Install ReleaseCart

Install the free ReleaseCart plugin and see what activation sets up on your site.

Requirements

• WordPress 6.9 or newer.
• PHP 8.1 or newer.
• HTTPS on your site, if you take live card payments with Stripe.
• Outbound access from your server to api.stripe.com, if you take Stripe payments. The Stripe payments page covers the setup.

ReleaseCart needs nothing else on the server. It ships with everything it runs on, including the Action Scheduler library for its background jobs.

Install the plugin

ReleaseCart is free on WordPress.org.

1. In wp-admin, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin.
2. Search for "ReleaseCart".
3. On the ReleaseCart card, click Install Now, then Activate.

You can also download the zip from ReleaseCart on WordPress.org and install it with Upload Plugin on the same screen.

The free plugin needs no license key.

What activation sets up

When you activate ReleaseCart, it:

• Creates its own database tables for products, orders, customers, licenses, releases and the rest. Your catalog is not stored as WordPress posts.
• Gives the administrator role three capabilities: manage_releasecart, manage_releasecart_settings and view_releasecart_reports. Who can use each screen explains what each one allows.
• Starts with default settings, such as USD for the store currency.
• Creates the storefront pages on the next page load: Store, Product, Checkout, Account, Sign in and Reset password. It also creates a Register page when the WordPress setting Anyone can register is on (Settings → General in WordPress). Storefront pages explains how they are set up.

A ReleaseCart menu then appears in the wp-admin sidebar.

Find your way around the admin

The ReleaseCart menu has these items: Dashboard, Products, Categories & Tags, Orders, Customers, Licenses, Discounts, Reports and Settings. While ReleaseCart Pro is not active, a ReleaseCart Pro item is last. Each item shows only to users with the capability it needs.

The Dashboard opens with a summary of your store:

• Store overview shows gross revenue, refunds, net revenue and the number of orders for the last 30 days, with a View report link. It shows to users with the view_releasecart_reports capability.
• Shortcut cards open the screens you are allowed to use.
• Latest orders lists the five newest orders. It shows to users with the manage_releasecart capability.

The overview counts amounts in the store currency only. If orders in another currency fall in the 30 days, a line under the heading says so and points you to Reports for the other amounts.

Links and bookmarks

Every ReleaseCart screen runs on one admin page, admin.php?page=releasecart. The part after the # names the screen, for example admin.php?page=releasecart#/orders. So you can bookmark any screen or send its address to a colleague, and the browser's Back and Forward buttons work as usual. The sidebar highlights the menu item for the screen you are on.

A staff member who cannot open the Dashboard lands on the first ReleaseCart screen they can open. A direct link to a screen they cannot open shows "Access denied".

Unsaved changes

The settings screen, the product editor, the Categories and tags screen and the discount editor track edits you have not saved. If you move to another ReleaseCart screen or leave wp-admin with unsaved edits, ReleaseCart asks you to confirm first. Cancel, and you stay on the screen with your edits in place.

Nothing is stored until you click the screen's save button. A browser tab that crashes loses unsaved edits.

The ReleaseCart Pro screen

ReleaseCart Pro is a separate paid plugin that adds to the free one. Open ReleaseCart → ReleaseCart Pro to see what it adds, or read What ReleaseCart Pro adds. The screen lists each Pro feature with a short description and a See ReleaseCart Pro link. The View ReleaseCart Pro features button and every link open the ReleaseCart Pro page on drplugin.com in a new tab.

While Pro is not active, the free plugin also shows:

• A one-line note at the top of the other ReleaseCart screens, with a See ReleaseCart Pro link. Click Dismiss to hide it for your user account.
• A ReleaseCart Pro tab under ReleaseCart → Settings with the same feature list.

The screen and the note show to users with the manage_releasecart capability. The tab shows only to users who can open Settings (manage_releasecart_settings). All three go away once ReleaseCart Pro is active.

To get Pro, buy it on the ReleaseCart Pro page at drplugin.com and download it from your DrPlugin account. It needs the free plugin: WordPress activates Pro only while ReleaseCart is active. Install and activate Pro has the steps.

First steps for a new store

1. Set your store currency under ReleaseCart → Settings → General before you add products. Prices are stored in the currency's smallest unit, such as cents, and changing the currency later does not convert them.
2. Connect Stripe under ReleaseCart → Settings → Payments. The Stripe payments page covers the keys, the webhook and test mode.
3. Check the storefront pages under ReleaseCart → Settings → General. ReleaseCart already created and selected them, and you can pick your own pages instead. See Storefront pages.
4. Add your first product with at least one pricing tier, as described in Products and pricing tiers. If you sell software, turn on Licensed product and read License keys and activations.
5. Make a test purchase in Stripe test mode. Check that the receipt email arrives and that the license key works.

If something does not work as expected, Troubleshooting lists common problems and their fixes, and the FAQ answers common questions.

Update ReleaseCart

ReleaseCart updates like any other plugin from WordPress.org. A new version shows on Dashboard → Updates and on the Plugins screen, and you install it there. When the new version loads, ReleaseCart applies its own database updates.

Deactivate or delete ReleaseCart

Deactivating stops the plugin and its scheduled jobs. It does not touch your data, and when you activate ReleaseCart again it carries on where it stopped.

Deleting the plugin keeps every table, order, customer and license by default. To remove everything, turn on Delete all data on uninstall under ReleaseCart → Settings → General before you delete the plugin. Deleting it then removes:

• every ReleaseCart table, setting and scheduled job
• the ReleaseCart capabilities from every role
• the files stored in the releasecart folder under your uploads directory
• the storefront pages ReleaseCart created (pages you made yourself stay)

This includes ReleaseCart Pro's subscription, recurring tier schedule, affiliate, payout and cart recovery tables if they are still there. Deleting ReleaseCart Pro with the setting on removes them too. See Delete Pro.

On a multisite network, each site's own setting decides. Only the sites that turned it on are cleared.