BackupsFree + Pro
Duplicator MCP: which backups finished, failed or stalled
Duplicator packs a site into one archive with an installer, built from a browser tab in wp-admin. The Duplicator MCP abilities read what those builds produced, so an AI client can say whether the newest one completed, which failed or were cancelled, and how large each archive was. Both reads are in GoBuildWP Free. Since no edition can start a Duplicator build, Pro adds little here: a trigger that refuses Duplicator by name, and the fresh-backup hold a completed build satisfies.
Requires Duplicator Free 5.0+; read-only coverage. Duplicator Pro is unsupported.
I just built a Duplicator backup before the migration. Did it finish?
wppilot/backup-statusReadShows one build in progress, started four minutes ago, and the last complete build from last week.
wppilot/backup-listReadA few minutes later, the newest row reads complete with its archive size.
wppilot/backup-statusReadThe newest complete build is now today's, which also satisfies the fresh-backup check if the site requires one.
- Edition
- Free 2 + Pro 1
- Abilities
- 3
- Requires
- WordPress 6.9+, PHP 8.0+
What Duplicator records
Why Duplicator is read-only here
Duplicator's free edition builds a backup in steps driven by the browser tab that started it, and it has no schedule. There is no call a server-side request can make to begin one, so the trigger ability refuses Duplicator by name instead of pretending it queued something.
Reading is complete, though. Each backup comes back with its state from Duplicator's own table: complete, still building, failed or cancelled. Both reads are in GoBuildWP Free. A completed Duplicator backup counts for GoBuildWP Pro's fresh-backup check exactly as an UpdraftPlus or BackWPup one does, so a site that only runs Duplicator can still hold risky calls until someone builds one.
Duplicator stores creation times in UTC; answers give the site timezone and UTC side by side. Duplicator Pro and Duplicator releases before 5.0 keep their records differently and are not read.
Data model
One table and a status number
Duplicator records every backup as a row in its duplicator_backups table, read through Duplicator's own package class. Each row carries a status number: 100 is complete, anything from 0 to 99 is a build still in progress, and a negative value is a failure or a cancellation. That number is the whole verdict, and it is exact for every row, old or new.
Archive size is reported only for completed builds, since a partial or failed build has no archive worth measuring. On a multisite network the table sits under the network's base prefix, so there is one list for the whole network.
Abilities
The backup abilities when Duplicator is the provider
| Ability | What it does here | Undo and limits |
|---|---|---|
backup-statusFree | The newest build and its state, the newest complete one, and up to five builds still in progress, each with site-time and UTC timestamps. | Read-only. There is no next scheduled run, because the free edition has no schedule. |
backup-listFree | Builds newest first with complete, building, failed or cancelled, the time created and the archive size of completed ones. | Read-only. Duplicator Pro and releases before its current namespaced rewrite keep records differently and are not read. |
backup-triggerPro | Names Duplicator as a provider that cannot be started server-side. | Always refused for Duplicator. Build the backup from Duplicator's Backups screen in wp-admin. |
Reference: /docs/reference/backups
Shared module across these plugins; do not add this count across them. Edition and effect labels describe the source catalogue. The installed schema, dependency versions, licence, WordPress capability, safety profile and per-ability policy determine availability; labels alone do not prove confirmation or recovery.
Read example: wppilot/backup-status
Discover this ability and its live schema first. The input below illustrates a bounded read from the source declaration; replace the example ID or name with an object returned by your site. It is not a recorded execution result.
| Parameter | Type and meaning |
|---|---|
provider | string, one of updraftplus, duplicator, backwpup, ai1wm. Only this backup plugin. Defaults to every active one. |
{
"provider": "duplicator"
}Input and output schema from the plugin source
1 input field. Required: none; see schema alternatives and runtime validation. Optional parameters can affect response size and object selection.
{
"input": {
"type": "object",
"default": [],
"properties": {
"provider": {
"type": "string",
"enum": [
"updraftplus",
"duplicator",
"backwpup",
"ai1wm"
],
"description": "Only this backup plugin. Defaults to every active one."
}
},
"additionalProperties": false
},
"output": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"active_providers": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"supported_providers": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"providers": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "object"
}
},
"newest_successful_backup": {
"type": [
"object",
"null"
]
}
}
}
}Source: wppilot/includes/kits/backup-status/src/abilities/backup-status.php
A successful read should identify the requested object and expose the structure described by the output schema. Compare it with the native editor before proposing a change. Troubleshoot missing or refused operations.
