Website Monitoring Dashboard for Publishers and Multi-Site Owners

DashCanopy

Install & Configure Guide

Step-by-step instructions for connecting your WordPress site and browser to DashCanopy. No technical experience required.

WordPress Plugin v1.2.1

Sends live visitor counts, revenue, and blog stats from your WordPress site to your DashCanopy dashboard automatically.

Download ZIP
Chrome Extension v1.3

Shows live uptime, AI health grade, visitors, and revenue for any monitored site right in your browser toolbar.

Chrome Web Store

What you'll need before starting

  • A DashCanopy account (free at dashcanopy.com)
  • At least one site added to your DashCanopy dashboard
  • Your DashCanopy API key (found in Settings → API & Extension)
  • For the WordPress plugin: admin access to your WordPress site
  • For the Chrome extension: Google Chrome browser (v88 or later)

WordPress Plugin

Automatic stats sync — no code required

Step 1 — Download the Plugin

Get the latest version of the DashCanopy plugin

The DashCanopy plugin is available from two places. Choose whichever is easiest for you:

Option A — WordPress.org (Recommended)

Search for "DashCanopy" directly inside your WordPress admin panel. This is the easiest method and keeps the plugin auto-updated.

No download needed — install directly from WP admin.

Option B — Direct ZIP Download

Download the ZIP file and upload it manually. Use this if your WordPress site doesn't have internet access or you prefer manual installs.

Download dashcanopy-v1.2.1.zip
Tip: If you're using Option A (WordPress.org), the plugin may not appear in search results until it has been reviewed and approved. In the meantime, use Option B (direct ZIP download) to install it manually.

Step 2 — Install & Activate

Upload and enable the plugin in your WordPress admin

Method A — Install from WordPress.org (Search)

1

Log in to your WordPress admin panel

Go to https://yoursite.com/wp-admin and log in with your administrator credentials.
2

Navigate to Plugins → Add New

In the left sidebar, hover over Plugins and click Add New Plugin.
3

Search for "DashCanopy"

Type DashCanopy in the search box in the top-right corner of the page and press Enter.
4

Click Install Now

Find the DashCanopy plugin in the results (look for the green logo). Click the Install Now button next to it.
5

Click Activate

After installation completes, the button changes to Activate. Click it. The plugin is now active.

Method B — Upload ZIP manually

1

Download the ZIP file

Click the download button above to save dashcanopy-wordpress-plugin-v1.2.1.zip to your computer. Do not unzip it.
2

Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin

In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin.
3

Click "Upload Plugin"

At the top of the page, click the Upload Plugin button (next to "Add Plugins").
4

Choose the ZIP file

Click Choose File, navigate to where you saved the ZIP, and select it. Then click Install Now.
5

Activate the plugin

After the upload completes, click Activate Plugin. The plugin is now active.
Heads up: If you see an error like "The package could not be installed", make sure your ZIP file is not corrupted and that your WordPress file permissions allow uploads. Contact your hosting provider if the issue persists.

Step 3 — Configure the Plugin

Connect the plugin to your DashCanopy account

1

Find your DashCanopy API key

Log in to your DashCanopy dashboard and go to Settings → API & Extension. Your API key starts with dck_ and is a long string of letters and numbers.

Heads up: Keep your API key private. Never share it publicly or commit it to a public code repository. Anyone with your API key can push data to your DashCanopy account.
2

Open the DashCanopy settings page in WordPress

In your WordPress admin, go to Settings → DashCanopy. You'll see the DashCanopy settings panel with a green logo.
3

Paste your API key

In the DashCanopy API Key field, paste the key you copied from your dashboard. The field accepts keys starting with dck_.
4

Click Save & Register Site

Click the green Save & Register Site button. The plugin will:
  • Validate your API key
  • Register this WordPress site with your DashCanopy account
  • Schedule automatic stats pushes every 5 minutes
5

Confirm the connection status

After saving, the page will reload and show a green "Connected to DashCanopy" badge at the top. You'll also see your Site ID and the timestamp of the last successful push.
Tip: If you see a yellow "API key saved — site not yet registered" warning, double-check that your API key is correct and that your server can make outbound HTTP requests to dashcanopy.com.

