The issue is that a checkbox column doesn't support the same data types as a text box. A text box stores NULL by default (or an empty string once you've saved content), but a checkbox only supports 1 or 0, never NULL. It's the same even if the text box had real content in it, since MySQL can't map arbitrary text to a number.

If the field is empty, the easiest fix is to just erase it and create the checkbox fresh. Or you can convert the existing values to 0 first:

UPDATE `your_table` SET `my_field` = 0 WHERE `my_field` IS NULL OR `my_field` = '';

Once the data in the column matches what a checkbox supports (in MySQL: tinyint unsigned NOT NULL), it should let you switch the type with no problem.

Hope that helps!  Let me know any questions.

Steps to reproduce

1. In a section editor, add a new field and set the type to Text Box.
2. Save. (The column gets created across every existing record in the table.)
3. Edit that same field and change the type to Checkbox.
4. Save → error.

Error returned

Error: Data in `my_field` isn't compatible with new type:
tinyint unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0

Please modify your data or column type and try again.

Query: ALTER TABLE `cms_example` CHANGE COLUMN `my_field` `my_field`
       tinyint unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0
in [path]/cmsb/lib/Fields/BaseField.php:510  [Admin View]

Backtrace (CMS paths only)

#0 Script started        cmsb/admin.php:0
#1 require()             cmsb/admin.php:82
#2 include()             cmsb/lib/menus/default/actionHandler.php:65
#3 require()             cmsb/lib/menus/database/actionHandler.php:72
#4 require()             cmsb/lib/menus/database/editField.php:8
#5 submitFormViaAjax()   cmsb/lib/menus/database/editField_functions.php:179
...

Okay, great.  Glad it's working and thanks for the update!

zend_extension=opcache.so;

Then it causes a bit of a conflict and needs to be commented out or removed:

;zend_extension=opcache.so;

I found a quick fix for this.

In cmsb/api/mcp.php search for "// Dispatch" and replace it with the following:

// Block all methods (no tool list, no dispatch) while the MCP server is disabled
mcpProtocolErrorIf(!isStillEnabled(), MCP_ERR_SERVER_DISABLED, 'MCP server is disabled. Enable it at Admin → Advanced → MCP Server');

// Dispatch

That will prevent the MCP server from showing anything if it's not enabled.

Can you give that a try and let me know if that works for you?

Thanks!

That is curious. I've attached a test script that shows whether OPcache is running and the key settings it's using (which php.ini is loaded, where PHP looks for the extension, and so on).

Can you run it from a location where OPcache is already working, and again from your cmsb folder, and let me know how the two differ?

It's also worth dropping it into a parallel directory (e.g.,/opcache_test/) to see if something in the CMSB .htaccess or config files is affecting it.

Let me know what you find. Thanks!

That notice just means the plugin is checking if it needs to create your accounts table on every page load. Newer CMSB versions save schema files as .schema.php, but your plugin is still looking for the old .ini.php files. It never finds them, so it assumes the table still needs creating and runs the full schema sync (and logs that notice) on every page view.

It's harmless, though, your table is fine, and logins work. It's just extra work each load, and your pages will load faster if you fix it. So a few options:

• Leave it. If the log noise doesn't bother you, ignore it. Nothing's broken.
• Quick fix. Your accounts table already exists, so you can just comment out the createMissingSchemaTablesAndFields(); call on line 360 of your custom plugin. 
• Proper fix. Download the latest Website Membership, diff it against your custom file, and merge in the schema-file check, making sure it looks for .schema.php. The sync then skips on its own once the table's set up.

Hope that helps, let me know any questions.

zend_extension=opcache.so;
opcache.enable=1;
opcache.memory_consumption=32;
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=8;
opcache.max_accelerated_files=3000;
opcache.revalidate_freq=180;
opcache.fast_shutdown=0;
opcache.enable_cli=0;
opcache.revalidate_path=0;
opcache.validate_timestamps=1;
opcache.max_file_size=0;
opcache.file_cache=/blah/wwwroot/.opmeow;
opcache.file_cache_only=1;

When I then load admin > General Settings I get a pop-up that says:

"updatePhpMysqlDateTime: [object Object]"

The only option is to click 'Ok'

I then see various errors like these within the same admin page:

Warning: Failed loading Zend extension 'opcache.so' (tried: /usr/lib/php8.5/extensions/opcache.so (/usr/lib/php8.5/extensions/opcache.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory), /usr/lib/php8.5/extensions/opcache.so.so (/usr/lib/php8.5/extensions/opcache.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)) in Unknown on line 0

