload a whole folder (CSS, JS, images) at once?

Yes. Zip the exported folder — index.html at the top level (or inside a single folder), assets in subfolders — and upload the .zip instead of an .html file. Files keep their relative paths, so css/site.css and img/hero.png references work unchanged. Executable files (.php etc.), anything outside the allowed types, and any file containing PHP code are skipped and reported. ZIP import needs PHP’s ZipArchive extension, which nearly every host provides; if yours does not, upload the HTML and its files separately.

How do drafts and previews work?

Tick Save as draft when uploading a new page, or switch a page to Draft in its Page Settings. Drafts return a 404 to visitors and search engines; administrators can view them, and the Preview button gives you a link with a secret token you can share with anyone (use Reset preview link to revoke it). Publish from Page Settings when you are happy.

Can I serve a page at the site root or a custom path?

Yes. In a page’s settings, set Custom path to promo to serve it at https://example.com/promo/, or to / to make it the front page. If you later change the path, the old one redirects to the page. Paths that belong to existing WordPress pages or posts, core routes, category/tag/author bases and post-type archives are refused; other rewrite rules (e.g. from other plugins) are not checked, so choose a path you know is free. The front page keeps working for WordPress’s own query-string routes (search, previews, REST, feeds).

How do I add Google Analytics, GTM or a pixel to every page?

HTML Pages Settings Global snippets. Paste the tags into the head or footer snippet; they are inserted into every published page when it is served (so re-uploading a page never loses them). Pages can opt out individually.

Are pages in my XML sitemap?

Published pages that are not marked noindex are listed at /wp-sitemap-htmlpp-1.xml, which is linked from WordPress’s built-in sitemap index. SEO plugins such as Yoast or Rank Math replace the core sitemap with their own; in that case use the htmlpp_sitemap_entries filter (or HTMLPP_Sitemap::entries()) to feed their sitemap.

Can I publish from a script, CI, or Claude Code?

Yes. The plugin exposes a REST API at /wp-json/htmlpp/v1 (list, create/replace from an HTML file or ZIP, update HTML or settings, rename, duplicate, files, versions, preview links). Authenticate with an application password (Users Profile Application Passwords) for an administrator:

curl -u "admin:xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx" -F slug=spring-promo -F file=@index.html https://example.com/wp-json/htmlpp/v1/pages

With shell access, wp htmlpp publish spring-promo ./site.zip --overwrite does the same. The GitHub repository ships a Claude Code skill (skills/publish-to-wordpress) so Claude can publish a page it just generated.

Which AI tools does it work with?

Any tool that gives you a single, self-contained HTML file. Claude Design’s « Export as standalone HTML » is supported directly, including automatic removal of the runtime wrappers it injects. Pages from ChatGPT, Gemini, or written by hand work as-is. Tools such as v0 and Bolt export React/Vite projects rather than static HTML, so you need to build or export those to plain HTML first.

Where are uploaded pages stored?

In wp-content/uploads/html-page-publisher/<slug>/. Each page has its own directory containing an index.html and an assets/ folder for images. Version-history snapshots are kept separately in wp-content/uploads/html-page-publisher-backups/<slug>/. Both folders contain an .htaccess that denies direct access, so pages are only reachable at their public URL.

I use nginx. Is my storage folder protected?

nginx ignores .htaccess. Pages still work at their public URL, but the raw files could also be fetched from the uploads folder. HTML Pages Settings shows whether direct access is blocked and gives you a ready-made location block to add to your nginx server configuration. The same applies to Apache or LiteSpeed configured with AllowOverride None.

How do I edit a page or change its files after publishing?

Open HTML Pages, click Edit on a page. You get the native WordPress code editor for the HTML, a Version History panel to restore earlier saves, and a Files & Assets panel to add, replace, or delete the page’s images, CSS, JS, fonts and other files without re-uploading the HTML. Use Replace (rather than uploading a new file) to swap a file while keeping the same name, so existing references in your HTML keep working.

What happens if I upload a slug that already exists?

The upload is refused with a message explaining why, unless you tick Replace the existing page. With the box ticked the new HTML replaces the live page and the previous version is saved to the page’s version history. Automated workflows can allow overwrites with the htmlpp_allow_overwrite filter.

Can I lock down editing?

Yes. The standard DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT (or DISALLOW_FILE_MODS) constant in wp-config.php disables in-dashboard HTML editing, file changes, renaming and replacing existing pages, the same way it disables WordPress’s core file editor. Uploading new pages, duplicating and deleting remain available.

How do I use the subdomain feature?

Two steps:

  1. DNS: Add an A or CNAME record pointing your subdomain (e.g. sales.yourdomain.com) at the same server as your WordPress site.
  2. Web server: Configure your hosting to serve that subdomain from the same WordPress install. On shared hosting with cPanel this is typically an « addon domain » or « subdomain » option. On managed hosts, you may need to request it from support.