Limits
Where Duplicator stops the agent
- Status reads vendor records, including the documented Lite-record limit. A complete record does not prove a usable off-site copy or a successful files/database restore; rehearse restoration separately. These abilities do not download, restore or delete packages.
- No backup can be started from an AI client: Duplicator builds in steps driven by the wp-admin tab that began them.
- Scheduled backups are a Duplicator Pro feature, and Duplicator Pro's records are not read here.
- Nothing is downloaded, restored or deleted, and no archive path or installer link is returned.
- With GoBuildWP Pro's Require a fresh backup on and only Duplicator active, a person has to build a backup before held calls can run.
Worked example
Confirming a build someone started by hand
Expected outcome to verify on the installed stack; this sequence has not been recorded as a runtime test.
You know Duplicator records a completed pre-migration build and the size it reported. That record is not proof the archive file is still present or that it restores, so check the file in Duplicator's screen and test it before the migration. If the row had turned negative, it would read failed or cancelled, and the build would need running again from wp-admin.
This is read-only Duplicator Free 5.0+ coverage; Duplicator Pro is unsupported. Two usable reads and the backup-policy integration do not mean three backup actions. A reported complete state and archive size do not prove archive existence or successful restore.
backup-statusShows one build in progress, started four minutes ago, and the last complete build from last week.
backup-listA few minutes later, the newest row reads complete with its archive size.
backup-statusThe newest complete build is now today's, which also satisfies the fresh-backup check if the site requires one.
Duplicator in a working session
Dividing the work: a person builds, the agent checks
Because a Duplicator build cannot be started from an AI client, the useful pattern is a hand-off. Before a migration, a theme switch or a bulk content change, the agent asks for a backup and stops. Someone opens Duplicator's Backups screen and builds one. The agent then reads backup-status until the newest row reads complete, notes the archive size and the time in both the site timezone and UTC, and only then carries on with the risky part of the job.
Two readings deserve a second look. A build that is still in the building range long after it started has usually stopped making progress, for example because the tab that drove it was closed; check Duplicator's own screen rather than waiting on the agent. And an archive much smaller than the previous complete build is worth questioning before relying on it, since a changed filter or excluded folder in Duplicator's settings can produce a backup that is complete but leaves out what you meant to protect.
Pairing Duplicator with a scheduled backup plugin
Duplicator Free is good at the one-off archive and installer used to move or clone a site, and it has no schedule. Many owners therefore run it next to a plugin that does back up on a timer, such as UpdraftPlus or BackWPup. GoBuildWP reads all of them at once: backup-status reports each active provider separately and names the newest successful backup across them, so an agent can say both when the last nightly backup ran and whether a fresh Duplicator archive exists for today's migration.
That pairing also changes how GoBuildWP Pro's fresh-backup hold behaves. With only Duplicator active, a held destructive call waits until a person builds an archive. With a scheduled plugin beside it, the hold can be satisfied by the overnight run, and on Pro the agent can start that plugin's backup itself with backup-trigger, passing provider because more than one backup plugin is active. Choose deliberately: an automatic route is convenient, while on a Duplicator-only site a held call waits for a person to build an archive. That applies only while the hold is switched on and the call falls inside it; it is not a general guarantee that a person reviews every destructive change.
- Neither read returns archive paths or installer links, so downloading or restoring stays in Duplicator's screens.
- Duplicator Pro records are not read; on a Pro site the agent will report no Duplicator backups even when some exist.
Questions
Duplicator questions
Can an AI agent run a Duplicator backup?
No. Duplicator has no server-side way to begin a build, so the trigger refuses it by name. Start the build in wp-admin and let the agent confirm it afterwards.
What does a negative Duplicator status mean?
The build failed or was cancelled. The answer names which, and such a build never counts as a backup.
Does the agent read Duplicator Pro backups?
No. Duplicator Pro stores its records differently and is not supported by this module.
Why are Duplicator times shown twice?
Duplicator stores times in UTC. Answers give the site's local time and UTC together so neither is misread.
Where these facts come from
GoBuildWP behaviour is taken from the plugin source and the ability reference; third-party details from the vendor documentation below, checked by the GoBuildWP team.
Duplicator is a separate product; no partnership or endorsement is implied.