/MYFOLDER/system/uploads/
Warning: Failed loading Zend extension 'opcache.so' (tried: /usr/lib/php8.5/extensions/opcache.so (/usr/lib/php8.5/extensions/opcache.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory), /usr/lib/php8.5/extensions/opcache.so.so (/usr/lib/php8.5/extensions/opcache.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)) in Unknown on line 0

The php.ini code works in every other PHP based system on the server, so what is going wrong here? I can turn these two 'Off' and the problem goes away, but obviously this isn't a fix:

display_startup_errors = On
display_errors = On

I getting a lot of messages in the error log:

#134387 - Notice: Database schema sync called on frontend. This performance-heavy operation should only occur during plugin installation/upgrades. Update plugins if happening frequently.
/docker_data/services-staging/www/cmsAdmin/plugins/websiteMembershipCUSTOM/websiteMembership_CUSTOM.php on line 360
> in line 360 is the createMissingSchemaTablesAndFields();

using the v3.78 (Build 2904) with a customized Website Membership that we created for a project.

is there anything that i can do in order to stop this generating?

I checked on the checkbox "Old" to redirect in case someone accesses to /services-headspa/, but it seems to redirect to a different page, which is /shibuya/ ( original url is /salonsDetail.php?salon=16)

The permalinks plugin uses the internal "Tablename" and "Record Num" fields to group permalinks together so it can figure out the correct permalink to replace any that get marked "Old".

Those two fields are usually empty when permalinks are manually created, only being given values for automatically generated permalinks instead.

Since those two fields are empty across across each of your permalinks, the plugin treats your permalinks as if they're all in one big group, ignoring any in the group marked "Old", and using whichever happens to be the first one it sees. In your case, the first non-old permalink in the group is /shibuya/.

How can I make my redirect change work for /services-headspa/ to /head-spa-shibuya/ which both are originally /mainPages.php?9 ?

The plugin needs to know that the old permalink (/services-headspa/) and the new permalink (/head-spa-shibuya/) are in a group together, paired-up, with one replacing the other, and unrelated to any outside the group (such as /shibuya/).

You can group the pair together by going to Plugins > Permalinks > Permalinks DB, and editing both the /services-headspa/ and /head-spa-shibuya/ permalinks to have the exact same identical value in the "Tablename" field for each (any short label is fine, e.g. "headspa").

You can leave the "Record Num" field set to 0 for both. The "Tablename" field is enough to group them together. That tells the plugin that any permalinks in that group marked "Old" (/services-headspa/) should redirect to the new replacement permalink instead (/head-spa-shibuya/).

If you ever want to add another redirect to replace /head-spa-shibuya/ in the future, you can group together as many permalinks as you like using that same "Tablename" field, as long as all but one of the permalinks in that group are marked "Old", so the plugin knows which one is the correct replacement to redirect to.

Hope that all helps, let me know if you have any other questions!

Yeah, I think something as simple as:

Maybe the first time you open the MCP menu, we could have an option where you click to enable it, and until then, it returns nothing in the tools list.

would do the trick.

Cheers

Rob

Yes, the CMS will automatically upgrade any .ini.php files it discovers.  Even when adding plugins or ini files after the fact.  

But if any of your plugins aren't working correctly, just download the latest version from the website.

Hope that helps!

So, with fingerprinting, any static response or file (CSS, JS, images, etc.) can be used. You just need to checksum a known response from some files from a given version of any software. There are actually some neat sites that do that (search "What CMS is this site running").

So the best solution for that is just to rename your /cmsb/ folder to something less guessable so no one can find it.

And/or, if you don't need the /api/ folder or /api/mcp.php, you should be able to safely just delete them.

But we want the UX to feel good end-to-end, so if seeing a big list of powerful tools, disabled or not, gives anyone pause, we could look into adding a one-time setting to enable it.  We have a few questions about it already.

Maybe the first time you open the MCP menu, we could have an option where you click to enable it, and until then, it returns nothing in the tools list.

Let me know if that would work for you. Thanks!

My client wants to change the permalink from

/services-headspa/ (original url is /mainPages.php?9)

to

/head-spa-shibuya/ (same url)

I checked on the checkbox "Old" to redirect in case someone accesses to /services-headspa/, but it seems to redirect to a different page, which is /shibuya/ ( original url is /salonsDetail.php?salon=16)

These permalinks are all created manually.

How can I make my redirect change work for /services-headspa/  to /head-spa-shibuya/  which both are originally  /mainPages.php?9  ?

Thank you for your help.

