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Classic Monks v1.2.0

April 28, 2026

v1.2.0 is our biggest leap forward yet. This release introduces 44 changes including 17 new options and features, 10 bug fixes, 7 enhancements, 5 changed workflows, and 5 security hardening updates.

The headline: Classic AI is live. A full workspace inside WordPress that handles generation, media editing, alt text automation, and deep Bricks Builder integration. We also shipped Live HTML to Bricks, rebuilt the Code Manager with CodeMirror, launched Form Desk for unified form entries, added Media File Renaming, expanded SMTP providers, and hardened security across login, assets, and AI media workflows.

Tested up to
WordPress Version: 6.9.4
WooCommerce Version: 10.7.0
Bricks Builder Version: 2.3.4

Classic AI Workspace

WordPress got smarter. Classic Monks now ships with a complete AI workspace built for agencies and developers.

Classic AI Panel: Added an AI agent that lives inside your WordPress admin bar, chat with it to manage posts, plugins, themes, users, and more. It uses 50+ built-in abilities to take action across your site. Configure your provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Ollama, or custom) and optionally connect a RAG knowledge base for site-aware answers. Requires WordPress 6.9+.
Bricks AI: Generate and refine Bricks Builder content directly inside Classic Monks, from copy to structure.
AI Media Workflows: Generate and edit images inside WordPress media tools, with a standalone editor and Bricks Builder asset loading.
AI Alt Text Generator: Batch-generate alt text from the media library with inline tooling and Bricks integration for faster accessibility compliance.

Live HTML to Bricks & Builder Power-Ups

Converting external designs into Bricks layouts is now native.

Live HTML to Bricks: A dedicated sync panel converts HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into living Bricks layouts.
BEM Generator: Auto-generate BEM classes for cleaner, more consistent naming workflows.
CSS Auto-Wrapping: Scope custom CSS automatically so styles do not leak across elements.
CSS Autocomplete: Smart autocomplete inside Bricks for faster, error-free styling.
SVG to Image Converter: Right-click any SVG in Bricks and convert it to a raster image asset instantly.
WooCommerce Dynamic Tags: New dynamic data tags for richer product templates inside Bricks.

Form Desk: Unified Form Submissions

No more bouncing between plugins to review leads.

Form Desk (formerly Form Entries) is a multi-provider submissions manager for Bricks Forms and Fluent Forms — view, manage, and organize entries from one admin interface. We also hardened the protected Read column to prevent state-related admin errors.

Code Manager Rebuilt

Writing custom code inside WordPress now feels like a real IDE.

CodeMirror-powered editing with syntax highlighting, autocomplete, and single-snippet export.
Import improvements: Better native imports plus support for migrating from the Code Snippets plugin.
Expanded hook options and a simplified PHP hook selector (legacy auto-detection removed for clarity).
Fixed: False conflict warnings during snippet edits, autocomplete stability, and general editor friction.

Media & Asset Improvements

Cleaner libraries, safer conversions, and more control.

Media File Renaming: Rename assets directly from the media library for better organization and SEO-friendly filenames.
Image Converter: Reworked for stronger reliability, correct WordPress thumbnail sizing, clearer progress feedback, and better Replace Media compatibility. New option to preserve or strip EXIF metadata on conversion.
Assets Manager: Improved unloading logic, user bypass handling, and frontend performance. Fixed page-builder conflicts, empty plugin groups, and bulk search initialization errors.

Email & Login Reliability

More providers, safer delivery, and flexible branding.

New SMTP Providers: Resend and Emailit added, with API key authentication, improved sender detection, richer logging, and retry queue processing for fewer stalled workflows.
Login Customization: Load custom CSS on the login page and center your logo with a new toggle.
Custom Login URL: Added URL whitelist support so approved third-party login flows (SSO, membership plugins) are not blocked.

Under the Hood: Performance & Security

Post Revisions: Cleaner UI and optimized backend handling for revision cleanup.
WooCommerce Checkout: Smarter Place Order button icon handling that respects dynamic payment gateway updates.
Math Captcha: Token-based validation prevents answer tampering.
Encryption Keys: Fallback validation now blocks insecure default key usage.
Assets Manager: Sanitized CSS class handling and regex timeout protection against XSS and ReDoS.
AI Media Tools: Hardened request handling, model validation, and compatibility checks.
Login Security: Improved logout handling and lockout behavior for more reliable protection.

Full Changelog

Classic AI: Added an AI agent that lives inside your WordPress admin bar — chat with it to manage posts, plugins, themes, users, and more. It uses 50+ built-in abilities to take action across your site. Configure your provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Ollama, or custom) and optionally connect a RAG knowledge base for site-aware answers. Requires WordPress 6.9+.Added

Bricks AI: Added an AI assistant that runs inside the Bricks Builder editor. Build mode - generates HTML and CSS for your layouts using design tokens from your theme. Ask mode - answers questions about a Bricks section. Both modes stream responses in real time and support image attachments for visual context.Added

AI Media Workflows: Added AI image generation and editing directly inside WordPress media tools, including standalone editor support and Bricks Builder asset loading.Added

AI Alt Text Generator: Added batch alt text generation with inline media-library tooling and Bricks Builder integration for faster accessibility improvements.Added

Form Desk: Added a multi-provider form submissions manager — aggregates submissions from Bricks and Fluent Forms into one admin workspace. Includes a Unified Inbox with search, filters, and status tracking; a Kanban Pipeline for visual drag-and-drop workflow (Inbox → In Progress → Replied → Closed); and Collaboration tools for email replies, internal notes, user assignment, and bulk actions.Added

