CPT Menu Sync

CPT Menu Sync is a small WordPress plugin that keeps posts from a post type automatically synced into a normal WordPress navigation menu.

If you found this because you were searching for something like:

• "automatically add custom post type posts to a WordPress menu"
• "sync CPT posts to a menu in WordPress"
• "keep Services posts updated in the main menu"
• "use Post Types Order for WordPress menu items"

...this plugin is meant to solve exactly that problem without making you manually update the menu every time a post is added, renamed, unpublished, or reordered.

A common example is a site with a Services custom post type. You may already have a menu item called Services and want every published Service to appear below it automatically:

Home
About
Services
    Commercial Cleaning
    Grease Trap Services
    Landscaping
    Waste Management
Contact

CPT Menu Sync creates those child links as normal WordPress menu items and keeps them in sync for you.

What It Does

You create a simple rule that says:

Post Type → Menu → Parent Menu Item

For example:

Services → Main Menu → Services

After that, CPT Menu Sync can automatically:

• add newly published posts to the menu
• update menu labels when post titles change
• remove managed menu items when a post is unpublished or deleted
• keep menu items in the same order as your CPT posts
• work with multiple post types and multiple menus
• avoid adding duplicate menu items

The plugin runs when relevant content changes. It does not rebuild your menus on every frontend page load.

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Quick Start

1. Install the Plugin

Install and activate CPT Menu Sync like a normal WordPress plugin.

If you downloaded a ZIP:

1. Go to Plugins → Add Plugin in WordPress.
2. Click Upload Plugin.
3. Choose the CPT Menu Sync ZIP file.
4. Install and activate it.

If you are installing the files manually, place the plugin in:

/wp-content/plugins/cpt-menu-sync/

Then activate CPT Menu Sync from the WordPress Plugins screen.

2. Make Sure Your Parent Menu Item Already Exists

CPT Menu Sync adds posts under an existing menu item.

For example, if you want your Service posts to appear under Services, first make sure your WordPress menu already contains a Services item:

Home
About
Services
Contact

You can create or edit classic WordPress menus from the normal WordPress menu editor used by your site.

3. Open CPT Menu Sync

In WordPress admin, go to:

Tools → CPT Menu Sync

4. Add a Sync Rule

Choose:

• Post Type — the content you want to add, such as Services
• Menu — the WordPress navigation menu to update
• Parent Menu Item — the existing item those posts should appear beneath
• Order — how those posts should be arranged

For a typical Services setup:

Post Type: Services
Menu: Main Menu
Parent Item: Services
Order: Menu Order → Title

Leave the normal options enabled unless you have a reason to change them:

• Sync Titles — keeps menu labels matched to post titles
• Remove Missing — removes managed menu links if the source post is unpublished/deleted
• Adopt Existing — uses an existing matching menu item instead of creating a duplicate

Save the rule.

5. Sync

Saving your settings performs a sync automatically. In v0.1.1 and later, saving and manual syncing happen in place without reloading the Tools page.

You can also click Sync Now at any time.

You will see a simple report such as:

Matched 12 · Added 2 · Updated 10 · Removed 0

That's it. From then on, the plugin keeps the selected posts and menu in sync.

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Using Post Types Order

CPT Menu Sync works with the popular Post Types Order plugin and other setups that use WordPress's built-in menu_order value.

If you drag your Services into a custom order with Post Types Order, choose:

Menu Order → Title

in CPT Menu Sync.

The menu children will then follow that order.

For example, if your Services are arranged as:

Waste Management
Janitorial Services
Landscaping
Grease Trap Services

CPT Menu Sync will use the same sequence beneath the selected parent menu item.

If two posts happen to have the same menu_order, their titles are used as a secondary alphabetical sort.

If you do not use Post Types Order, you can simply choose Title A–Z instead.

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Multiple Post Types

You are not limited to one CPT.

Create as many sync rules as you need:

Services  → Main Menu   → Services
Locations → Main Menu   → Locations
Team      → About Menu  → Our Team
Resources → Footer Menu → Resources

Each rule works independently.

One Post Type in Multiple Menus

You can also use the same post type in more than one menu:

Services → Main Menu   → Services
Services → Mobile Menu → Services
Services → Footer Menu → Our Services

Just create a separate rule for each menu.

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Rule Options Explained

Enabled

Turns a rule on or off without deleting it.

Post Type

The WordPress post type whose posts should be added to the menu.

This can be a custom post type such as:

• Services
• Locations
• Team
• Resources
• Products

or another manageable post type available on the site.

Menu

The classic WordPress navigation menu that CPT Menu Sync should update.

Parent Menu Item

The existing menu item that should contain the synchronized posts.

The plugin stores the actual WordPress menu-item ID, so renaming the parent later does not normally break the rule.

Order

Available sorting options include:

• Menu Order → Title
• Title A–Z
• Title Z–A
• Newest first
• Oldest first

Use Menu Order → Title if your CPT supports manual ordering or you use Post Types Order.

Sync Titles

When enabled, the menu label follows the post title.

If you rename:

Commercial Cleaning

to:

Commercial & Industrial Cleaning

the managed menu item will also update.

Disable this option if you intentionally use custom menu labels.

Remove Missing

When enabled, a managed menu item is removed if its source post no longer belongs in the rule—for example if the post is drafted, trashed, deleted, or unpublished.

CPT Menu Sync only removes menu items it knows it manages. It does not blindly delete unrelated menu links.

Adopt Existing

If the post is already in the selected menu, CPT Menu Sync can adopt that menu item instead of creating another copy.

This is useful when setting up the plugin on a site that already has some CPT links added manually.

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What Happens When I Edit a Post?

CPT Menu Sync listens for changes to the post types used by your rules.

