Shuriken Reviews

A professional WordPress rating plugin built for flexibility, performance, and extensibility. Supports multiple rating types, per-post and per-comment contextual voting, full Site Editor integration, a built-in analytics dashboard, and a rich developer API — all fully compatible with aggressive page caching and CDN delivery.

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Table of Contents

• Overview
• Requirements
• Installation
• Building from Source
• Rating Types & Scales
• Rating Structure
• Block Editor Integration
• Shortcodes
• Contextual Voting
• Rate Limiting
• Analytics Dashboard
• REST API
• Cache Compatibility
• Settings Reference
• Developer API
• Architecture
• License

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Overview

Shuriken Reviews is designed around three core principles:

Cache-proof by default. Every page load fetches fresh vote statistics and a valid security nonce from the REST API. If a cached nonce is rejected during a vote submission, the plugin automatically retrieves a new one and retries — transparently, with no user-facing error. No cache exclusion rules or special CDN configuration are required.

Type-aware and scale-aware. Ratings can be Stars (1–N), Numeric sliders (configurable range), or Thumbs (Like/Dislike, Approval). All votes are normalised to an internal 1–5 scale for consistent cross-rating analytics, while each rating's own display scale is always preserved for presentation.

Developer-first architecture. Services are resolved through a dependency injection container and backed by interfaces, making them fully swappable for unit testing or custom implementations. Fifty-plus WordPress hooks cover every significant operation. Nine typed exception classes map directly to HTTP status codes.

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Requirements

Dependency	Minimum Version
WordPress	7.0
PHP	8.3

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Installation

From a release (recommended)

1. Download shuriken-reviews.zip from GitHub Releases.
2. In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the zip, and install.
3. Activate through Plugins → Installed Plugins.
4. Navigate to Shuriken Reviews → Ratings to create your first rating.

Manual upload

1. Upload the shuriken-reviews directory to /wp-content/plugins/.
2. Activate and configure as above.

The plugin creates its database tables on activation. No manual database setup is needed.

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Building from Source

Use this when developing locally or packaging a zip yourself. Block editor scripts must be compiled before the plugin is installable.

Requirements: Node.js 20+ and npm.

git clone https://github.com/Skilledup/shuriken-reviews.git
cd shuriken-reviews
npm install

Build block assets only

npm run build

Build assets and create an installable zip

npm run package
# or: bash bin/package-plugin.sh

Output: build/shuriken-reviews.zip (WordPress-ready; contains a top-level shuriken-reviews/ folder).

If assets are already built:

bash bin/package-plugin.sh --skip-build

Custom output path:

bash bin/package-plugin.sh --output dist/shuriken-reviews.zip

Watch mode (block development)

npm start

Published GitHub releases are built by .github/workflows/release.yml, which runs the same build and packaging steps in CI.

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Rating Types & Scales

Type	Interaction	Configurable Scale
Star	Click or keyboard-select 1–N stars	Yes (default: 5)
Numeric	Drag a slider to any value in range	Yes (default: 10)
Thumbs	Single binary vote — Like/Dislike or Approval	No

Votes are stored on an internal normalised 1–5 scale regardless of display scale, enabling consistent analytics and comparisons across ratings of different scales. The denormalised display_average (on the rating's own scale) is pre-computed by the database layer and available on every rating and stats object.

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Rating Structure

Ratings support hierarchical and linked relationships:

Concept	Description
Parent rating	Aggregates values from sub-ratings; can be display-only (no direct votes)
Sub-rating	Contributes to a parent with a positive or negative effect
Mirror rating	Shares vote tallies with another rating; kept in sync automatically
Display-only	Calculated aggregate — accepts no direct votes

Type compatibility is enforced: the block editor warns when incompatible types are linked as mirrors or parent/child pairs.

Ratings can also include an optional label description beneath the name, and both blocks and shortcodes can suppress the title/description entirely for denser layouts such as Query Loop cards.

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Block Editor Integration

Two Full Site Editor blocks are included.

Shuriken Rating

Displays a single interactive rating for user voting.

