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DIGITAL PRODUCT MANAGER PRO

Getting Started

Turn clean WordPress plugin and theme ZIP files into licensed commercial products with activation, entitlement and private updates built in.

Digital Product Manager Pro can turn an ordinary installable WordPress plugin or theme into a licensed commercial product without requiring you to build a separate licensing system into the source package yourself.

DPM keeps your original ZIP untouched and creates a separate customer-ready licensed package. That generated package can handle licence activation, validation, deactivation, entitlement checking and protected private updates from your DPM store.

This workflow is intended for installable WordPress plugins and themes. Layout packs, template kits, documents and other ordinary downloadable files should use Standard Digital Download instead.

1. Choose the Correct Product Type

Open or create a product under Digital Products > Products, then choose the appropriate Product Type:

  • Licensed WordPress Plugin — for installable WordPress plugins.
  • Licensed WordPress Theme — for installable classic themes, block themes and child themes.
  • Standard Digital Download — for ordinary files, layout packs, template kits and external software that is not using DPM's automatic WordPress integration.

For licensed WordPress products, DPM also assigns a managed Licensing Identity. This permanent identity belongs to the commercial product and is used by the licensing and update system rather than relying on a changeable WordPress post ID.

Automatic WordPress plugin licensing in Digital Product Manager Pro

2. Upload a Clean Source ZIP

Upload the normal installable ZIP you would otherwise give directly to a customer. DPM treats this as the clean source package.

For a plugin, the ZIP must contain a valid WordPress plugin with a detectable main plugin file and Plugin Name header. For a theme, DPM detects the theme from its root style.css and supports classic themes, block themes and child themes.

Do not pre-license or manually modify the package before uploading it. DPM expects a clean source ZIP and preserves that original package separately.

3. DPM Creates the Licensed Customer Package

After a valid source ZIP is supplied, DPM creates a separate licensed package for customer delivery. The generated filename uses the original package name with -dpm-licensed.zip added.

The generated package includes DPM's licensing client and the information required to communicate securely with your store. Your clean source package remains available separately and is not overwritten.

When generation succeeds, the product editor shows the licensed package as ready for customer distribution.

4. Vendor Binding and Licensing Identity

Generated WordPress packages are vendor-bound to the DPM store that created them. This prevents a generated package from being casually rebound to another merchant's DPM installation.

The product's managed Licensing Identity is also carried through the licensing workflow so the customer package continues to identify the same commercial product even if the WordPress product record is moved or restored later.

If you replace a product package with a new clean release ZIP, DPM generates a new licensed customer package while keeping the same product identity.

5. WordPress Theme Support

Licensed WordPress Theme supports the main installable WordPress theme formats:

  • Classic themes using the traditional PHP template structure.
  • Block themes using WordPress block templates.
  • Child themes with a valid Template: declaration in style.css.

For child themes, DPM identifies the required parent theme but licenses and updates only the commercial child theme package. The parent theme is not modified.

Divi layouts, Elementor template kits and similar non-installable design packs are not WordPress themes for this purpose. Sell those as Standard Digital Downloads.

Licensed WordPress theme and child theme support in Digital Product Manager Pro

6. What the Customer Receives

When a customer is granted access to a licensed WordPress product, DPM can create a licence for that customer and product. The customer receives the licensed ZIP package together with their licence key and entitlement information.

After installing the plugin or theme in WordPress, the customer enters the licence key in the product's DPM licence interface. A successful activation records the authorised site against that licence and counts toward its activation allowance.

Licence status and entitlement are managed from your DPM store. Expiry or revocation controls future activations and protected updates, but DPM does not remotely delete or cripple the customer's already-installed software.

7. Private WordPress Updates

When you publish a newer version of the licensed plugin or theme, eligible customers can receive it through the familiar native WordPress update experience.

The installed product checks your DPM store for update information. If a newer version is available and the licence is entitled to receive it, DPM provides a protected, short-lived package URL for the update.

Customers can then view the available version and install the update from WordPress without manually downloading and replacing the ZIP file.

Private WordPress plugin and theme updates delivered by Digital Product Manager Pro

8. Releasing a New Version

When you are ready to publish an update:

  1. Build and test a clean installable ZIP of the new plugin or theme version.
  2. Open the DPM product and replace the product file with the new clean ZIP.
  3. Confirm the product version and compatibility information are current.
  4. Allow DPM to generate the new licensed customer package.
  5. Save or update the product.

Customers with valid update entitlement can then discover the new version from WordPress. DPM verifies the licence before allowing the protected update package to be downloaded.

9. Important Package Rules

  • Always upload a clean source ZIP when creating a new licensed package.
  • Do not upload a previously generated -dpm-licensed.zip package as the new source.
  • Keep the product's managed Licensing Identity intact.
  • Test the generated plugin or theme on a separate WordPress site before releasing it to customers.
  • For child themes, make sure the required parent theme is installed on the customer site.
  • Use Standard Digital Download for non-installable design packs and template kits.

10. Automatic WordPress Licensing vs Developer API

Automatic WordPress Licensing is the recommended path when you are selling a WordPress plugin or installable theme because DPM handles the WordPress-side licensing and update integration for you.

The separate Developer Licensing API is intended for developers connecting other kinds of software to DPM. That external integration is experimental and requires the developer to implement and maintain the client-side licensing and update workflow themselves.

You're Ready

Once your clean source package has produced a vendor-bound licensed ZIP, make a complete test purchase and activation before releasing the product publicly.

Confirm that the customer receives access, the licence activates successfully, the activation count is correct and a test update can be discovered and installed through WordPress.

DOCUMENTATION
Digital Product Manager Pro for Divi
SIMPLE | POWERFUL | DELICIOUS.