Installation and activation
Step-by-step installation of WidgetCore in WordPress using three methods (ZIP upload, FTP and WP-CLI), activation, verifying the widgets in Elementor and removing the plugin.
Installing the plugin is exactly like installing any other WordPress plugin. This page covers three methods, how to verify the result and what deleting the plugin does.
Method 1 — Upload from the dashboard (recommended)
Download the package
Get
widgetcore.zipfrom the download page. Do not unzip it.Go to the plugins screen
In the WordPress dashboard: “Plugins → Add New”, then the “Upload Plugin” button at the top.
Choose the file and install
Select the ZIP file and click “Install Now”.
Activate
After the install finishes, click “Activate Plugin”.
Method 2 — Manual copy over FTP or a file manager
Unzip the package
You get a
widgetcore/folder.Put the folder in
wp-content/plugins/The final path must be
wp-content/plugins/widgetcore/widgetcore.php.Activate the plugin
Click “Activate” on the Plugins screen.
Method 3 — WP-CLI
wp plugin install "https://github.com/WidgetCore/Plugin/releases/latest/download/widgetcore.zip" --activateIf Elementor is installed but inactive, activate it as well:
wp plugin activate elementor
wp plugin list --status=active --fields=name,version,update_versionWhat activation changes
| Event | Hook | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Widget category registration | elementor/elements/categories_registered | The “WidgetCore Widgets” category in the editor |
| Widget registration | elementor/widgets/register | The wgcr-faq and wgcr-search widgets |
| Asset registration | wp_enqueue_scripts (priority 5) | search.css and search.js only on pages that need them |
| Translation loading | init (priority 1) | Interface texts in the site language |
| REST route registration | rest_api_init | /wp-json/wgcr/v1/search |
| Updater connection | update_plugins_github.com | Checks GitHub for a newer release |
The plugin creates no database table, stores no option and adds no media file.
Verifying the installation
See the widgets in Elementor
Open a page with Elementor; the “WidgetCore Widgets” category with the plugin's widgets should be in the panel.
Test the REST route
Open
https://example.com/wp-json/wgcr/v1/search?q=test&limit=2; a JSON array should come back.Check the version
On the Plugins screen, WidgetCore should show version
0.0.7.
If any of these fails, see the troubleshooting page.
Deactivating and deleting
- Deactivation: the widgets disappear from the editor and no asset is loaded. Pages built with these widgets keep their saved Elementor content but render no output on the front end.
- Deletion: the plugin's
uninstall.phpis intentionally empty, so deleting the plugin removes no data — because the plugin stores no data of its own. Widget settings live inside each page's Elementor content and keep working after a reinstall.
Installing on a multilingual site
The plugin is not multilingual by itself; interface texts follow the current WordPress locale (determine_locale()). If you use a multilingual plugin:
- Place a separate search widget per language and set its Source to the post type used by that language.
- For a custom translation, put your
.mofile inwp-content/languages/plugins/; that path takes precedence over the bundled translation (full explanation on the language and translation page).