Block sidebar options:

• Searchable rating selector — pick an existing rating or create one without leaving the editor
• Title tag (h1–h6, div, p, span) and Anchor ID
• Per-post voting toggle for contextual mode
• Per-comment voting toggle (nest inside Comment Template)
• Attach to comment form — deferred vote saved when the comment posts
• Visual preset (Classic, Card, Minimal, Dark, Outlined)
• Per-block accent colour and star colour override

Shuriken Grouped Rating

Displays a parent rating with all its child sub-ratings in a unified section.

Block sidebar options:

• Unified searchable dropdown for parent ratings and mirrors
• Title tag and Anchor ID
• Per-post voting toggle
• Per-comment voting toggle (nest inside Comment Template)
• Visual preset (Gradient, Minimal, Boxed, Dark, Outlined)
• Grid or List layout for child ratings
• Gap control (--shuriken-gap) — accepts any CSS size value (e.g. 24px, 2rem)
• Per-block colour overrides, including a dedicated button colour for numeric grouped ratings
• Inline mirror management — create, rename, and delete mirrors for the parent and each sub-rating directly from the block editor

Both blocks render a live editor preview that matches the frontend output. They also opt into WordPress client-side navigation support, and the frontend ratings script re-initialises after Interactivity Router navigations so voting widgets stay live on modern block-theme page transitions.

Query Loop Sort Extension

For block themes, Shuriken Reviews also provides a Query Loop sorting extension so archive and loop output can be ordered by a chosen rating.

Capabilities:

• Pick which rating controls sorting
• Choose sort direction and metric
• Use archive sorting settings as a site-wide fallback where needed

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Shortcodes

[shuriken_rating]

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
id	int	required	Rating ID
tag	string	h2	Title HTML tag: h1–h6, div, p, span
anchor_tag	string	—	Anchor ID for deep-linking
style	string	—	Preset: classic, card, minimal, dark, outlined
accent_color	string	—	Hex colour override (e.g. #e74c3c)
star_color	string	—	Hex colour override
button_color	string	—	Hex colour override for numeric submit buttons
hide_title	int/bool	—	Hide the rating title and description output
context_id	int	—	Post or comment ID for contextual voting
context_type	string	—	Context type: post, page, product, comment, …

[shuriken_rating id="1"]
[shuriken_rating id="1" tag="h3" anchor_tag="product-rating"]
[shuriken_rating id="1" style="card" accent_color="#e74c3c" star_color="#f39c12"]
[shuriken_rating id="8" style="minimal" star_color="#0f766e" button_color="#155e75"]
[shuriken_rating id="8" hide_title="1"]
[shuriken_rating id="1" context_id="42" context_type="post"]
[shuriken_rating id="12" context_id="789" context_type="comment"]

[shuriken_grouped_rating]

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
id	int	required	Parent rating ID
tag	string	h2	Title HTML tag
anchor_tag	string	—	Anchor ID
style	string	—	Preset: gradient, minimal, boxed, dark, outlined
accent_color	string	—	Hex colour override
star_color	string	—	Hex colour override
button_color	string	—	Hex colour override for numeric submit buttons
layout	string	grid	Child layout: grid or list
hide_title	int/bool	—	Hide the rating title and description output
context_id	int	—	Post or comment ID for contextual voting
context_type	string	—	Context type: post, page, product, comment, …

[shuriken_grouped_rating id="1"]
[shuriken_grouped_rating id="1" style="dark" layout="list"]
[shuriken_grouped_rating id="5" tag="h3" style="boxed" accent_color="#667eea" button_color="#1d4ed8" layout="list"]
[shuriken_grouped_rating id="5" hide_title="1"]

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Contextual Voting

A rating placed in a template collects independent vote tallies per context (post, page, product, or comment) without requiring separate rating configurations for each entity.

How to enable:

• Block (posts): toggle Per-post voting in the block inspector.
• Block (comments): toggle Per-comment voting inside a Comment Template, or Attach to comment form on the single rating block (sibling of the comments form).
• Shortcode: pass context_id and context_type attributes.

