Pier #161 – PayPal Takeover Bid, SureCookie Pro, Spectra Blocks (Pro), SureContact Group Bookings, Document Library Pro SaaS & Gleap Native Apps

Ahoi.dev
Stefan from Ahoi.dev   |   The Pier #161   |   July 17, 2026

Welcome to the 161st issue of The Pier. With Group Bookings, SureContact now allows you to create events for multiple attendees, rather than just one-on-one meetings. You can set a participant limit and easily host webinars, workshops, training sessions, onboarding calls and more. There are also new booking triggers to help you build more powerful automations with new booking events. ‘Booking Created’, ‘Booking Rescheduled’ and ‘Booking Deleted’. Finally, you can now trigger automations based on email link clicks to create more personalized follow-up experiences.

Launch: SureCookie Pro is now available, featuring geo-based consent rules and presets for GDPR, CCPA/CPRA and LGPD. It also comes with consent forwarding and consent duration and log retention controls.

Spectra V3: Brainstorm Force has launched Spectra Blocks 1.0.0, a flexible and fast Gutenberg block plugin offering over 15 blocks, dynamic content, (optional) AI-powered features via Zip AI using ZipWP credits, and global styles. Spectra Blocks Pro 1.0.0 builds on the free version with advanced blocks and powerful features such as a loop builder, a mega menu, an SVG animator and login and registration forms. Support for Spectra Legacy continues.

Upcoming: CrocoBuilder is a new developer-grade and AI-native dynamic frontend development builder for WordPress. Designed for complex WordPress projects, it comes with atomic DOM output, unified CSS control and AI-native components. Join the waitlist now!

Breaking: Stripe and the private equity firm Advent International have made a
joint offer to acquire PayPal Holdings Inc. for over $53 billion.

New: Pavel from WPZOOM announced Yamidoo, an AI-first customer support chat that works on any site, not just WordPress. The waitlist is now open!

Exciting: Katie from Barn2 has developed a SaaS version of their Document Library Pro plugin, which works on any platform, not just WordPress.

Be the first to know when your client’s site is down: Designed for agencies and freelancers who manage multiple client sites, Sentinel offers proactive monitoring of uptime, SSL certificates, DNS, keywords, APIs, heartbeats and cron jobs. It also features multi-location checks, status pages and smart alerts, as well as an AI assistant. It’s a Better Stack alternative.

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Here is a selection of the latest and greatest blog posts we published this week on Ahoi.dev. You will also find some interesting industry news, the latest directory listings on The Port, job openings, and more. Enjoy!

Gleap Apps
Native Apps for iOS & Android ©Gleap

👋 Workflow Debugging & Native Apps

Gleap has introduced workflow debugging and testing. The new workflow debugger enables you to run any workflow live directly from the builder and observe each step as it happens. In a live event stream, you can see which branch a condition took, what an API action returned, what the AI decided, and much more besides. You can even expand any step to inspect the details. You can run it as either a fresh guest or one of your real contacts to check targeting, conditions, and anything else that depends on customer data.

Additionally, Gleap has developed a native app version of its mobile dashboard for iOS and Android. You can now reply to conversations and manage tickets from your phone, get push notifications and turn your voice or a few keywords into a complete, AI-assisted reply. You can also keep Kai Code sessions moving.

In other news, you can now reply to specific messages directly from your inbox. Simply hover over a message and click ‘Reply’ to quote it in your response. This feature works for customer messages, internal notes, Kai’s replies and emails.

🗞️ Bites & Pieces

WordPress

The latest version of Enhanced Pattern Manager by SnippetNest allows you to
drag patterns and components directly onto the Etch canvas or structure panel
(and the block editor).

Bricksforge 4.0 also focuses on the email designer, which now runs as a proper full-screen app on the new Bricksforge UI instead of on a cramped settings page. There is also a selection of pre-designed email templates to choose from. With per-element style overrides, your global styles remain in control, but you can now override them individually for each element using the same slider controls found in the global settings.

Presto Player 4.3.1 adds native Divi 5 support to the video player.

ClickWhale 2.8.1 introduces a new option to add an asterisk to ClickWhale
links on the front end. There are also now custom CSS and JavaScript fields
for link pages.

Novamira 1.9.1 adds OAuth sign-in for AI clients. You can now connect Claude and other MCP clients by signing in directly with your WordPress login – there’s no need to create and paste an application password anymore. Version 1.9.2 adds ChatGPT support. Novamira Pro 1.7.0 adds five new specializations for Astra, Avada, OceanWP, Spectra One and Spectra.

ACPT 2.0.65 introduces native integration with the WordPress Abilities API.

Beaver Builder 2.11 introduces a new Popup Module that allows you to build popups directly in the visual editor. It also introduces built-in Maintenance Mode and Settings Snapshots, which allow you to create one-click backups and restores.