Then enter the hostname in HTML Pages Settings Subdomain. Pages will be served at https://sales.yourdomain.com/your-slug/ in addition to the regular prefix URL.

Is it safe to upload arbitrary HTML?

Only users with the manage_options capability (administrators by default) can upload pages. Uploaded HTML is served as-is, including any <script> tags it contains, so only upload HTML you trust.

Will uninstalling delete my pages?

No. Uninstalling removes the plugin’s settings but leaves the uploaded pages in wp-content/uploads/html-page-publisher/ (and their version-history snapshots in wp-content/uploads/html-page-publisher-backups/) intact, together with their metadata (draft status, custom paths, redirects) so a reinstall does not publish former drafts. Delete those folders and the htmlpp_pages, htmlpp_redirects and htmlpp_path_redirects options manually if you want everything gone.

Does this work with caching plugins or a CDN?

Yes. Pages are served before WordPress’s main query runs, with ETag and Last-Modified headers; conditional requests get a 304 Not Modified and HEAD requests are supported. The page HTML is sent with max-age=0, must-revalidate so edits show immediately; assets get one hour. To let a CDN cache the HTML itself, use the htmlpp_cache_max_age filter:

add_filter( 'htmlpp_cache_max_age', function ( $seconds, $file, $ext, $is_page ) { return $is_page ? 600 : $seconds; }, 10, 4 );

Can I add cleanup rules for another export format?

Yes. Rules are a named array of PCRE pattern/replacement pairs:

add_filter( 'htmlpp_sanitizer_rules', function ( $rules, $slug, $context ) { $rules['my-tool-banner'] = array( 'pattern' => '/<div class="made-with">.*?<\/div>/is', 'replacement' => '' ); return $rules; }, 10, 3 );

You can also unset() a built-in rule by its key (for example claude-design-cfasync-script) if it interferes with your markup.

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Contributors & Developers

“HTML Page Publisher” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

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Changelog

1.5.0

  • New: REST API at /wp-json/htmlpp/v1 — list, create/replace (JSON HTML or multipart HTML/ZIP + files), update HTML and settings, rename, duplicate, delete, files, version history and restore, preview links. Application-password or cookie+nonce auth; manage_options required.
  • New: WP-CLI — wp htmlpp list|get|publish|update|delete|duplicate|preview|files|versions|restore.
  • New: HTMLPP_Page_Service (htmlpp()->pages) — one API for every page operation, shared by the admin screens, REST and CLI. Add-ons should use it instead of the storage classes.
  • New: Claude Code plugin manifest and publish-to-wordpress skill in the repository.
  • Improved: Admin form handlers are thin wrappers over the service; sideloaded files (CLI) are validated exactly like uploads.

1.4.0

  • New: Upload a ZIP bundle (index.html + css/js/images/fonts in subfolders). Files keep their relative paths; executables are skipped and reported.
  • New: Any file type a page needs can be added in the Files & Assets panel — CSS, JS, fonts, video, PDF — not only images.
  • New: Drafts with shareable preview links (secret token; no login needed). Save as draft on upload or switch status in Page settings.
  • New: Custom paths — serve a page at /promo/ or as the site’s front page. Paths used by existing WordPress content are refused.
  • New: Global head/footer snippets (GA4, GTM, pixels, fonts, consent banners) injected into every published page at serve time, with a per-page opt-out.
  • New: SEO — pages are listed in the WordPress XML sitemap, can be marked noindex (X-Robots-Tag + meta), and get a canonical link when they lack one (toggle in Settings).
  • New: Rename a page’s slug (the old URL redirects with a 301) and duplicate a page as a new draft.
  • New: Pages list shows Draft / noindex badges and has a search filter.
  • New: Changing a page’s custom path keeps the old path redirecting; preview links can be reset; the front page mapping leaves WordPress’s own query-string routes (search, previews, REST, feeds) alone.
  • New: Hooks — htmlpp_page_meta, htmlpp_page_meta_defaults, htmlpp_page_meta_updated, htmlpp_page_status_changed, htmlpp_page_created, htmlpp_page_renamed, htmlpp_page_copied, htmlpp_page_duplicated, htmlpp_page_html, htmlpp_can_preview, htmlpp_zip_imported, htmlpp_assets_uploaded, htmlpp_asset_replaced, htmlpp_asset_deleted, htmlpp_sitemap_entries, htmlpp_reserved_paths, htmlpp_path_collides, htmlpp_home_reserved_query_vars, htmlpp_zip_allowed_extensions, htmlpp_zip_max_bytes, htmlpp_zip_max_files.
  • Security: ZIP entries are streamed under a size cap, names with executable intermediate extensions are refused, and every entry (not only text files) is scanned for PHP code. Blocked extensions now cover php3–php8, phtm, phps, phar, inc and shtml.
  • Improved: Deleting a page also removes redirects that pointed at it; uninstall keeps page metadata so a reinstall never publishes former drafts.
  • Improved: Links straight to /wp-content/uploads/html-page-publisher/... now redirect to the page’s real URL instead of breaking, and /pages/your-slug (no trailing slash) redirects only when your site’s permalinks use trailing slashes — otherwise the page is served with a <base> tag so its assets still resolve. Both are filterable (htmlpp_canonical_redirect).
  • Security: Publishing raw HTML now also requires the unfiltered_html capability, so a multisite site administrator cannot inject scripts a network administrator has not allowed. Override with htmlpp_require_unfiltered_html on hardened single-site installs.