Additional integration:

• Block editor sidebar panel — while editing a post, a Document Settings panel displays live contextual vote stats for that post.
• Archive sorting — configure Settings → General → Archive Sorting to order archive pages by contextual rating average or total votes using a pre_get_posts hook.
• Analytics — the Recent Activity table links contextual votes to the originating post or comment; an overview card counts posts with contextual votes.
• Item Stats scope views — ratings with contextual votes gain a Per-Post Votes view, a Global Votes comparison view, top-post and trending tables, and dedicated drill-down pages for each context.
• REST endpoint — GET /context-stats (requires edit_posts) returns per-context stats programmatically.
• Comment rating ID filter — shuriken_comment_rating_id can supply a rating ID when the block/shortcode leaves it unset.

Accepted context types default to post, page, product, and comment. Extend with the shuriken_allowed_context_types filter.

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Rate Limiting

Disabled by default. Enable under Settings → Rate Limiting.

Setting	Default	Description
Cooldown period	60 s	Minimum delay between votes on the same rating per user
Hourly limit — members	30	Maximum votes per hour for logged-in users
Hourly limit — guests	10	Maximum votes per hour for guest users
Daily limit — members	100	Maximum votes per day for logged-in users
Daily limit — guests	30	Maximum votes per day for guest users

Administrators automatically bypass all limits. Five dedicated hooks allow custom rate-limit logic to be injected.

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Analytics Dashboard

Available at Shuriken Reviews → Analytics.

Section	Description
Overview cards	Total ratings, votes, averages, unique voters, posts with contextual votes
Date range filter	Last 7 / 30 / 90 / 365 days, all time, or a custom range
Top rated / most voted	Sortable leaderboards with vote-change percentages and benchmark comparisons
Vote distribution	Visual breakdown per rating-value bucket
Votes over time	Trend chart with rolling average
Item Stats	Scope-aware detail screens with Global vs. Per-Post toggles, contextual leaderboards, and per-post drilldowns
Voter breakdown	Member vs. guest voter-type split
Voter Activity page	Full voting history, per-rating stats, and charts for any individual voter (members and guests)
Export	Download all data as CSV

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REST API

All endpoints are prefixed with /wp-json/shuriken-reviews/v1/.

Ratings

Method	Path	Auth	Description
GET	/ratings	Public	List all ratings
GET	/ratings/{id}	Public	Get a single rating
POST	/ratings	Write cap	Create a rating
PUT	/ratings/{id}	Write cap	Update a rating
DELETE	/ratings/{id}	Write cap	Delete a rating
GET	/ratings/search	Public	Search ratings by name
GET	/ratings/parents	Public	List parent ratings
GET	/ratings/mirrorable	Public	List mirrorable ratings
GET	/ratings/{id}/children	Public	List child ratings
GET	/ratings/{id}/mirrors	Public	List mirrors of a rating
GET	/ratings/batch?ids=1,2,3	Public	Batch-fetch ratings by ID

Voting & Stats

Method	Path	Auth	Description
GET	/ratings/stats?ids=1,2,3	Public	Fresh vote statistics; supports context_id and context_type
GET	/nonce	Public	Fresh AJAX nonce (CDN-safe)
GET	/context-stats	edit_posts	Per-post contextual vote statistics

Write Capability

The minimum WordPress capability for POST / PUT / DELETE defaults to manage_options (Administrators). Configure it in Settings → General → REST API Access, or override it at runtime:

add_filter( 'shuriken_rest_manage_capability', function( $cap ) {
    return 'edit_posts'; // Allow Editors and Authors
} );

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Cache Compatibility

Shuriken Reviews is fully compatible with full-page caching and CDNs without any cache-rule configuration:

1. Frontend CSS and JS load only when a rating block or shortcode is present on the page (v1.15.6+).
2. On every page load, the plugin's JavaScript fetches fresh vote statistics and a valid nonce from the REST API.
3. If a vote is submitted with a stale nonce (e.g. from a cached page), the plugin automatically fetches a fresh nonce and retries the request — the user sees no error.
4. The /nonce endpoint can itself be served cached; the retry mechanism handles any edge cases.

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Settings Reference

General Tab

Setting	Description
Guest Voting	Allow non-logged-in users to vote; votes are tracked by IP address
REST API Access	Minimum capability for write operations: Administrator, Editor, Author, or Custom
Archive Sorting	Order archive pages by contextual rating — choose a rating, sort by average or total votes
Delete Data on Uninstall	Opt-in toggle to permanently remove custom tables and options when the plugin is uninstalled

Rate Limiting Tab

Enable rate limiting and configure all thresholds. See Rate Limiting.