Live HTML to Bricks: Added a native Bricks Builder sync panel for converting and syncing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into Bricks layouts — with an Import panel that lets you validate and insert generated code in four modes: Append, Prepend, Replace target, or Replace entire page root.Added

Bricks BEM Generator: Added BEM class generation for faster, more consistent Bricks Builder class naming workflows.Added

Bricks CSS Auto-Wrapping: Added automatic CSS wrapping to help scope custom CSS more safely in Bricks Builder.Added

Bricks CSS Autocomplete: Added smart CSS autocomplete for faster styling inside Bricks Builder workflows.Added

SVG to Image Converter: Added Bricks Builder context menu conversion for turning SVG elements into image assets.Added

WooCommerce Dynamic Tags: Added new WooCommerce dynamic data tags for richer Bricks Builder templates.Added

Code Manager: Added CodeMirror-powered editing with syntax highlighting, autocomplete, single-snippet export, improved imports, Code Snippets plugin import support, and expanded hook options.Added

Media File Renaming: Added media file renaming tools for cleaner asset organization and filename management.Added

Email Manager: Added Resend and Emailit SMTP providers, API key authentication, improved sender detection, richer logging, and retry queue processing.Added

Image Converter: Added a preserve metadata option so users can choose whether converted images retain EXIF data.Added

Custom Login URL: Added URL whitelist support so approved third-party login flows can bypass custom login blocking safely.Added

Form Entries: Renamed Form Entries to Form Desk across the admin interface for clearer product naming.Changed

Plugin Updates: Adjusted the plugin update disabler so manual plugin updates remain available when automatic updates are restricted.Changed

License Usage: Changed license usage display to a term-based progress meter for clearer subscription status.Changed

Admin Settings: Reorganized core, performance, and Bricks settings into clearer groups for faster navigation.Changed

Code Manager: Simplified PHP snippet hook selection by removing automatic hook detection and legacy hook location options.Changed

Image Converter: Reworked conversion workflows for better reliability, accurate completion states, correct WordPress thumbnail sizing, clearer progress feedback, and stronger Replace Media compatibility.Improved

Assets Manager: Improved asset unloading, user bypass handling, disabled asset tab updates, and frontend performance behavior.Improved

Email Reliability: Improved validation, structured error handling, cron reliability, and retry queue scheduling to reduce failed or stalled delivery workflows.Improved

Admin Interface: Improved toast notifications, confirmation dialogs, chart components, condition builder controls, nested option layouts, and status feedback across admin pages.Improved

Bricks Builder: Improved auto-scroll slider reliability, reused form field labels, active element highlighting, and builder settings organization.Improved

Post Revisions: Improved revision cleanup with a clearer admin UI and optimized backend handling.Improved

WooCommerce Checkout: Improved custom Place Order button icon handling for dynamic payment gateway updates.Improved

Public Preview Links: Fixed preview links that could open the homepage instead of the selected post.Fixed

White Label Toolbar: Fixed frontend loading for white-label toolbar customizations.Fixed

Settings Import: Fixed import validation and error handling for safer settings restores.Fixed

Code Manager: Fixed false conflict warnings when editing an existing snippet, autocomplete stability issues, and editor flow friction.Fixed

Form Desk: Fixed the protected Read column so system-managed entry state does not cause admin errors.Fixed

Assets Manager: Fixed page builder conflicts, empty plugin groups, bulk plugin search initialization errors, and display clarity issues.Fixed

Plugin Manager: Fixed bulk plugin search initialization to prevent console errors when navigating between admin pages.Fixed

Media Workflows: Fixed premature success messages, incorrect progress percentages, empty preview fallback text, and AI media model naming issues.Fixed

Image Converter: Fixed generated thumbnail sizing so WordPress media settings are respected instead of forcing fixed dimensions.Fixed

System Compatibility: Fixed PHP compatibility and error handling issues for more reliable operation across hosting environments.Fixed

Math Captcha: Improved captcha validation with token-based checks to prevent answer tampering.Security

Encryption Keys: Improved fallback validation to prevent insecure default key usage.Security

Assets Manager: Sanitized CSS class handling and added regex timeout protection to reduce XSS and ReDoS risk.Security

AI Media Tools: Hardened request handling, model validation, and compatibility checks for safer AI media operations.Security

Special Thanks

This release was improved thanks to detailed feedback and bug reports from our community:

Emmanuel SOYER – Bug reports: White-label “Replace WordPress Admin Bar Logo” setting not applying on the frontend, and Custom Login URL preventing users from logging out of WP Admin.

Jonathan Moreno – Bug reports: Custom Login URL logout flow keeping users logged in, and Login Lockdown incorrectly locking users after valid credentials.

Lucile Collignon – Bug reports: Settings import failing with “Invalid JSON data”, and Replace Media image replacement not working correctly.

Karlo Rivera Velasquez – Bug report: CM settings import failing when moving exported settings from a blueprint site to a live site Forum #51.

Yann Ott – Feature requests: Login Header CSS snippet location and centered login logo support Forum #50, plus Code Manager AJAX save, syntax highlighting, and autocomplete improvements Forum #32.

Shimon Lemonade – Feature request: Revision count visibility and revision cleanup controls Forum #45.

Vid Tutek – Bug report: “Disable automatic updates” preventing manual plugin updates instead of only disabling background updates.

Your detailed reports, videos, and screenshots have been instrumental in identifying and resolving issues across login security, settings import, code management, revision cleanup, media replacement, and white-label customization.