Step 4 — Verify It's Working

Confirm stats are flowing to your dashboard

1

Click "Send Test Push"

On the DashCanopy settings page in WordPress, click the Send Test Push button. This immediately sends your current site stats to DashCanopy without waiting for the next scheduled push.
2

Open your DashCanopy dashboard

Switch to your DashCanopy dashboard tab and find the tile for this WordPress site.
3

Check the stats

Within 10–30 seconds, the tile should show:
  • Visitor count for today
  • Revenue total (if WooCommerce or EDD is installed)
  • Number of published posts
  • Last post date
  • Server response time
4

Check the debug info card

Scroll down on the DashCanopy settings page in WordPress to the Debug Info card. It shows the next scheduled cron push time, your PHP version, WordPress version, and whether an object cache is active.
Note: Stats are pushed every 5 minutes via WP-Cron. WP-Cron only fires when someone visits your site, so if your site has very low traffic, pushes may be delayed. Consider using a real cron job instead — see the Advanced section below.

Step 5 — Advanced Options

Optional configuration for power users

Replace WP-Cron with a real server cron job

WP-Cron is "fake" — it only runs when someone visits your site. For reliable 5-minute pushes, disable WP-Cron and set up a real cron job on your server:

1

Disable WP-Cron in wp-config.php

Add this line to your wp-config.php file, above the line that says /* That's all, stop editing! */:
php
define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);
2

Add a real cron job

In your hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, or SSH), add a cron job that runs every 5 minutes:
bash
*/5 * * * * wget -q -O - https://yoursite.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron >/dev/null 2>&1
Replace yoursite.com with your actual domain.

Shopify snippet (if you also have a Shopify store)

The DashCanopy WordPress plugin includes a Shopify tab in its settings page. This tab shows you the exact snippet to paste into your Shopify theme to track visitor and order stats there too.

1

Go to Settings → DashCanopy in WordPress

Scroll down to the Shopify Store Integration card.
2

Copy the snippet

Click Copy Snippet. The snippet is pre-filled with your API key.
3

Paste it into your Shopify theme

In Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes → Edit Code. Open theme.liquid and paste the snippet just before the closing </body> tag. Save.

Multisite networks

On a WordPress Multisite network, activate the plugin per site (not network-wide). Each subsite gets its own DashCanopy tile with its own API key. The debug info card shows the current blog ID so you can match each subsite to its tile.

Disconnect the plugin

To disconnect the plugin from DashCanopy (e.g., before transferring the site to a client), click the red Disconnect button on the settings page. This removes the API key and stops all pushes. It does not delete data from your DashCanopy dashboard.

WordPress Plugin — FAQ

Common questions and answers

Chrome Extension

Live site stats in your browser toolbar

Step 1 — Install the Extension

Add DashCanopy to your Chrome browser

Option A — Chrome Web Store (Recommended)

Install directly from the Chrome Web Store. Gets automatic updates and is the easiest method.

Open Chrome Web Store

Option B — Manual Install (Developer Mode)

Download the ZIP and load it unpacked. Use this if the Chrome Web Store listing isn't live yet.

Download extension-v1.3.zip

Method A — Chrome Web Store

1

Open the Chrome Web Store listing

Click the Open Chrome Web Store button above, or search for "DashCanopy" in the Chrome Web Store.
2

Click "Add to Chrome"

On the extension listing page, click the blue Add to Chrome button in the top-right corner.
3

Confirm the permissions

A dialog will appear listing the permissions the extension needs. Click Add extension to confirm. The extension requires:
  • activeTab — to read the current tab's URL and show stats for it
  • storage — to save your API key securely in your browser
  • tabs — to detect which site you're browsing
4

Pin the extension to your toolbar

After installation, click the puzzle piece icon (🧩) in the top-right of Chrome. Find DashCanopy — Site Monitor and click the pin icon to keep it visible in your toolbar at all times.

Method B — Manual install (Developer Mode)

Heads up: Developer mode extensions show a warning banner in Chrome ("Extensions are being managed by developer mode"). This is normal and expected for manually loaded extensions. It does not affect functionality.
1

Download and unzip the extension

Download dashcanopy-extension-v1.3.zip using the button above. Unzip it to a folder on your computer — for example, ~/Downloads/dashcanopy-extension/.
2

Open Chrome Extensions page

In Chrome, type chrome://extensions in the address bar and press Enter.
3

Enable Developer Mode

In the top-right corner of the Extensions page, toggle on Developer mode.
4

Click "Load unpacked"

Click the Load unpacked button that appears in the top-left. Navigate to the folder where you unzipped the extension and click Select Folder.
5

Pin the extension

The DashCanopy extension will appear in the list. Click the puzzle piece icon in the Chrome toolbar and pin DashCanopy to keep it visible.