Comments Tab

Setting	Description
Enable Swiper Slider	Display the Latest Comments block as a swipeable carousel when the slider assets are enabled
Exclude Author Comments	Remove the post author's own comments from the Latest Comments block
Exclude Reply Comments	Remove comment replies from the Latest Comments block

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Developer API

WordPress Hooks

50+ hooks (filters and actions). Key hooks:

Hook	Type	Description
shuriken_rating_html	Filter	Modify the full rendered rating HTML
shuriken_can_submit_vote	Filter	Control vote eligibility per user/rating
shuriken_rating_star_symbol	Filter	Override the rating symbol (★, ❤, etc.)
shuriken_rest_manage_capability	Filter	Override write capability for REST write operations
shuriken_allowed_context_types	Filter	Control which context types accept contextual votes (post, page, product, comment, …)
shuriken_rate_limit_exceeded	Filter	Customise the rate-limit error response
shuriken_vote_created	Action	Fires after a new vote is successfully recorded
shuriken_container_ready	Action	Fires after the DI container is fully built — swap services before first use
shuriken_deactivate	Action	Fires on plugin deactivation
shuriken_enqueue_frontend_assets	Filter	Control conditional frontend CSS/JS enqueue
shuriken_after_rating_stats	Action	Append content below the rating stats block
shuriken_settings_tabs	Filter	Add or modify Settings page tabs

→ Full Hooks Reference

Helper Functions

shuriken_db()         // Returns Shuriken_Database_Interface
shuriken_ratings_repo() // Returns Shuriken_Rating_Repository
shuriken_votes_repo()   // Returns Shuriken_Vote_Repository
shuriken_schema_manager() // Returns Shuriken_Schema_Manager
shuriken_analytics()  // Returns Shuriken_Analytics_Interface
shuriken_container()  // Returns Shuriken_Container (DI service container)
shuriken_enqueue_frontend_assets() // Idempotent on-demand frontend CSS/JS enqueue

Service Interfaces

Interface	Covers
Shuriken_Database_Interface	All read/write rating and vote operations
Shuriken_Analytics_Interface	Aggregate statistics, trends, and breakdowns (extends five analytics sub-interfaces)
Shuriken_Voter_Analytics_Interface	Per-voter history and distribution
Shuriken_Rate_Limiter_Interface	Pluggable rate-limit implementation

Mock implementations are provided in tests/ for all major interfaces, enabling unit testing with no database dependency.

→ Testing Guide · Dependency Injection

Exception System

Nine typed exception classes each map to an HTTP status code and implement a shared Shuriken_Exception_Interface:

Class	HTTP	Use
Shuriken_Database_Exception	500	Database query failures
Shuriken_Validation_Exception	422	Input validation errors
Shuriken_Not_Found_Exception	404	Resource not found
Shuriken_Permission_Exception	403	Capability or auth failures
Shuriken_Rate_Limit_Exception	429	Rate limit exceeded
Shuriken_Logic_Exception	422	Domain-rule violations
Shuriken_Configuration_Exception	500	Misconfiguration
Shuriken_Integration_Exception	502	Third-party integration errors

All exceptions are caught and logged by Shuriken_Exception_Handler.

→ Exception System Guide

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Architecture

All services are resolved through Shuriken_Container. Any service can be replaced with an alternative implementation (including mocks) by binding a new factory before the container resolves it.

Shuriken_Analytics is a ~278-line coordinator that delegates to five focused services: Shuriken_Analytics_Formatter, Shuriken_Analytics_Ranking, Shuriken_Analytics_Dashboard, Shuriken_Analytics_Rating_Stats, and Shuriken_Analytics_Context.

Internal votes are stored on a normalised 1–5 scale (RATING_SCALE_DEFAULT). Denormalisation to each rating's display scale is performed exclusively inside Shuriken_Database::attach_averages() and exposed as display_average on all returned objects — no consumer performs inline scale conversion.

→ Architecture Overview

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License

Licensed under GPLv3 or later.

Developed by Skilledup.

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Support

• GitHub Discussions — bug reports and feature requests
• Changelog — full version history
• Developer Documentation — all guides and API references