Auto Daily Newsletter - WordPress Plugin

An automated, modern daily news digest plugin for WordPress. It automatically queries the latest 5–10 published news articles, builds a responsive HTML newsletter, and delivers it to subscribers via your custom SMTP server or email API on a daily schedule.

Architecture & Workflow

[ New WordPress News Posts ]
              ↓
  [ Daily WP-Cron / Server Cron ]
              ↓
  [ Post Collector (Latest 5–10) ]
              ↓
  [ Responsive HTML Template Builder ]
              ↓
  [ SMTP / PHPMailer / API Mailer ]
              ↓
  [ Active Subscribers (Batch Dispatch) ]

Features

• Automated Daily Scheduling: Runs automatically once every 24 hours at your chosen time (e.g. 08:00 AM). Compatible with WP-Cron and system server crons.
• Smart Post Aggregation:
  • Automatically fetches the latest 5–10 articles published within the last 24 hours.
  • Category and post-type filtering.
  • Fallback modes: Automatically send latest published posts if no new posts appeared in the last 24 hours, or skip delivery.
• Cross-Client Responsive HTML Email:
  • Bulletproof inline-styled email template tested for Gmail, Apple Mail, Outlook, and mobile clients.
  • Featured "Top Story" hero card + secondary story rows with thumbnails and reading time indicators.
  • Custom brand colors, site branding, and inbox preview preheader.
• Deliverability & Transport (SMTP / API / wp_mail):
  • Built-in SMTP settings (Host, Port, SSL/TLS, Authentication, User, Pass).
  • Works with Gmail, SendGrid, Amazon SES, Brevo, Mailgun, Postmark, and custom host SMTP.
  • Batching system (e.g., 30 emails per batch with micro-delays) to prevent server timeouts and provider rate limits.
  • RFC 8058 1-Click Unsubscribe headers (List-Unsubscribe & List-Unsubscribe-Post) compliant with Google & Yahoo deliverability standards.
• Subscriber Management:
  • Embedded shortcode: [daily_newsletter_form] with instant AJAX subscription.
  • Secure, tokenized 1-click unsubscribe endpoint (no login required).
  • Admin management: Add, view, delete, and one-click export to CSV.
• Admin Control Room:
  • Live newsletter HTML preview modal.
  • "Send Test Email" diagnostic tool.
  • "Send Today's Digest Now" manual trigger.
  • Full audit delivery log table.

Installation

Method 1: Upload via WordPress Admin

1. Zip this plugin folder:

   zip -r auto-daily-newsletter.zip . -x "*.git*"

2. In your WordPress admin, navigate to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Choose auto-daily-newsletter.zip and click Install Now.
4. Click Activate Plugin.

Method 2: FTP / Direct Directory Copy

1. Upload the plugin files to your WordPress site directory: /wp-content/plugins/auto-daily-newsletter/
2. Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins in WordPress and click Activate.

Shortcode Usage

To display a subscription box anywhere on your site, add the following shortcode:

[daily_newsletter_form]

Shortcode Parameters:

Example:

[daily_newsletter_form title="Daily Tech Digest" button_text="Join Now" show_name="yes"]

Server Cron (Recommended for High Reliability)

While WordPress WP-Cron works out of the box, we recommend disabling WP-Cron execution on visitor page loads and running a real Linux cron job for precise daily timing:

1. Add this to your wp-config.php:

   define( 'DISABLE_WP_CRON', true );

2. Add a system crontab entry (runs every 10 or 15 minutes):

   */15 * * * * curl -s https://example.com/wp-cron.php > /dev/null 2>&1

Extensibility (Developer Hooks)

1. Intercept Delivery with Custom Transactional API (e.g. SendGrid / Brevo API)

add_filter( 'adnl_send_email_via_api', function( $handled, $to_email, $subject, $html_body, $headers ) {
    // Dispatch via your custom API SDK (e.g. SendGrid, Mailgun, Brevo)
    // Return true on success, or false to fall back to wp_mail()
    return true; 
}, 10, 5 );

2. Customize Newsletter HTML

add_filter( 'adnl_rendered_digest_html', function( $html, $posts ) {
    // Manipulate HTML before personalizing or sending
    return $html;
}, 10, 2 );

License

GPLv2 or later.