woocommerce-subscriptions

WooCommerce Subscriptions

Overview

WooCommerce Subscriptions (the official premium plugin) adds subscription product types — simple subscriptions and variable subscriptions — with configurable billing periods (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly), free trials, sign-up fees, and prorated upgrades/downgrades. It integrates with Stripe, PayPal Reference Transactions, and other gateways that support automated recurring billing. Custom logic hooks into the subscription lifecycle via a rich set of WordPress actions and filters.

When to Use This Skill

• When selling products or services on a recurring billing schedule (SaaS, memberships, box subscriptions)
• When implementing subscription upgrades, downgrades, or plan switching
• When building custom renewal logic or adding business rules around failed payment retry
• When integrating subscription status with access control (e.g., membership site content gates)
• When extending subscription emails or admin reporting with custom data
• When creating subscription add-ons or per-unit quantity scaling

Core Instructions

1. Create a subscription product programmatically

   <?php
   // Create a simple subscription product via code (e.g., in a migration script)
   $product = new WC_Product_Subscription();
   $product->set_name('Monthly Pro Plan');
   $product->set_status('publish');
   $product->set_regular_price('29.99');
   
   // Save first so the product gets an ID
   $product->save();
   
   // Subscription-specific meta (product must be saved before setting post meta)
   update_post_meta($product->get_id(), '_subscription_price', '29.99');
   update_post_meta($product->get_id(), '_subscription_period', 'month');
   update_post_meta($product->get_id(), '_subscription_period_interval', '1');
   update_post_meta($product->get_id(), '_subscription_length', '0'); // 0 = forever
   update_post_meta($product->get_id(), '_subscription_trial_length', '14');
   update_post_meta($product->get_id(), '_subscription_trial_period', 'day');
   update_post_meta($product->get_id(), '_subscription_sign_up_fee', '0');