Init User Engine is a lightweight, no-bloat user system for modern WordPress sites. It’s designed for maximum frontend flexibility and gamified user engagement. All dynamic interfaces are rendered via JavaScript with real-time REST API interaction.

No jQuery. Minimal settings. Smart by default.

What you get:

Display user avatar and dashboard via shortcode
Show level, EXP, Coin/Cash, and full user wallet
Frontend login & registration modal with Cloudflare Turnstile (or built-in math captcha) protection
Let users check-in daily and receive timed rewards
Auto-track referral registrations with reward system
Let users buy VIP status using Coin, Cash, or both
Redeem Code / Gift Code and dedicated VIP Code system, with CSV export from wp-admin
Built-in inbox for notifications (uses custom DB table), with pinned/expiring messages and a stats dashboard
Custom avatar support with upload & preview modal
Send custom notifications to selected users or all members from wp-admin
Optional “Require Login to Access Site” mode that gates the entire frontend behind the built-in login modal
Optional one-step “Login After Register” so new users land on the site already signed in

This plugin is the core user system behind the Init Plugin Suite – optimized for frontend-first interaction, extensibility, and real-time gamification.

GitHub repository: https://github.com/brokensmile2103/init-user-engine

Features

Profile & Avatar

Avatar shortcode [init_user_engine] – renders the guest login button or the logged-in avatar with dropdown dashboard automatically
Modal dashboard showing level, EXP progress, Coin/Cash wallet, and quick links
Custom avatar upload with live preview, crop-free flow, and one-click revert to the default/Gravatar image
Configurable upload policy (allow everyone, VIP only, or disable uploads entirely) with a configurable max file size
Optional display name change limit (e.g. once every 7 days, like TikTok), enforced in the profile modal, wp-admin/profile.php, the REST API and WooCommerce Account details
Configurable length limits for every Edit Profile field (display name, bio, Discord, links), with a live character counter for the bio
Hardened Edit Profile: changing the password asks for the current password, signs out other devices and sends the WordPress “password changed” email
Theme override support: any template file can be overridden by copying it to your-theme/init-user-engine/

Accounts, Login & Registration

Frontend login & registration modal – no theme editing or template overrides required
“Login After Register” option to automatically sign users in right after they create an account (disabled by default)
Failed logins reopen the login modal on the current page with an inline error message, instead of redirecting to wp-login.php
Cloudflare Turnstile captcha on registration, with a built-in math-question captcha as automatic fallback when no Turnstile keys are set
Optional protection of the native WordPress login, registration, and lost-password forms (wp-login.php) using the same Turnstile setup
“Forgot password?” form right inside the login modal, using the native WordPress reset flow (can be turned off; a custom Lost Password URL always takes priority)
Custom redirect URLs for “Register” and “Lost password” links
Optional “Require Login to Access Site” mode that gates the entire frontend behind the built-in login modal
Ability to temporarily disable new registrations without affecting other plugins or WordPress core

Gamification

EXP & Level system with hookable progression logic
Coin & Cash dual-wallet system with transaction logs and a configurable exchange rate between the two currencies
Daily check-in with streak milestones and an online-time bonus timer
Optional Streak Recovery: members who miss a few days can spend Coin to keep their check-in streak alive (allowed missed days and Coin price per day are configurable, off by default)
Built-in reward hooks for registration, daily login, comments, published posts, and completed WooCommerce orders (when WooCommerce is active)

VIP Membership

VIP membership system with Coin-based, Cash-based, or combined purchase options
Multiple configurable pricing tiers per duration, including a lifetime option
VIP bonus multipliers for Coin/EXP earning
Optional VIP purchase lock (globally disable new purchases) and stacking restriction

Referral

Referral module with cookie-based signup tracking
Separate, configurable rewards for both the referrer and the newly referred user

Redeem & VIP Codes

Redeem Code / Gift Code module – code in, rewards out
Dedicated VIP Codes module to grant VIP duration through a code
One-click CSV export for both code lists (full list, streamed in batches, UTF-8 BOM, and sanitized against CSV/formula injection)

Inbox & Notifications

Built-in inbox system with pagination and read/claim/delete actions
Pinned messages that automatically unpin once read, or once their optional expiration time passes
Admin panel to send custom notifications to selected users or all members, with priority and expiration
Inbox Statistics dashboard (Users Init User Engine Inbox Statistics) with date-range filtering
Optional automatic cleanup of read messages older than a set number of days (unread, pinned and assigned-code messages are always kept)

