We've been getting the same request from developers for months: "Give us CLI commands so we can script this." Fair enough. Version 1.10.18 finally delivers that, along with proper Multisite support and a CSV import that actually handles multilingual content.

WP-CLI Commands

Two commands:

# Generate alt text for images that need it
wp alttext generate

# See what's processing
wp alttext status

The generate command finds images without alt text and queues them up. Runs in the background so you're not waiting around. Respects your admin settings—overwrite behavior, custom prompts, everything.

Throw it in your deploy script:

#!/bin/bash
git pull origin main
composer install --no-dev
wp alttext generate
wp cache flush

Or set up a cron job to catch uploads overnight:

0 2 * * * cd /var/www/html && wp alttext generate

Works wherever WP-CLI runs. Local dev, staging, production. Same commands everywhere.

Multisite Support

Finally. One API key for your entire network.

Settings → AltText.ai (Network), drop in your key. Every site in the network can use it. Individual sites can still have their own keys if needed, but the network key works as a fallback.

Usage gets tracked per site, so if you're billing clients, you can see exactly which ones are burning through credits. The plugin logs the originating site ID for every API call.

Site admins can't see the network key. They just see that alt text generation works. Credentials stay locked at the network level.

Multilingual CSV Import

Got 10,000 products with English alt text that need translating into five languages? You don't want to run 50,000 API calls for that.

Export your existing descriptions, run them through whatever translation service you use, format the results as CSV:

image_id,language,alt_text
1234,en,Red leather hiking boot on mountain trail
1234,es,Bota de senderismo de cuero rojo en sendero de montaña
1234,fr,Botte de randonnée en cuir rouge sur sentier de montagne
5678,en,Ceramic coffee mug with company logo
5678,de,Keramik-Kaffeetasse mit Firmenlogo

Upload it. The plugin validates as it goes—skips bad image IDs with a warning, stops on invalid language codes and tells you which row broke. Large files process in the background. A 50,000 row file? Maybe 5-10 minutes depending on your server.

Polylang Catches Up to WPML

Polylang users have been asking why WPML gets automatic translations and they don't. Now they do.

Upload an image, get alt text in your default language, and the plugin automatically generates translations for every language you've got configured in Polylang. English, Spanish, French enabled? You get all three without extra clicks.

A travel blog posting 50 images in three languages used to mean manually handling 150 alt text translations. Now it just happens on upload.

Security Stuff

Tightened up input handling everywhere. Proper nonce sanitization on form submissions. Switched from wp_redirect to wp_safe_redirect to close open redirect issues. Stricter permission checks on Multisite network settings.

Code passes phpcs with WordPress-VIP rules now, if you're running security scanners or prepping for an audit.

Bug Fixes

Bulk generation progress bar was lying sometimes—showing wrong percentages or getting stuck. Fixed that.

CSV import was holding onto language preferences after you switched back to "Default." Fixed.

Cleaned up a debug function that was still hanging around in production. Oops.

Upgrading

It's in the plugin directory. Backward compatible, no migrations, settings stay put.

Multisite users: your existing per-site API keys keep working. The network key is optional—add it when you want or don't. Won't break anything.