It can resync when a relevant post is:

• created
• edited
• published
• drafted
• trashed
• restored
• deleted/unpublished

It also reacts when a configured classic WordPress menu is edited.

The plugin queues the work so the same rule is not repeatedly run by several WordPress save hooks during one request.

It does not add extra synchronization work to normal visitor page loads.

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What Happens If I Delete a Rule?

Deleting or changing a rule does not automatically wipe its old links out of your navigation.

Instead, CPT Menu Sync releases those old items from plugin management and leaves them in the menu as normal WordPress menu items.

This is intentional. Changing a plugin setting should not unexpectedly destroy a site's navigation.

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Troubleshooting

My posts are not appearing

Check these first:

1. Make sure the posts are Published.
2. Make sure the rule is Enabled.
3. Confirm that the correct Post Type is selected.
4. Confirm that the correct Menu is selected.
5. Confirm that the selected Parent Menu Item still exists.
6. Click Sync Now and review the sync report.

The order is wrong

If you use Post Types Order or manually arrange your CPT posts, choose:

Menu Order → Title

If you just want alphabetical ordering, choose:

Title A–Z

Then click Sync Now.

I already added some of these posts to the menu manually

Enable Adopt Existing.

CPT Menu Sync will try to use matching post-type menu items rather than adding duplicates.

I renamed the Services menu item

That should be fine after the rule has been saved. CPT Menu Sync stores the selected parent by its menu-item ID rather than relying only on the visible title.

I don't see my menu in the dropdown

This version works with classic WordPress navigation menus.

WordPress block-theme Navigation blocks use a different storage system and are not managed by this version.

I don't see an update immediately after a GitHub release

GitHub release information is cached for up to one hour.

Go to:

Tools → CPT Menu Sync

and click:

Check for Updates

That forces a fresh GitHub check and refreshes WordPress's plugin update data without reloading the Tools page.

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Requirements

• WordPress 6.0+
• PHP 7.4+
• A site using classic WordPress navigation menus
• Permission to manage WordPress menus

Block themes: WordPress Navigation blocks use a different menu system. CPT Menu Sync currently manages classic WordPress navigation menus only.

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GitHub Updates

CPT Menu Sync can update through normal WordPress plugin updates using releases from:

https://github.com/eyeofbri/CPT-Menu-Sync

When a newer normal GitHub Release is available, WordPress can show it on the standard Plugins and Updates screens.

You can also go to:

Tools → CPT Menu Sync

for update information including:

• installed version
• latest release version
• GitHub connection status
• last update check
• whether an update is available
• Check for Updates

The updater uses GitHub's automatically generated source ZIP, so release ZIP files do not need to be manually attached to every GitHub Release.

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For Developers / Repository Setup

Most WordPress users do not need anything below this point.

Release Workflow

1. Update the plugin version in cpt-menu-sync.php.
2. Update CPTMS_VERSION to the same version.
3. Update changelog.md and this README.
4. Commit and push the version to GitHub.
5. Create a GitHub Release with a matching tag, for example:

v0.1.2

6. Publish it as a normal release, not a draft or prerelease.

No manually uploaded release ZIP is required. The updater uses GitHub's generated source ZIP.

During a WordPress update, the plugin normalizes GitHub's generated source directory back to:

cpt-menu-sync/

This prevents WordPress from installing the update as a second copy of the plugin.

Repository Layout

The repository root should also be the plugin root:

CPT-Menu-Sync/
├── cpt-menu-sync.php
├── README.md
├── changelog.md
├── LICENSE
├── uninstall.php
├── assets/
└── includes/

Do not place another cpt-menu-sync/ wrapper directory inside the repository.

Repository Configuration

The repository used for updates is defined in cpt-menu-sync.php:

define( 'CPTMS_GITHUB_REPOSITORY', 'eyeofbri/CPT-Menu-Sync' );

If the repository is renamed, update this constant before publishing the next release.

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Plugin Structure

cpt-menu-sync/
├── cpt-menu-sync.php
├── README.md
├── changelog.md
├── LICENSE
├── uninstall.php
├── .gitignore
├── assets/
│   ├── css/
│   │   └── admin.css
│   ├── js/
│   │   └── admin.js
│   └── images/
│       └── logo.svg
└── includes/
    ├── class-cptms-admin.php
    ├── class-cptms-plugin.php
    ├── class-cptms-settings.php
    ├── class-cptms-sync-engine.php
    └── class-cptms-updater.php

The code is intentionally separated by responsibility:

• cpt-menu-sync.php — plugin bootstrap and constants
• CPTMS_Plugin — plugin initialization and dependency wiring
• CPTMS_Settings — rule storage and validation
• CPTMS_Sync_Engine — menu synchronization behavior
• CPTMS_Admin — Tools page, rule editor, reports, AJAX endpoints, and fallback admin actions
• CPTMS_Updater — GitHub Releases / WordPress updater integration
• admin.js — repeatable rules, parent-item dropdowns, and AJAX save/sync/update-check behavior

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Managed Menu Item Data

CPT Menu Sync marks generated or adopted menu items with private post meta:

_cptms_rule_id

The value is the unique ID of the rule managing that menu item.

This is how the plugin can tell its own managed items apart from unrelated menu links.

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Admin Branding

The plugin uses the WordPress Dashicon:

dashicons-share-alt

The included assets/images/logo.svg is the CPT Menu Sync project logo used on the Tools page.

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Changelog

0.1.1

Minor admin usability update.

• Added AJAX-powered Save Rules, Sync Now, and Check for Updates actions
• Kept normal form-post fallbacks when JavaScript is unavailable
• Added a simple how-to accordion beneath Save Rules
• Updated the admin logo/header styling and project logo
• Made the Plugins-page author and Visit plugin site links open in new tabs