WPCalibrate RSS Feed Manager

Enterprise-Grade RSS 2.0 Feed Management & Syndication for WordPress

Table of Contents

• About
• Key Features
• System Requirements
• Installation & Setup
• Documentation & Usage Guide
  • 1. Controlling Native WordPress Feeds
  • 2. Creating Filtered Custom RSS 2.0 Feeds
  • 3. Securing Private Feeds with Access Tokens
  • 4. Media Enclosures & Featured Images
  • 5. WooCommerce Product Syndication (HPOS Compatible)
  • 6. Deterministic Transient Caching
  • 7. In-Admin Live Preview & Diagnostics
• Updating via GitHub / WordPress Dashboard
• Architecture & Standards
• Changelog
• Support & Community
• License

About

WPCalibrate RSS Feed Manager is an enterprise-grade syndication and feed architecture plugin for WordPress. Out of the box, WordPress generates numerous uncontrolled RSS feeds that expose taxonomy archives, author profiles, and per-post comment streams without caching or access protection.

WPCalibrate RSS Feed Manager gives administrators complete authority over site syndication:

1. Discover and govern native feeds with customizable response strategies (HTTP 404, HTTP 410, or canonical 301 redirects).
2. Build clean, custom RSS 2.0 channels on /feed/wpcal/{slug}/ tailored for marketing automation, mobile applications, newsletters, podcast syndication, and affiliate networks.
3. Protect sensitive data with cryptographically secure authentication tokens.
4. Accelerate performance with deterministic transient caching and targeted event-driven invalidation.
5. Syndicate WooCommerce products with price, stock, and SKU metadata while remaining 100% compatible with High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS).

Key Features

• 10 Native WordPress Feed Controls: Individually manage or disable Main Posts, Main Comments, Per-Post Comments, Category Archives, Tag Archives, Author Archives, Search Feeds, Date Archives, Custom Post Type Feeds, and Taxonomy Feeds.
• Smart Disabled Response Strategies: Choose between HTTP 404 Not Found, HTTP 410 Gone, or 301 Permanent Redirect to canonical HTML pages with infinite loop guards.
• RSS Discovery Tag Suppression: Automatically removes <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"> tags from the HTML <head> when a corresponding feed is disabled.
• Multiple Custom RSS 2.0 Feeds: Build unlimited custom feeds with clean, namespaced endpoints (/feed/wpcal/{slug}/) and plain permalink fallback (?wpcal_feed={slug}).
• Granular Filtering Engine: Filter by post types, categories, tags, custom taxonomies (OR within taxonomy, AND across groups), authors, date ranges, and explicit inclusion/exclusion IDs (exclusions strictly override inclusions).
• Strict Privacy Enforcement: Only published content (post_status = ['publish']) is ever syndicated. Drafts, private posts, pending reviews, trashed items, and password-protected posts are permanently excluded.
• Media Enclosures & Media RSS: Output RFC-compliant <enclosure> elements with accurate byte size and MIME detection, alongside Media RSS (<media:content>) namespaces.
• Deterministic Transient Caching: High-traffic cache engine with customizable TTL and automated cache purging on post publish, edit, trash, or term changes.
• Cryptographic Token Protection: Secure private feeds with 32-character random access tokens checked via timing-attack safe hash_equals(). Unauthorized requests receive HTTP 401 Unauthorized.
• WooCommerce HPOS Compatible: Optional WooCommerce syndication with price, SKU, stock status, and <wc:*> tags. Declares full compatibility with HPOS and Cart/Checkout Blocks.
• In-Admin Live XML Preview & Diagnostics: Inspect live XML payloads with syntax styling and run self-contained channel diagnostic checks without external HTTP requests.
• Modern Segmented Admin UI: Custom WPCalibrate design system with non-wrapping segmented pill bar navigation, accessible high contrast, and responsive layout.

System Requirements

Installation & Setup

Option 1: WordPress Admin Upload (Recommended)

1. Download the latest wpcalibrate-rss-feed-manager-1.0.0.zip release from the Releases page.
2. In your WordPress admin, navigate to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
3. Choose the downloaded ZIP file and click Install Now.
4. Click Activate Plugin.
5. Access the configuration panel from WPCalibrate > RSS Feed Manager in your admin sidebar.

Option 2: Manual Installation via FTP / SFTP

1. Extract the wpcalibrate-rss-feed-manager folder from the ZIP archive.
2. Upload the wpcalibrate-rss-feed-manager directory to /wp-content/plugins/ on your server.
3. Navigate to Plugins in WordPress and click Activate under WPCalibrate RSS Feed Manager.

Documentation & Usage Guide

1. Controlling Native WordPress Feeds

Navigate to WPCalibrate > RSS Feed Manager > Native Feeds:

• Toggle feeds on or off individually across all 10 feed types.
• Set the Disabled Response Strategy:
  • HTTP 404 (Not Found): Best for reducing crawler indexing of removed feeds.
  • HTTP 410 (Gone): Signals search engines that the feed is permanently removed.
  • Canonical Redirect (301): Smoothly redirects feed subscribers to the corresponding HTML web page (e.g., category feed redirects to category archive page).
• Set custom maximum item counts and append custom copyright or disclaimer text to native feed entries.

2. Creating Filtered Custom RSS 2.0 Feeds

Navigate to WPCalibrate > RSS Feed Manager > Add Feed (or Custom Feeds > New Feed):

1. Feed Identity: Provide a Feed Title, unique Slug, and Description.
2. Post Types: Select one or multiple post types (posts, pages, custom post types, WooCommerce products).
3. Filtering:
   • Select Categories, Tags, or custom taxonomies.
   • Filter by Author or specify date boundaries.
   • Add explicit post IDs to Include or Exclude. Exclusions always override inclusions.
4. Endpoint: Your feed is immediately accessible at:

   https://example.com/feed/wpcal/{feed-slug}/

   (Or https://example.com/?wpcal_feed={feed-slug} if plain permalinks are enabled).