1.3.0

  • Security: Pages are now only reachable at their public URL. The storage and version-history folders get an .htaccess that denies direct access, and Settings shows whether your web server honours it (with an nginx snippet if it does not).
  • New: Real caching headers — ETag, Last-Modified, conditional 304 responses and HEAD support — replacing the previous no-cache headers. Filterable via htmlpp_cache_max_age / htmlpp_cache_control.
  • New: /pages/slug now redirects to /pages/slug/ so relative asset references always resolve, and the page has a single canonical URL.
  • New: Uploading to an existing slug no longer silently overwrites the live page. Tick « Replace the existing page » to overwrite; the previous version is kept in the page’s history.
  • New: Pages list shows each page’s <title>.
  • New: Sanitizer rules are named and filterable (htmlpp_sanitizer_rules), and a rule that fails on very large exports can no longer blank the page.
  • New: Extension points for add-ons: htmlpp_loaded, htmlpp_upgraded, htmlpp_page_published, htmlpp_page_updated, htmlpp_page_deleted, htmlpp_before_serve, htmlpp_serve_headers, htmlpp_mime_map, htmlpp_allowed_asset_mimes, htmlpp_allow_overwrite, htmlpp_editing_disabled, htmlpp_htaccess_rules, htmlpp_home_path_candidates, and an htmlpp() accessor. htmlpp_sanitizer_rules and htmlpp_sanitize_html now also receive the slug and context.
  • New: The editor warns before you leave with unsaved changes.
  • Security: Version-history snapshots get unguessable filenames and their own protected folder.
  • Fixed: Pages are served on subdirectory WordPress installs (e.g. example.com/blog/).
  • Fixed: Percent-encoded page and asset URLs resolve correctly.
  • Fixed: Upload errors caused by PHP size limits are reported with the actual limit instead of a generic failure; per-image failures are listed instead of silently reported as success.
  • Fixed: Uploads work on hosts where the WordPress filesystem method is not « direct », and on Windows servers.
  • Fixed: Saving the editor after a browser refresh no longer re-submits the form (post/redirect/get).
  • Fixed: An editor submission larger than post_max_size is refused instead of wiping the page.
  • Improved: Admin previews of a page’s images load from the main domain, so they work before a subdomain’s DNS is live.
  • Improved: Readme and admin copy now describe accurately which tools are supported.
  • Compatibility: Tested up to WordPress 7.1.

1.2.1

  • Fixed: Other plugins’ admin notices no longer render inside the plugin’s hero header; they now appear below it via a .wp-header-end marker.
  • Compatibility: Tested up to WordPress 7.0.

1.2.0

  • New: In-browser HTML editor for published pages, using the native WordPress code editor (syntax highlighting). No FTP required.
  • New: Version history — every save snapshots the previous version; restore any earlier version with one click, and restoring is itself undoable. Retention is filterable via htmlpp_max_backups (default 10).
  • New: Per-page image management — add, replace, or delete a page’s images in place. Replace overwrites the original filename so existing HTML references keep working.
  • New: Editing respects DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT / DISALLOW_FILE_MODS, mirroring WordPress’s core file-editor lockdown.
  • Improved: Large or minified files automatically fall back to a plain text editor so the browser stays responsive; the editor is a fixed-height box that scrolls internally.
  • Security: Editing and image actions reuse the existing nonce, manage_options, MIME-whitelist, and realpath path-traversal protections; backups are stored outside the publicly served directory.

1.1.0

  • New: A one-time, dismissible request for a WordPress.org review, shown only after you have published a few pages.
  • New: Branded admin footer with author attribution, support, and donate links.
  • New: Contextual Help tab on plugin admin pages (Overview, FAQ, Support).
  • New: Settings and Donate links added to the WordPress plugins list (action links and row meta).
  • Improved: Refreshed hero design with a custom plugin icon.
  • Improved: Cleaner hero buttons with corner radius matching the rest of the admin UI.
  • Improved: Settings page icon updated to a clearer sliders icon.
  • Improved: Help / Screen Options bar repositioned below the hero for a cleaner layout.
  • Improved: Admin footer now flows naturally below content and stays visible on small screens.
  • Improved: Microcopy cleanup across admin strings.

1.0.0

  • Initial release.
  • Upload HTML + image assets via admin UI.
  • Automatic stripping of AI-export runtime wrappers.
  • Configurable URL prefix (default /pages/).
  • Optional subdomain routing.

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