Hiroko

In updating a site with many XXX.ini.php files, will these .ini.php files still correctly provide the structure for site tables?

One lingering thought is less that the list is secret, and more that at an individual site level it fingerprints the install / CMS / MCP surface. I understand public Swagger on a vendor API, but this feels slightly different because it's exposing the capabilities of a specific install rather than the product documentation itself.

So while it's not leaking secrets, it is revealing what technology is sitting behind that particular endpoint and what capabilities exist if authenticated. It doesn't give someone access, but it does tell them what system to go and research.

The Claude restart explanation makes sense, and I can see why you'd want the tool list available for active development. For sites that never need Claude connected (or production environments), would there be any merit in an option to return a generic disabled/auth response to tools/list until a valid key is provided?

We can block it at the edge easily enough by having a CMS-level option would be handy for those of us who'll inevitably roll out an upgrade and forget!

Cheers

Thanks for the report, and good eye. This one's intentional, not a leak.

The tool list is static. It's the same hardcoded list on every install, and it already ships in the source you can download, so tools/list isn't handing out anything you couldn't read straight from our freely downloadable code. The only things we hold back until you authenticate are install-specific hints, like the server's working directory, OS, and shell, since those would fingerprint the actual box. Nothing in the public list is install-specific or secret.

The real security boundary is on running tools, not listing them. That's exactly what you ran into: the list comes back, but the second you try to call a tool, you get "MCP is disabled." Disabled means disabled, nothing executes, and that holds whether MCP is switched off or the auth is missing or wrong.

The other reason we always return the list is so you don't have to restart Claude every time you toggle MCP. Claude grabs the tool list once when it connects and caches it. If we only sent the list while MCP was enabled, every on/off would mean restarting Claude to pick the tools back up. Keeping the static list always on means you can flip MCP on and off, and it just works, since the tools are already known and only execution changes.

So the short version: the listing is public by design; execution is locked down.

This is also a common pattern for APIs built to be called by an external client. Plenty of public APIs serve their full OpenAPI/Swagger spec, every endpoint and parameter, to anyone, and gate only the actual calls behind a key. 

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions or concerns!

I've been playing the new MCP feature and admittedly I know very little about MCP, so this may be completely normal...

I noticed that even with MCP disabled, the endpoint still responds to a `tools/list` request and returns the full list of available tools. Same when using no/incorrect auth.

For example, with MCP disabled (or no auth) I can still see things like:

• serverShell
• serverPhp
• queryWriteserverRead
• upload tools

Attempting to actually run a tool correctly returns an error saying MCP is disabled, so it doesn't look like anything can be executed.

My question is simply whether exposing the tool list when MCP is disabled is intentional?

I'm guessing there's probably a good reason for it, and you guys know the MCP spec far better than I do, but it feels a little odd that a disabled feature still advertises everything it can do.

Just curious whether that's expected behaviour or something worth tightening up.

Cheers

Rob

Try this:

    'where'       => " category LIKE '%Telecoms%' AND num NOT IN (421,83,122)",

Just replace the numbers with the ones you want to exclude.

Let me know if that works for you.

  // load records from 'isp_list'
  list($isp_listRecords, $isp_listMetaData) = getRecords(array(
    'tableName'   => 'isp_list',
    'limit'       => '5',
    'loadCreatedBy' => false,
    'where'       => " category LIKE '%Telecoms%' ",
    'allowSearch' => false,
    'orderBy'       => $orderByxxxxx,
  ));

But I'd like to specifically exclude a couple of products - using their Record Numbers (field 'num') - from being included in the list output. I'm just wondering how I do that?

Here's the full changelog: 

*** May 8, 2026 - Version 3.84 (Maintenance Release)

SERVER REQUIREMENTS (Since Jun 2025): PHP 8.1+ and MySQL 5.7+ (or MariaDB 10.2+)

BUG FIXES
    - Upgrade: Fixed an "Unknown column" error that could stop the upgrade partway through on older installs
        - Was caused by audit/error logging trying to write to columns the upgrade hadn't added yet
        - When the audit or error log can't write to its table, the failure and original message now go to data/_php_error.log instead
    - Developer Log: Displayed HTTP method now reads correctly from older error log entries logged in older format (was falling back to "CLI" before)

This is only needed if you got an error while upgrading or are upgrading from a much older version. If you already upgraded without issue, no action is required.

Let me know any questions. Thanks!

Thanks everyone for your feedback, posts, and emails.  We've released v3.83 here: 

https://interactivetools.com/forum/forum-posts.php?CMSB-v3.83-Released-Show-Hide-Fields-MCP-Server-83137

Thank you!

