WPBono RSVP Reminders

Scheduled reminder emails for EventON RSVP attendees, with a site-wide default lead time and a per-event override. EventON sells a "Reminders" add-on; it is not licensed on DROC, so this fills that gap and stays configurable without touching plugin files.

Contents

• Quick start
• Who gets a reminder
• Requirements
• Installation
• Settings
• How scheduling works
• Repeating events
• The calendar invite
• Relationship to the theme
• Uninstalling
• Development
• License

Quick start

1. Activate the plugin with the EventON RSVP add-on already active.
2. Go to Settings → RSVP Reminders.
3. Set the lead time, optionally a shorter second reminder, and pick an email logo.
4. Leave Dry run ticked for one cycle and check Recent activity to confirm the targeting before anything is mailed.

Who gets a reminder

Two conditions, both required:

1. The RSVP status is Yes. Maybe and No never get one.
2. Receive updates about event is Yes. This is a setting, on by default.

EventON ships that second field defaulting to No, so in practice almost nobody opted in and the reminder audience was near empty. The plugin flips the default to Yes for new RSVPs through EventON's own evors_form_fields_array filter. An existing RSVP being edited keeps whatever that person chose, which is deliberate: changing it would silently re-consent people who declined.

Requirements

Without the theme, reminders still send: just with no invite attached, and the settings screen says so.

Installation

Install from a GitHub release, or clone into wp-content/plugins/. Updates come through Git Updater.

The plugin directory must stay wpbono-rsvp-reminders. That name is the key WordPress uses to recognise an installed copy: renaming it installs a second plugin beside the first and orphans its settings.

Settings

Settings → RSVP Reminders

Each event also gets an RSVP Reminder box on its edit screen: a per-event lead time, an off switch, and a count of attendees already reminded.

How scheduling works

A cron hook runs hourly, not daily. WP-Cron only fires when the site gets traffic, so a daily schedule drifts and can skip a day on a quiet night.

Each tick asks "what is due now that hasn't gone yet", never "what falls in this hour". A window check would silently drop reminders whenever cron ran late; a due check catches up on the next run. The schedule also re-arms itself on admin_init, because a database restore or another plugin's over-broad wp_clear_scheduled_hook can drop the entry with no other symptom.

Two bounds worth knowing:

• The sweep takes a lock, so two overlapping ticks cannot both mail the same person.
• A tick sends at most 25 reminders (filter wpbono_rsvp_reminders_max_per_tick). Sending is inline, one SMTP handshake each, so an uncapped blast on a popular event would outlast max_execution_time. The remainder is still due an hour later.

Repeating events

Fully supported, and less obvious than it looks. EventON keeps only the first occurrence's start in evcal_srow; the series lives in repeat_intervals, and each RSVP records which occurrence it belongs to. Reminders are therefore timed per occurrence, and the sent marker is keyed by occurrence, so a weekly ride reminds its attendees every week rather than once ever.

The calendar invite

The attached .ics carries the same UID and a climbing SEQUENCE as the confirmation's invite, so a reminder revises the attendee's existing calendar entry instead of adding a duplicate. That is what corrects their calendar when an event moves.

Known trade: Gmail shows Yes/Maybe/No on the invitation despite ATTENDEE;RSVP=FALSE. Those clicks send an iMIP reply EventON cannot parse, so an answer changed in Gmail never reaches the RSVP list. The site stays the source of truth for the roster.

Relationship to the theme

The WPBono FSE theme owns the transactional RSVP emails (confirmation, update notice). This plugin owns the scheduled ones. That line is the architecture.

The theme also builds the calendar invite and provides the default email logo, both reached through accessors rather than by literal path. Choosing a logo here changes all three RSVP emails, not just the reminder.

Uninstalling

Deleting the plugin removes its settings, its activity log and its post meta. The log holds attendee email addresses, which is why the cleanup exists rather than leaving member data behind in wp_options.

Development

Local work happens in the bono Docker stack. There is no WP-CLI in the web container; for one-offs, write a script that requires wp-load.php, docker cp it in, and run it with php. See CLAUDE.md for the operational notes and ui.md for the settings-screen design.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later.