WP Manifestindependent plugin directory
manifest / users / learndash_certificates

LearnDash Certificate Generator

Code that will check if there is a WooCommerce order with the same name, and upon completion of LD course generate a post with custom public Certificate that you can later share on your social media.

by Milos Milosevic · github.com/mmilosevic87/learndash_certificates

★ 1stars

Install

Download source zip No release zip yet

This is the repository archive. It installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow.

Install straight from GitHub with WP-CLI:

wp plugin install https://github.com/mmilosevic87/learndash_certificates/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
No built-in updater. New versions won't appear under Dashboard → Updates. Install new releases yourself, or let Git Updater track the repository.
Readme github.com/mmilosevic87/learndash_certificates ↗

A WordPress plugin that automatically generates a certificate and sends a notification email when a user completes a LearnDash course.

What It Does

When a student completes a LearnDash course, this plugin:

  1. Verifies the purchase — Checks the user's WooCommerce orders to confirm they purchased the course
  2. Prevents duplicates — Checks if a certificate already exists for this user + course combination
  3. Generates a certificate — Creates an urban_certificates custom post type with a styled HTML certificate containing the student's name, course name, and completion date
  4. Sends an email — Notifies the student via email that their certificate has been generated

How It Works

The plugin hooks into LearnDash's learndash_course_completed action. When fired:

  1. Validates the incoming course and user data
  2. Queries WooCommerce orders to find a matching purchase
  3. Builds a styled HTML certificate with:
    • Student's full name
    • Course name
    • Completion date (localized to WordPress date format)
  4. Inserts the certificate as a published urban_certificates post
  5. Stores _certificate_user_id and _certificate_course_id as post meta for deduplication
  6. Sends an HTML notification email to the student

Requirements

  • WordPress 5.0+
  • LearnDash LMS plugin (active)
  • WooCommerce plugin (active) — courses must be sold as WooCommerce products
  • A registered custom post type: urban_certificates

Installation

  1. Download or clone this repository
  2. Place the learndash_certificates folder in wp-content/plugins/ (or drop ld_certificates.php into wp-content/mu-plugins/ for must-use)
  3. Activate the plugin from the WordPress admin
  4. Ensure the urban_certificates custom post type is registered by your theme or another plugin

Configuration

No settings page is needed. The plugin works automatically via the learndash_course_completed hook.

Customizing the Certificate Template

Edit the HTML heredoc inside generate_ld_certificate() in ld_certificates.php. The following variables are available:

Variable Description
$first_name Student's first name (escaped)
$last_name Student's last name (escaped)
$safe_course Course name (escaped)
$completion_date Localized completion date

Customizing the Email

Edit the $subject and $body variables near the end of the function.

Security

  • All user-facing output is escaped with esc_html() to prevent XSS
  • Post titles are sanitized with sanitize_text_field()
  • Email addresses are sanitized with sanitize_email()
  • kses_remove_filters() is used narrowly around wp_insert_post() and immediately restored
  • Incoming hook data is validated with type checks before use

File Structure

learndash_certificates/
└── ld_certificates.php    # Main plugin file — all logic in a single function

License

MIT