We've just released v3.83 (our biggest single release to date!), and we're already running it on our site.

Here are some highlights from this release: 

• Field Editor
  • Show If: New option allows you to dynamically show/hide fields based on the values of other fields
  • Show for: Replaces old "Admin only" setting with options for everyone, editor, admin only, or new: Nobody (completely hidden)
  • Placeholder: New option for text and textbox fields to set hint text inside the field when empty
  • Field List UI: Lock and eye icons now mark restricted and conditional fields in your field list
  • Reorganized and simplified the field editor UI
• Admin → Advanced → MCP Server
  • AI coding assistants like Claude Code can now read and update your CMS directly
  • Read and write records, upload files, run queries, and view your database schema
  • Built-in /fix-cms command: AI reviews your recent PHP errors and offers fixes
• Admin → Backup & Restore → Website → Restore from Zip
  • Added restore button to restore from previous website backup zips (for uploading a local or dev site)
• Fields → List → pillbox (multi value)
  • Selected values can now be drag sorted to change the order
  • Dropdown options show checkboxes to select multiple values (easier for end-users)
• Admin → Advanced
  • Admin Favicon: Pick a colored favicon (green/yellow/red) to tell CMS installs apart in your browser tabs (e.g. dev, staging, live)
  • Server Links: Add dev, staging, and live server URLs for quick-switching between environments
• Developer Console
  • Automatically decrypts and displays contents from encrypted fields
• General code modernization and cleanup

Note: We still have a queue of pending user feature requests.  We're releasing what we have now so you can start using it.  Feel free to remind us what you'd like to see next. 

The full changelog for this release is as follows:

*** May 8, 2026 - Version 3.83 (Show/Hide Fields & MCP Server)

SERVER REQUIREMENTS (Since Jun 2025): PHP 8.1+ and MySQL 5.7+ (or MariaDB 10.2+)

FIELD EDITOR
    - Show/Hide Fields: Fields now show/hide automatically based on what users select
        - Example: Show "Speaker Name" only when Event Type is "Webinar"
        - Example: Show "Shipping Address" only when Delivery Method is "Mail"
        - Works with all field types: text, checkboxes, tabs, upload fields, related records
        - Custom expressions allow for multi-field AND rules (e.g. type=article AND status!=draft|hidden)
        - Configure in: Database > Edit Field > Visibility > Show If
    - Field Access: "Admin Only" replaced with clearer "Show for" dropdown
        - Options: Everyone, Editor and above, Admin only, or new: Nobody (completely hidden)
        - ***Behavior change***: List view now hides restricted fields as well (previously didn't)
    - Placeholder: New option for text and textbox fields to set hint text inside the field when empty
    - Lock and eye icons now mark restricted and conditional fields in your field list
    - Simplified field editor interface with cleaner organization
    - Textbox Fields: "Auto Format" renamed to "Line Breaks" (nl2br) and deprecated.
         - Off by default for new fields; existing fields can be turned off, but not re-enabled

MCP SERVER
    - AI coding assistants like Claude Code can now read and update your CMS directly
    - Read and write records, upload files, run queries, and view your database schema
    - Configure in: Admin > Advanced > MCP Server (IP allowlist, API keys, permissions)
    - Built-in /fix-cms command: AI reviews your recent PHP errors and offers fixes
    - Security: IP allowlist required, Bearer token auth, read-only enforced at MySQL session level
    - Write operations logged to the audit log

ADMIN > BACKUP & RESTORE
    - Website: Added restore button to restore from previous website backup zips
    - Website: Previous Backups dropdown now shows relative dates (e.g., "5 min ago", "yesterday")
    - Website: Removed "Only include code files" option (use .cms-no-backup marker files to exclude folders instead)
    - Database: Backup dropdown now offers option to include log tables in backup ("include skipped")

PILLBOX & FOREIGN KEY FIELDS
    - Replaced form dropdown component Select2 with Tom Select
    - Pillbox: drag pills to reorder selected values
    - Pillbox: dropdown options show checkboxes so you can see all options and their selection state at a glance
    - Type-ahead search to filter options instantly

ADMIN > ADVANCED (New Page)
    - Reorganized admin settings into "Admin Interface" and "Advanced Settings" sections
    - Admin Favicon: Pick a colored favicon (green/yellow/red) to tell CMS installs apart in your browser tabs
    - Server Links: Add dev, staging, and live server URLs for quick-switching between environments
    - Admin Shortcuts, Debug Footer, and WYSIWYG/Menu/Cookie settings moved here from General Settings

