Fix Plugins dropping to native page after activating a plugin (v2.7.2)

Unlike Posts/Pages/Media/Users/Comments, Plugins only ever had its
sidebar link rewritten (MenuSerializer.php) — there was no
redirect_native_pages() case for direct visits to plugins.php itself.
WordPress's own post-activate/post-install redirect
(wp_redirect(self_admin_url('plugins.php?activate=true'))) is exactly
that: a direct visit with no ?page= param, landing on the true native
page until the sidebar link was clicked again.

Added the missing case, gated by modern_plugins like the others,
redirecting to plugins.php?page=aurora-admin-plugins to match the URL
the sidebar link itself already uses.

Verified live by visiting plugins.php?activate=true directly (the
exact URL WP's own redirect produces) — now lands on the Aurora page
correctly, confirmed with FileBird Lite showing Active in the list.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <[email protected]>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,20 @@ version bump. Starts at 2.1.0 — earlier history (the theming rebuild,
 window chrome/taskbar, Site Editor support, etc.) lives in `git log` and
 `PROJECT_STATUS.md`, not reconstructed here.
 
+## [2.7.2] - 2026-07-05
+
+### Fixed
+- Installing/activating a plugin dropped back to the native WordPress
+  Plugins page instead of staying in Aurora's UI, until the sidebar's
+  "Plugins" link was clicked again. Unlike Posts/Pages/Media/Users/
+  Comments, Plugins only ever had its sidebar *link* rewritten
+  (`MenuSerializer.php`) — there was no `redirect_native_pages()` case
+  for direct visits to `plugins.php`, which is exactly what WordPress's
+  own post-activate/post-install redirect does
+  (`wp_redirect(self_admin_url('plugins.php?activate=true'))`, no
+  `?page=` param). Added the missing case, matching the pattern already
+  used for the other four pages.
+
 ## [2.7.1] - 2026-07-05
 
 ### Fixed

PROJECT_STATUS.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Aurora Admin v2 — Project Status
 
-_Last updated: 2026-07-05 (latest session — fixed white native form fields on classic edit screens, e.g. Edit Media's title field)_
+_Last updated: 2026-07-05 (latest session — fixed Plugins dropping to the native page after activating a plugin)_
 
 ## What this project is
 
@@ -766,6 +766,29 @@ replacement — there's no native WP file browser to redirect from).
 
 ## Key bugs fixed (root causes, in case they resurface)
 
+- **Plugins dropped to the native page after activating a plugin**: user
+  installed FileBird and it "defaulted back to WordPress plugins page
+  until I clicked on plugins from the menu." Root cause: unlike Posts/
+  Pages/Media/Users/Comments, Plugins was originally built with *only* a
+  `MenuSerializer.php` link rewrite (the sidebar's own "Plugins" link
+  pointed at the Aurora page) — it never got a `redirect_native_pages()`
+  case for direct visits to `plugins.php` itself. WordPress's own
+  post-activate/post-install redirect
+  (`wp_redirect(self_admin_url('plugins.php?activate=true'))`) is exactly
+  that: a direct visit with no `?page=` param, bypassing the rewritten
+  sidebar link entirely and landing on the true native page — fixed only
+  once the user next clicked the sidebar link themselves. Added the
+  missing `redirect_native_pages()` case, gated by `modern_plugins` like
+  the others, redirecting to `plugins.php?page=aurora-admin-plugins` (not
+  `admin.php?page=...`, to match the URL the sidebar link itself already
+  uses). Verified live by visiting `plugins.php?activate=true` directly
+  (the exact URL WP's own redirect produces) — now lands on the Aurora
+  page correctly. **If a similarly "sidebar-link-only" page ever gets
+  reported as dropping to native after some WP-core-triggered redirect,
+  check `redirect_native_pages()` for a missing case first** — this is
+  the second time that exact gap has caused a bug (Plugins now fixed;
+  worth double-checking Comments/Posts/Pages/Media/Users don't have
+  similar missed redirect sources, e.g. bulk actions, if this resurfaces).
 - **White native form fields on classic (non-block-editor) screens**: user
   reported "a lot of endpoints still linking back to the original
   WordPress dashboard [look]" — investigation landed on the Edit Media

admin/src/Pages/SubApps.php

@@ -142,6 +142,25 @@ class SubApps
       return;
     }
 
+    // Settings > Plugins > "Modern plugins page". Unlike the others below,
+    // this one was previously only handled by MenuSerializer rewriting the
+    // sidebar's own link — direct visits to plugins.php never redirected,
+    // which is exactly what WordPress's own post-activate/post-install
+    // redirect does (wp_redirect(self_admin_url('plugins.php?activate=true'))
+    // — no ?page= param, so it always landed on the true native page,
+    // fixed only once the user next clicked the (correctly rewritten)
+    // sidebar link themselves. Redirects to plugins.php?page=... (not
+    // admin.php?page=...) to match the URL admin_url("plugins.php?page=
+    // aurora-admin-plugins") that the sidebar link itself already uses.
+    if (
+      $pagenow === "plugins.php" &&
+      current_user_can("activate_plugins") &&
+      Settings::get("modern_plugins", true)
+    ) {
+      wp_safe_redirect(admin_url("plugins.php?page=aurora-admin-plugins"));
+      exit;
+    }
+
     // Settings > Comments > "Modern comments page" — previously always
     // redirected regardless of this setting; default true so existing
     // installs keep their current behavior until explicitly turned off.

app/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "aurora-admin-app",
-  "version": "2.7.1",
+  "version": "2.7.2",
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {

aurora-admin.php

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  * Plugin Name: Aurora Admin
  * Plugin URI: https://aurora.co
  * Description: A modern, fast WordPress admin interface.
- * Version: 2.7.1
+ * Version: 2.7.2
  * Author: Aurora
  * Text Domain: aurora-admin
  * Domain Path: /languages/
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 defined("ABSPATH") || exit();
 
-define("AURORA_ADMIN_VERSION", "2.7.1");
+define("AURORA_ADMIN_VERSION", "2.7.2");
 define("AURORA_ADMIN_PATH", plugin_dir_path(__FILE__));
 define("AURORA_ADMIN_URL", plugins_url("aurora-admin/"));