3. Securing Private Feeds with Access Tokens

For subscriber-only, internal, or paid syndication channels:

1. In the Feed Editor, check Enable Access Token Protection.
2. Click Generate Secure Token to generate a cryptographically random 32-character token.
3. Save the feed.
4. Subscribers access the feed using either:
   • URL query parameter: https://example.com/feed/wpcal/{feed-slug}/?token={your-token}
   • HTTP Authorization header: Authorization: Bearer {your-token}
5. Requests without a valid token receive an instant HTTP 401 Unauthorized response.

4. Media Enclosures & Featured Images

Under the Media & Enclosures settings section:

• Enclosure Elements: Generates <enclosure url="..." length="..." type="..." /> for podcast apps and RSS readers.
• Media RSS Namespace: Adds xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" and generates <media:content> tags with image dimensions.
• Content Prepend: Optionally prepends a high-resolution featured image <img> tag to the post content.

5. WooCommerce Product Syndication (HPOS Compatible)

When WooCommerce is active:

• Select product as a post type in your Custom Feed.
• The plugin automatically enriches RSS items with:
  • Regular price and sale price (<wc:price>, <wc:regular_price>, <wc:sale_price>).
  • Currency symbol and code (<wc:currency>).
  • SKU and stock status (<wc:sku>, <wc:stock_status>).
• Certified compatible with WooCommerce High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) and Cart/Checkout Blocks.

6. Deterministic Transient Caching

Navigate to WPCalibrate > RSS Feed Manager > Settings:

• Set cache expiration duration (e.g., 15 minutes, 60 minutes).
• High-traffic feeds serve cached XML payloads directly without executing database queries.
• Automated Invalidation: When posts are published, edited, or trashed, affected feed transient caches are purged automatically.
• Manual Purge: Click Purge Cache anytime from the Diagnostics or Settings tab.

7. In-Admin Live Preview & Diagnostics

• Feed Preview Tab: Select any custom feed to preview the raw XML structure, verify channel tags, inspect item count, and copy the canonical URL with 1-click clipboard integration.
• Diagnostics Tab: Runs automated health checks on PHP version, XML extensions (DOMDocument, SimpleXML), rewrite rules, transients, and database integrity.

Updating via GitHub / WordPress Dashboard

This repository is structured so that you can receive automated updates directly in the WordPress dashboard:

Using GitHub Updater / Plugin Update Checker

If your site utilizes GitHub Updater or plugin-update-checker, simply point to this repository:

https://github.com/zeeshanraza-official/wpcalibrate-rss-feed-manager

When a new release tag (e.g. v1.0.1) is published on GitHub, WordPress will automatically detect the update under Dashboard > Updates and allow 1-click updating.

Architecture & Standards

• Strict OOP & PSR-4 Autoloading: Zero Composer runtime dependencies required on production.
• WordPress Best Practices: Capabilities enforced with manage_options, CSRF nonces on all mutations, SQL injections prevented through WP_Query abstractions, and strict escaping on output.
• Notice Boundary Shield: Traps external notices outside custom admin cards using <hr class="wp-header-end">.
• Retina Brand Iconography: Pixel-perfect 20×20 and 40×40 retina menu icons aligned with WordPress admin Dashicon guidelines.

Changelog

[1.0.4] - 2026-10-14

• Fixed Feed Preview Fatal Error: Added public accessor get_feed_manager(): FeedManager in Admin.php. Added defensive try...catch (\Throwable $e) block in tab-preview.php with inline error notice.
• Fixed Table Actions Column Cut-Off: Reallocated table column widths (Actions: 24%, min-width: 230px), streamlined button padding (0 8px), and added overflow-x: auto with table min-width: 960px to prevent boundary clipping.
• Enforced Single Remote Plugin Directory: Removed duplicate versioned directory from deployment scripts and verified clean single-folder remote hosting.

[1.0.3] - 2026-10-14

• Refined Custom Feeds Table Layout: Implemented unified .wpcalibrate-url-group combining monospace URL input with attached clipboard copy and open-in-new-tab buttons. Standardized action buttons with .wpcalibrate-action-btn.

[1.0.2] - 2026-10-14

• Modern Segmented Pill Navigation: Redesigned top navigation tabs into a rounded card bar (border-radius: 12px; padding: 6px; flex-wrap: nowrap; overflow-x: auto) eliminating tab wrapping.
• Prominent Admin Menu Icon: Cropped white brand logo to content bounds and applied flexbox centering to match WordPress admin Dashicon scale.

[1.0.1] - 2026-10-14

• Added Overview Tab: Onboarding guide with Purpose, Technical Architecture, step-by-step guides, workflow pipeline diagram, and quick actions.
• Added Notice Boundary Shield: Trapped third-party notices outside custom hero cards.

[1.0.0] - 2026-10-14

• Initial production release with Native Feed discovery, Custom RSS 2.0 Feed builder, Media Enclosures, Transient caching, Token security, Diagnostics, and WooCommerce integration.

Support & Community

• Website: https://wpcalibrate.com
• Marketplace: https://marketplace.wpcalibrate.com
• Email Support: support@wpcalibrate.com
• Direct WhatsApp: +44 7474 795976

License

WPCalibrate RSS Feed Manager is open-source software licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.0 or later.