MINOR CHANGES
    - Email Settings: Developer Email now accepts multiple comma-separated addresses
    - File Uploads: Files are saved with dashes instead of underscores for better SEO, and .jpeg is normalized to .jpg
    - Audit Log: Expanded logging coverage for fields, tables, uploads, backups, and database operations
    - Security: Added additional .htaccess hardening for data directories (Apache 2.4+ compatibility)
    - PHP 8.5: Silenced deprecation warning by disabling unneeded register_argc_argv directive in shipped php.ini, .htaccess, and .user.ini
    - Improved text contrast for input fields, selects, and placeholders
    - Admin menus updated and reorganized for better usability
    - Upgraded Dependencies: PHPMailer v6 to v7, Firebase/JWT v6 to v7, and other library updates

BUG FIXES
    - SmartArray: Fixed TypeError when calling load() on SmartArrayHtml (changed type hint to SmartArrayBase)
    - Language: Fixed "No such file or directory" error when developer mode was enabled without a language selected
    - Upload Fields: Fixed "Create Thumbnail" checkbox re-enabling itself after saving when unchecked
    - Edit Page: Fixed false "unsaved changes" warning appearing after clicking in fields without editing them
    - Misc code and other minor improvements

**FOR PROGRAMMERS**
    - Modern PHP features enabled:
        - Native types: Database queries now return native PHP types (int/float) instead of strings
        - mysqli::execute_query() for one-line parameterized queries (available natively in PHP 8.2+, backported for PHP 8.1):
            $rows = DB::$mysqli->execute_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?", [$id])->fetch_all(MYSQLI_ASSOC);
            DB::$mysqli->execute_query("UPDATE users SET name = ? WHERE id = ?", [$name, $id]);
    - Database Encryption: Key now cached as MySQL session variable @ek
        - Faster: Computed once per-connection, not per-query
        - Simpler: AES_ENCRYPT(val, @ek) instead of AES_ENCRYPT(val, UNHEX(SHA2('key',512)))
        - Cleaner: Key hidden from SHOW PROCESSLIST and error messages
        - On-demand: Only initialized when encrypted fields are used
    - MySQL Console: Record edit page database icon now opens console with that record in column mode
    - MySQL Console: New {{column}} shortcut auto-expands to AES_DECRYPT(`column`, @ek) for encrypted columns
    - Moved /api.php to /api/ to better organize future API endpoints

**FOR PROGRAMMERS (BREAKING CHANGES)**
    - Note: These changes only impact developers who have written custom PHP code
    - Database queries now return native PHP types (int/float) instead of strings
        - If your code expects strings, cast them: (string)$row['id']
    - MySQL queries now throw exceptions instead of returning false (following PHP 8.1+ standard behavior).
        - Before: $result = mysqli()->query($sql) or die("MySQL Error: " . mysqli()->error);
        - After:  try { $result = mysqli()->query($sql); } catch (mysqli_sql_exception $e) { die("MySQL Error: " . $e->getMessage()); }
    - Library Updates: ZenDB has been moved to composer with several renamed and deprecated methods
        - DB::get() renamed to DB::selectOne() (DB::get() still works but is deprecated)
        - See ZenDB docs for full list of changes: https://github.com/interactivetools-com/ZenDB/

You can download the latest version here: https://www.interactivetools.com/download/

Please feel free to ask any questions or post any feedback or comments.

Thank you!

We've just posted Beta 2 (build 3126). Thanks to everyone who's been posting and sending in feedback and bug reports on Beta 1.

Here's what's new:

MCP Server

• New auto-disable timer -The MCP Server can now be enabled with an auto-disable timer (15 min / 1 hour / 8 hours). The server turns itself off automatically when the timer expires, so you can safely turn it on for a coding session and not have to remember to switch it off afterward. Configure in: Admin → Advanced → MCP Server.
• Execute Access - This allows AI to read the server filesystem, run shell commands, and execute PHP.  This is incredibly powerful for quickly diagnosing server issues, but be sure to backup first, manually approve everything but read-only commands, and actively monitor AI agents using it.

Show/Hide Fields Polish

• Custom Expressions: OR rules now supported, e.g.: type=article|review AND published=1 OR alwaysShow=1 (mouse over the custom expression field for a pop-up with instructions)

Plus lots of bug fixes and minor improvements.

You can download the latest beta here:https://www.interactivetools.com/download/

Send over any other issues you find. We're aiming to release this in the next few days if no further issues are reported.

Thanks!