Title: RangerHQ Buddy
Author: David Keane
Published: <strong>June 10, 2026</strong>
Last modified: June 10, 2026

---

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![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/rangerhq-buddy.svg)

# RangerHQ Buddy

 By [David Keane](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ir240474/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/rangerhq-buddy.0.1.5.zip)

 * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/rangerhq-buddy/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/rangerhq-buddy/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/rangerhq-buddy/#installation)
 * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/rangerhq-buddy/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/rangerhq-buddy/)

## Description

Adopt a small virtual companion that lives in your WordPress admin. Right now Buddy
just exists — they bob, they blink, they show their mood. As the plugin grows, their
stats will come to reflect how well you take care of your WordPress site itself:
published posts feed them, outdated plugins make them sick, clearing spam makes 
them happy.

**Gamifies WordPress maintenance with a bit of charm.**

#### What it does today

 * Dashboard widget shows your Buddy with name, mood, and four stat bars (hunger,
   happiness, health, energy).
 * Dedicated Buddy admin page for the bigger view, with the same character and stats.
 * Settings page where you can rename your Buddy.
 * Each WP admin user gets their own Buddy stored per-user in `user_meta`. Nothing
   leaves your site database.
 * About page explaining the plugin and the roadmap.

#### What it does not do yet

 * No interactions — feed, play, clean, sleep are coming in Phase B.
 * No time-based stat decay yet — that is Phase C.
 * Only one species available right now — Phase D will add a dog, dragon, sprite,
   and more.
 * The headline feature — having Buddy stats reflect your actual WP site health (
   post counts, outdated plugins, spam queue) — is Phase E.

#### Privacy

RangerHQ Buddy stores its data per-user in the WordPress `user_meta` table on your
own site. No data is sent anywhere. No telemetry. No third-party JavaScript. No 
external services are contacted except the update checker, which queries the public
Gitea release endpoint at git.davidtkeane.com to see if a new version is available.

#### About the RangerHQ family

RangerHQ Buddy is part of the RangerHQ plugin family by David Keane. Sister plugins
include RangerHQ Radio (an admin-only internet radio player) and the upcoming RangerHQ
Logbook.

## Installation

 1. WordPress admin  Plugins  Add New  search for “RangerHQ Buddy”  Install Now  Activate.
 2. Look for the paw-print icon in the admin sidebar (between Comments and your plugin
    entries).
 3. Click Buddy  My Buddy to meet your new companion.
 4. Visit Buddy  Settings to rename them.

That is it. There is no configuration required.

## FAQ

### Is each user’s Buddy private?

Yes. Buddy is stored per-user in `user_meta`. Other admins on the same site cannot
see your Buddy, and you cannot see theirs.

### Does Buddy send any data off my site?

No. The plugin stores everything in your own WordPress database. The only outbound
network call is the update checker which queries the public Gitea release endpoint
at git.davidtkeane.com to check for new versions. No personal data is sent.

### Will Buddy slow down my site?

No. The plugin only loads on admin pages, never on the public front end. It uses
inline SVG (no image files) and a small CSS file. There is no JavaScript framework
involved.

### Can I have more than one Buddy?

Not yet. Phase D will add a species picker (dog, dragon, sprite, etc.) but each 
user will still have one Buddy at a time.

### When will Buddy react to my site’s actual health?

That is Phase E on the roadmap. For now Buddy’s stats just persist. Time-based decay
is Phase C, interactions are Phase B.

### Is the source code open?

Yes. The plugin is GPL v2 or later and the full source is published on Gitea at 
git.davidtkeane.com/ranger/rangerhq-buddy. You can inspect every line.

## Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

## Contributors & Developers

“RangerHQ Buddy” is open source software. The following people have contributed 
to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ David Keane ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ir240474/)

[Translate “RangerHQ Buddy” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/rangerhq-buddy)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/rangerhq-buddy/), check
out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/rangerhq-buddy/), or 
subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/rangerhq-buddy/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/rangerhq-buddy/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 0.1.5

 * Moved the About page inline `<style>` block into the enqueued `buddy.css` stylesheet
   per WordPress.org reviewer feedback.
 * Replaced inline `style="..."` attributes on the Settings form, Settings name 
   heading, and main admin page description with proper CSS classes. The only remaining
   inline style is the dynamic stat-bar `width:%d%%` value in the Dashboard widget,
   which is runtime data.

#### 0.1.4

 * Renamed to RangerHQ Buddy as part of the RangerHQ plugin family naming convention.
 * Updated Plugin URI and Author URI to davidtkeane.com.
 * Added LICENSE file with full GPL v2 text.
 * Added WordPress.org format readme.txt.
 * Removed the self-hosted Gitea updater. WordPress.org-hosted plugins use the core
   update system instead.
 * Cleaned up Plugin Check (PCP) findings — text domain alignment, output escaping,
   translator comments, replaced mt_rand with wp_rand for better randomness.

#### 0.1.3

 * Wink animation rebuilt as a real CSS animation, no longer sticks.

#### 0.1.2

 * Early development release.

#### 0.1.1

 * Early development release.

#### 0.1.0

 * First release — per-user state, dashboard widget, dedicated admin page, settings
   page with rename support, about page.

## Meta

 *  Version **0.1.5**
 *  Last updated **8 hours ago**
 *  Active installations **Fewer than 10**
 *  WordPress version ** 5.0 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **7.0**
 *  PHP version ** 7.4 or higher **
 * Tags
 * [dashboard](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/dashboard/)[fun](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/fun/)
   [gamification](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/gamification/)[pet](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/pet/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/rangerhq-buddy/advanced/)

## Ratings

No reviews have been submitted yet.

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/rangerhq-buddy/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/rangerhq-buddy/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ David Keane ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ir240474/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/rangerhq-buddy/)