With the new VX REST API, you can use Voxel/WordPress as your backend and create custom front-ends, headless sites, apps, and more.

uiXpress 1.3.0 introduces support for WordPress Multisite and the new Admin Framework. Currently in beta, the latter is a standalone admin shell that replaces wp-admin. Screens are built from declarative JSON view definitions, which are then turned into a real UI by a render engine. Connectors then wire third-party plugins into the same experience. This is a fundamentally different approach to WordPress administration.

Otter Blocks 3.2.0 introduces AI-powered features for building full sections and pages, a redesigned AI writing toolbar, and AI-powered form autoresponders. The Design Library has also been completely rebuilt, and a new Content Slider block has been added, as well as more reliable forms.

Mega Menu Pro + Header Builder for Etch 1.2 introduces MMPro Skills AI integration, an in-builder AI assistant and a new ‘Breakout’ feature for mobile dropdowns (video). It also features a Liquid Glass header effect.

Bricks 2.4 Beta introduces significant enhancements to automation, content
management and builder workflows. New Al capabilities enable MCP clients,
such as Cursor, Claude Code and Copilot, to create and edit Bricks content.
Additionally, the Builder Browser serves as a central hub for managing pages,
templates, components and post types. Finally, you can transfer your complete
Bricks design system between sites through a new ZIP-based workflow.

Tourfic 2.23.0 introduces the ability to import pre-built Bricks templates, landing page support for Bricks Builder, and over 18 Bricks Builder widgets. Traveler/guest details are also now shown in vendor emails.

E-Commerce

SureCart 4.5.0 introduces a UI for the admin products and collections list, providing a faster editing experience. It also introduces geo address capture and country-specific dynamic pricing, enabling Purchase Power Parity-type prices. Product bundles are finally coming to SureCart soon!

The Beauty Product Store template for SureCart comes with a clean and
elegant design that is ready for conversion. It is ideal for skincare, cosmetics,
beauty, and wellness brands. Available with the free Starter Templates version.

Shopify Digital Products is a free app for selling digital products. Merchants can upload a file, such as an ebook, template, digital artwork, audio file or video, or paste an approved access link. They can then set a price and start selling. Shopify then securely hosts and delivers the product automatically after purchase. There is no need for a third-party app or marketplace fees.

Form Builder

SureForms Pro can now display form submissions on any page via a shortcode. The entries appear in a sortable, paginated table. Site owners can select the columns they want to display, filter entries by user and switch between read, unread and trashed submissions. This feature is useful for client portals, member dashboards, internal submission trackers, and logged-in user account areas.

WPForms Analytics is a new, comprehensive form performance tracking suite available directly from your WordPress dashboard.

Affiliate Marketing

With Partnero, you can now reduce or eliminate affiliate commissions when a customer uses a discount code. You can set flat or tiered adjustments, scoped to the first transaction if required. You can also assign a dedicated partner manager to each affiliate and tag partners automatically when their MRR reaches a threshold, or remove the tag if it drops back below it. Finally, the Affiliate Discovery pipeline includes direct outreach emails, reusable templates, Gmail integration and manual entry for prospects found outside the AI.

Directories

With Directorist Notifications Pro, you can now add native browser push notifications to your directory without requiring a third-party service such as OneSignal or PushEngage. Watch this video to find out more.

SEO

AIOSEO 4.9.9 introduces a new SEO Alerts feature. It’s an early warning system for critical site issues. In other news, both the Event and Job Posting Schemas are now available on all paid AIOSEO plans, including the Basic plan.

Process Management Platform

Blue finally introduces a new unified inbox with direct messages (DMs) and
group chats. There is also a built-in Al agent.

Customer Support

HelpSpace now allows you to set up custom reply templates for every channel. When you respond to a customer, the template is automatically inserted, including variables.

Laravel

EnvKit is a new local development stack for Laravel on Windows and macOS. This free desktop application brings together NGINX or Apache, multiple PHP versions, databases and trusted .test HTTPS, all managed via a single control panel.

The Email Magic Link package for Laravel is a passwordless authentication system. It allows users to sign in via an emailed link or one-time code and can be used either standalone or alongside Laravel Fortify.

Appointment Booking

Booktics releases new integrations with Zapier, Pabbly Connect, Mail Mint and
MailPoet, all of which can now be connected to your booking workflow. The
new Aisentic Al Agent allows you to manage your bookings and calendars
using simple chat commands.

WP Timetics introduces email automation to help you automate your meeting
emails from start to finish. The new Aisentic Al Agent allows you to navigate
and manage your meetings using chat commands.

Timetics Al releases a new Booking Page Builder, which allows you to create
attractive, conversion-optimized booking pages without any coding knowledge
(video). The new Agency Dashboard allows you to manage multiple
workspaces from a single interface (video).

Events

With EventKoi 1.3.24.0, you can manually add an attendee. This creates a free, completed order with its own check-in code for ticket transfers or competition winners, and ensures that you never oversell your capacity. Additionally, the The Events Calendar importer now imports Event Tickets. With version 1.3.25.0, you can now also ‘sell’ free tickets.

