Plesk Obsidian 18.0.81 is here, and much of this release builds on what arrived in 18.0.80.
The AI Assistant now holds proper conversations, with a history you can return to. MCP support has been extended so you can connect an MCP client through your WebPros Account without storing a Plesk credential on the client side. The DNS Troubleshooter, which arrived in beta last month as a CLI and REST tool, is now generally available with a full user interface.
Beyond that, Ubuntu 26.04 is supported for production use, Node.js hosting has had a significant overhaul, and SSL It! can now validate certificates over DNS. The complete list of changes is in the release notes.
When the AI Assistant arrived, every question started a fresh exchange. If you moved on to something else, what you had just worked through was gone.
That changes in 18.0.81. You can now start a new chat without losing the one you were in, and browse and reopen past conversations from a history list filtered by Active and Archived. Conversations you have finished can be archived to keep the list manageable.
The assistant has also become more careful about what it does with a vague request. Ask it something broad like “DNS server off” and it will ask you to confirm what you actually meant, in this case whether you want to disable the service or need help with a problem affecting it, rather than picking an interpretation and acting on it.
One change to note: the AI Assistant can no longer be reached from the search bar. It is now opened through the dedicated chat button in the top right corner.
We are continuing to develop the assistant, and its capabilities will grow in future releases.
Plesk Obsidian 18.0.80 introduced MCP support, allowing an AI agent to operate a Plesk server. This release extends that to the client side.
You can now connect an MCP client to your Plesk server through your WebPros Account, authenticating as your linked Plesk user. No Plesk credential is stored on the client side, which removes the need to manage a separate secret for every client you connect. Read the documentation to learn more.
The feature is disabled by default. To enable it, add the following to panel.ini:
The DNS Troubleshooter
The DNS diagnostic tool introduced in beta with 18.0.80 was available only through the CLI and the REST API. It is now available with a full user interface for all users.
A “Troubleshoot DNS” link appears on domains where an issue is suspected, and opens a readable report inside Plesk. The underlying checks have been reworked for clarity: redundant MX checks have been merged, DNSSEC and nameserver failures are now reported as a single clear result rather than several, and a domain expiry check has been added.
Note that the tool does not yet cover domain aliases.
Ubuntu 26.04 Support
Ubuntu 26.04 is now supported for production use on Plesk for Linux, with Plesk extensions updated for compatibility.
Plesk Migrator has also been updated to support migrating from Ubuntu 26.04, so you can move subscriptions onto or off these servers as needed.
Node.js in Plesk
Node.js hosting has had the most substantial set of changes in this release.
1. Automatic configuration
Enabling Node.js on a domain that already has application files now configures hosting for you. Plesk detects the framework in use, whether that is Express, Next.js, NestJS, Nuxt.js, vanilla Node.js, or a static frontend built with React, Vue.js, Angular or Vite. It then generates a Passenger-compatible startup file, handles hardcoded ports and sets the document root, showing you what it intends to change before you confirm.
Static frontends are built and served without a persistent Node.js process.
2. pnpm support
A project containing a pnpm-lock.yaml file is now detected and installed with pnpm automatically, with no CLI workaround required. The package manager can also be chosen directly on the Node.js Toolkit dashboard. pnpm is available on Linux only.
3. A new Node.js page
A new Node.js item in the navigation lists every domain with Node.js enabled, showing the version, package manager and application mode for each, with a link through to that domain’s management page. The previous main page, listing installed Node.js versions, is now the Node Version tab.
Feature Improvements
1. DNS validation in SSL It!
DNS validation is now supported as an alternative to HTTP when installing or reissuing a certificate through SSL It!. Customers whose port 80 is closed can obtain and renew certificates without opening it.
Plesk displays the DNS records required and remembers your choice for that domain, so future renewals use the same method. This applies to SSL It! and its ACME and Let’s Encrypt integrations, and requires SSL It! 1.23.0 or later.
2. New upgrade paths
On Linux, a script is now available to automate the dist-upgrade from Debian 12 to Debian 13. Note that MariaDB 10.11 is upgraded to MariaDB 11.8 as part of the procedure, because Debian 13 no longer ships MariaDB 10.x.
On Windows, in-place upgrade from Windows Server 2016 to Windows Server 2025 is now supported, taking advantage of Windows Server 2025 upgrading across up to four versions at once. Previously only the upgrade from Windows Server 2019 was available.
3. Other improvements
- On Linux, when a Node.js application fails to start in production mode, visitors now see a generic Plesk error page rather than the Phusion Passenger fallback page.
- The Docker extension now writes sensible container log rotation defaults on fresh installation, so container logs cannot grow unchecked and fill the disk. Existing configurations are never overwritten.
- Log Browser can now filter entries by the PID:request-id identifier, either from a dedicated field or by clicking an identifier in the list.
- The Let’s Encrypt extension now validates every name on a certificate individually rather than only wildcard names, and shows the exact DNS records still needed for domains or aliases whose zone Plesk does not manage.
- Plesk Migrator gains an sshConnectionTimeout setting, and no longer removes shared databases and database users from the source server when a migrated subscription is removed.
Deprecated and Removed Items
- Debian 11: As announced with 18.0.80, Plesk Obsidian 18.0.81 is the last release to support Debian 11, which reached vendor end of life on 31 August 2026. You can dist-upgrade to Debian 12 using the Plesk dist-upgrade tool, or migrate hosted domains to a server running a supported operating system.
- Older XML-RPC protocol versions: We plan to remove support for XML-RPC protocol versions earlier than 1.6.9.1 in Plesk Obsidian 18.0.82. If you have integrations built on the older specification, we recommend updating them now.
- Node.js 20 on Windows: Node.js 20 has been removed from the Plesk distribution following its end of life on 30 April 2026. It can no longer be installed through Plesk, and remains available from the Node.js website for manual installation.
Important Fixes and Stability Improvements
v18.0.81 includes a substantial number of fixes across the CLI, the Domains and PHP Settings pages, database registration, DNS zone synchronisation, mail handling, web statistics, Backup Manager, and the Git, Laravel, .NET and Watchdog extensions, on both Linux and Windows.
For the full list, see the release notes.
Updated Third-Party Components
This release updates a number of third-party components across Linux and Windows environments, including the OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set, ProFTPD, Phusion Passenger, Postfix, msmtp, the ASP.NET Core Runtime, Git for Windows and OpenSSL.
For the full list of updated versions, see the release notes.
Update Recommended
Keeping your servers up to date ensures the highest levels of security, stability and performance available.
Plesk Obsidian v18.0.81 is available now through the Plesk Installer. Unsure of how to update? Steps are available in our update guide.
To learn more about this release and review all of the details, visit the release notes.