Step 2 — Configure the Extension

Connect the extension to your DashCanopy account

1

Open the extension settings

Click the DashCanopy icon in your Chrome toolbar. If this is your first time, you'll see a message saying "API Key Required". Click Connect Account, or right-click the extension icon and choose Options.
2

Find your API key in DashCanopy

In your DashCanopy dashboard, go to Settings → API & Extension. Copy the API key shown there (it starts with dck_).
3

Paste your API key into the extension

In the extension settings page, paste your API key into the DashCanopy API Key field. The field shows a placeholder of dck_… to remind you of the format.
4

Test the connection (optional but recommended)

Click the Test Connection button. The extension will ping the DashCanopy API with your key and show either:
  • ✓ Connection successful — API key is valid
  • ✗ API key rejected — check it and try again
  • ✗ Network error — check your internet connection
5

Click Save Settings

Click the green Save Settings button. Your API key is stored securely in Chrome's sync storage and is synced across all your Chrome profiles automatically.
Tip: You can show or hide your API key by clicking the eye icon next to the input field. The key is stored as an encrypted value in Chrome's sync storage — it's never sent anywhere except to the DashCanopy API.

Step 3 — Using the Extension

What you see and how to use it

Once configured, the extension works automatically. Here's what you'll see:

The popup

Click the DashCanopy icon in your toolbar (or press Alt+D) to open the popup. The popup shows:

🟢 Status dot
Green = online, Red = offline, Amber = degraded, Grey = unknown
🏆 AI Health Grade
A through F grade from DashCanopy's AI analysis of your site
👁 Visitor count
Total visitors for the current period from your stats endpoint
💰 Revenue
Revenue total for the current period (requires WooCommerce/EDD/Shopify)
⚡ Response time
Green under 400ms, amber 400–1000ms, red over 1000ms
🕐 Last checked
How long ago DashCanopy last pinged this site

Platform badges

The extension automatically detects the platform of the site you're browsing:

  • 🔵WP (blue) — Standard WordPress site or any non-Shopify domain
  • 🟢Shopify (green) — Any .myshopify.com domain or Shopify-hosted store

Offline / stale cache mode

If you're offline or the DashCanopy API is temporarily unreachable, the extension shows the last known data for the site with a yellow "Offline — showing last known data" banner. This means you can still see your site's stats even without an internet connection.

Keyboard shortcut

Press Alt+D (Windows/Linux) or Alt+D (Mac) from any tab to open the DashCanopy popup instantly without clicking the toolbar icon. You can change this shortcut in Chrome at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.

Chrome Extension — FAQ

Common questions and answers

Troubleshooting

Fixes for the most common issues

⚠ WordPress plugin: 'Test push failed'
Cause: Your server can't make outbound HTTPS requests to dashcanopy.com.
Fix: Ask your hosting provider to allow outbound connections to dashcanopy.com:443. On shared hosting, this is sometimes blocked by default. You can also test by running: curl -s https://dashcanopy.com/api/ping from your server's SSH terminal.
⚠ WordPress plugin: Stats not updating
Cause: WP-Cron isn't firing because your site has very low traffic.
Fix: Disable WP-Cron and set up a real server cron job (see Advanced Options above). Alternatively, click 'Send Test Push' manually to trigger an immediate update.
⚠ Chrome extension: Popup is blank or shows a spinner forever
Cause: The extension can't reach the DashCanopy API.
Fix: Check your internet connection. Open the extension Options page and click 'Test Connection'. If it fails, check that dashcanopy.com is not blocked by a firewall or VPN.
⚠ Chrome extension: 'Could not load data' error
Cause: Your API key may be invalid or expired.
Fix: Go to extension Options, click 'Test Connection'. If it shows 'API key rejected', copy a fresh key from DashCanopy → Settings → API & Extension and re-save.
⚠ WordPress plugin: Revenue shows $0 with WooCommerce installed
Cause: No orders have 'Completed' status today.
Fix: Revenue only counts orders with 'Completed' status. Check WooCommerce → Orders and look at the order statuses. If orders are stuck in 'Processing', mark them as Completed or check your payment gateway settings.
⚠ Both tools: Site shows as 'Not monitored'
Cause: The domain doesn't match what's registered in DashCanopy.
Fix: Make sure the URL in your DashCanopy tile exactly matches the domain you're using. For example, if your tile has 'myblog.com' but you're browsing 'www.myblog.com', they won't match. Edit the tile URL to include or exclude www consistently.
Note: Still stuck? Open a support ticket from your DashCanopy dashboard via Help → Contact Support, or visit the Support page. Include your WordPress version, PHP version, and the error message you see.

Everything connected?

Open your dashboard to see your sites with live stats flowing in.