Installation

Requirements

ContentGuard V1 requires:

• WordPress 6.6 or higher
• PHP 8.1 or higher
• Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) 6.0 or higher (Free or Pro)

ACF is a hard runtime dependency. ContentGuard checks for ACF 6.0+ when it loads and will not treat field integrations as available until Free or Pro is active. The plugin does not use WordPress Requires Plugins so sites that only have ACF Pro can still activate ContentGuard.

When you need ACF Pro

• ACF Free covers supported scalar fields and Group.
• ACF Pro is required for Repeater, Flexible Content, and Clone.

WordPress Core fields (Title, Content, Excerpt, Slug, Featured Image, Author) are available once ContentGuard is running—but ACF must still be installed and active for the plugin to operate.

Installation

This marketing site does not provide a public download button or WordPress.org one-click install. For V1, install from a release package or plugin folder you already have for development or testing.

1. Install and activate Advanced Custom Fields 6.0 or higher (Free or Pro, as needed for your field types).
2. Install ContentGuard by uploading the plugin ZIP through Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, or by placing the contentguard folder in /wp-content/plugins/contentguard.
3. Activate ContentGuard on the Plugins screen.

If PHP or WordPress are below the minimum versions, activation fails with an explanatory message. If ACF is missing or too old, ContentGuard shows an admin notice and does not boot field integrations until the requirement is met.

Activation

On activation, ContentGuard:

• Grants the manage_contentguard capability to the Administrator role
• Registers its rule post type
• Installs the audit database schema

Administrators can manage rules and run audits. Editors are validated when they save content they can edit.

First check

1. Sign in as an administrator.
2. Confirm ContentGuard appears in the WordPress admin menu (dashicon: yes-alt).
3. Open ContentGuard → Rules (the top-level ContentGuard screen).
4. Confirm you can open Add New Rule and see the Rule Builder (Rule details, WHEN, THEN, and severity).

If the menu is missing, confirm you are an administrator, the plugin is activated, and ACF 6.0+ is active.