Animations

Motion.page launches Canvas, an Al agent native WebGPU visual production
studio featuring a live video timeline. The latest version features a complete
keyframe-based timeline that can interpolate between various properties,
including opacity, transforms and shader maths. With almost 100 different
content layers, including 2D and 3D shapes, procedural shaders, masks,
effects and more, each with their own customizable sliders, you can create
amazing assets for the web, social media or video.

LMS / E-Learning

Klasio introduces built-in tax management and added Midtrans as a payment
option. It has also made scheduling drip content faster and easier. Drip settings
can now be found directly on the lesson creation and edit pages.

Social Media

Mixpost Pro 6.0.2 adds support for OpenRouter, and Mixpost Enterprise 7.1.0 adds the ability to enable or disable API and MCP access, as well as Webhooks and the Engagement feature, for each subscription plan. There is also a new AI credit management workspace for system administrators. Mixpost Pro 6.1.0 introduces a new AI image generation feature.

Now, any AI agent — including Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, OpenClaw, Hermes and Cursor — can use Giststack to access your favourite newsletters, websites, YouTube channels, insights, personas and brand profiles (video).

Email Marketing

Mailercloud introduces a new Send Time Optimization feature that delivers each campaign at the time of day when each contact is most likely to open it, based on their past behaviour. This results in better open rates without any extra effort on your part. Additionally, the WordPress plugin now supports Contact Form 7, WPForms, Elementor Forms, Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms and Formidable Forms. Finally, you can now invite teammates to specific roles — Owner, Admin, Manager, Analyst or Viewer — and control exactly what each person can access in your account. Each role has its own set of permissions.

Personalized Outreach / LinkedIn Automation

HeyReach introduces sequence sharing, which allows you to export any sequence to a JSON file and import it into any campaign or workspace instantly.

Server Management

xCloud now offers Site Security Pro powered by Patchstack for free for the first 30 days. Protect your WordPress site against vulnerabilities in your plugins, themes and core files with smart protection.

AI Video Generation

Poko Motion introduces a new animation library, an animation maker, a new Pro plan and OpenAI support.

Customer Testimonials

With Feedspace, you can now add customer details through a CSV upload, manually, or via the API. Once you have added your customers’ email addresses, you can set up email sequences with your own content. Feedspace will keep sending emails to your customers until they leave a review.

From the Editor: Biff.codes

We’ve launched a new side project called Biff.codes, a free job board for WordPress developers and more. Find out why Biff can get paid in burgers. 🍔

🚨 Latest Posts

The following highlighted articles have been published in the last 7 days. All posts can be found on our blog.

Cookie Consent, WordPress

SureCookie Pro Now Available

SureCookie Pro is now available following the beta phase. The Pro version of the new cookie consent plugin for WordPress comes with advanced workflows and two lifetime plans.

WordPress

Gravity Forms Launches AbuseIPDB Add-On For Effective Spam Protection

Gravity Forms has just introduced a new AbuseIPDB add-on for its WordPress form builder plugin that can do more than just detect abusive IP addresses. It can also report confirmed…

WordPress

AB Split Test Introduces Custom Audiences for Better Referrer Insights

Tom from AB Split Test has just introduced custom audiences to the WordPress split testing and conversion optimization plugin, providing better referrer insights.

Customer Support, WordPress

Fluent Support: New MCP Server, Multi-Provider AI & Commerce Workflow Conditions

Jewel from Fluent Support has added MCP for support tickets, multi-provider chat support and commerce workflow conditions to the WordPress customer support plugin.

Job Boards, SaaS

Job Boardly Introduces Referral Codes, Custom Widgets & Country Path Editions

Nelson from Job Boardly has introduced country path editions, referral codes and theme builder custom widgets for its no-code job board builder SaaS.

Customer Feedback, User Feedback

Userback: New Notification History, Smarter Merging & Assignee Report

Bec from Userback has introduced three new features to its user feedback platform, including a notification history, smarter merging and a new assignee report. Watch the full video walkthrough below….

WordPress

WP Umbrella: New Security-Driven Activity Log & Deeper Patchstack Integration

Aurelio from WP Umbrella has just announced the release of a new activity log focused on security, security hardening, and deeper Patchstack integration for its WordPress management and maintenance platform….

👋 Latest Jobs

Looking for a new professional challenge? Find your new job.

Gleap GmbH

Head of Growth

Gleap GmbH

Head of Sales

Gleap GmbH

Full Stack JS Developer

Greenwood Capital

Full-Stack Developer (Laravel + Inertia/Vue)

🔥 Quayside Deals

A few irresistible offers that might be of interest to you, don’t you think?

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LTD Ending Soon: Get SureContact, the email marketing and CRM platform for WordPress.
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Recurring: Save 10% on Publer, the social media management platform.

That’s all for this week. We hope you enjoyed the 161st issue of The Pier. Until next week! Please tell your friends about The Pier if you like it.

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