Admin Tools

Manual Top-up tool for Coin/Cash (Users Init User Engine Top-up Coin/Cash)
Per-user overview metabox on the WordPress profile/edit-user screen (level, wallet, VIP status, recent activity), with one-click Remove VIP, Ban Avatar Upload and Unlock Display Name actions

Developer-Friendly

REST API for all features (read/write/modify)
Action/filter hooks for full customization
Pure Vanilla JS frontend – no jQuery, no server bloat

Developer Hooks

Filters

init_plugin_suite_user_engine_online_minutes – Modify required online minutes after check-in
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_vip_prices – Modify VIP package prices
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_referral_rewards – Modify referral rewards
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_localized_data – Modify frontend JS data
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_calculated_coin_amount – Modify Coin reward before apply
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_calculated_exp_amount – Modify EXP reward before apply
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_exp_required – Modify EXP required per level
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_checkin_milestones – Set milestone streak days
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_format_inbox – Modify formatted inbox data
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_render_level_badge – Customize level badge HTML
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_inbox_insert_data – Modify inbox data before inserting into database
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_validate_register_fields – Validate or modify registration fields before account creation
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_after_register – Hook after successful user registration (pass user ID and submitted data)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_daily_tasks – Add or modify daily task list and logic
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_captcha_bank – Extend or modify the internal captcha question bank used for fallback validation
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_format_log_message – Customize transaction log message display with access to entry data, source, type, and amount
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_should_keep_original – Override decision to keep original uploaded avatar (GIF or other formats)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_vip_expire_soon_threshold – Modify the threshold (in seconds) used to determine when VIP is considered close to expiration
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_body_vip_classes – Add, remove, or modify VIP-related CSS classes applied to the <body> element
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_theme_colors – Modify theme color system (primary and active colors)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_streak_restore_max_days – Modify how many missed check-in days a user may cover to keep their streak (return 0 to disable it for that user)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_streak_restore_cost – Modify the Coin cost of keeping a streak (receives total cost, missed days, and user ID)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_lostpassword_modal_enabled – Enable or disable the lost password form inside the login modal (receives the current value and the plugin settings)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_display_name_change_days – Modify how many days a member has to wait between two display name changes (receives the days from the settings and the user ID; 0 = unlimited)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_display_name_limit_applies – Return false to let a user (or role) change their display name freely (receives the current value and the user ID)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_inbox_auto_delete_days – Modify how many days read Inbox messages are kept before automatic deletion (0 = never)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_inbox_auto_delete_keep_meta_keys – Metadata keys that mark an Inbox message to keep during automatic deletion (default created_by)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_inbox_auto_delete_batch / init_plugin_suite_user_engine_inbox_auto_delete_time_limit – Ids per DELETE (default 5000) and seconds per run (default 20) of the automatic deletion
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_dashboard_stats_max_age – How old (in seconds) the Dashboard Inbox widget numbers may be before a background refresh (default 900)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_profile_field_limits – Modify the maximum characters of the Edit Profile fields (keys display_name, bio, discord, url; values are clamped to the hard ceilings 250 / 10000 / 255 / 2048)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_profile_url_hosts – Domains accepted for the facebook, twitter and website fields (return an empty array to accept any domain)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_profile_genders – Allowed values of the Gender field (default '', male, female, other)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_profile_update_rate_limit – Edit Profile saves allowed per minute (default 10, 0 = no limit)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_require_current_password – Whether the current password is required to set a new one (default true, not recommended to turn off)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_current_password_attempts – Wrong current passwords allowed per 15 minutes (default 5)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_password_max_length – Maximum length of a new password (default 128)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_validate_new_password – Return a WP_Error to refuse a new password (for a stronger policy)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_avatar_mimes – File types accepted for avatar uploads (default jpg, png, gif, webp; SVG is never accepted)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_avatar_upload_rate_limit – Avatar uploads allowed per hour (default 10, 0 = no limit)

Actions

init_plugin_suite_user_engine_level_up – When user levels up
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_exp_added – After EXP is added
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_transaction_logged – After Coin/Cash is logged
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_exp_logged – After EXP log is recorded
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_inbox_inserted – After new inbox message
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_inbox_auto_deleted – After an automatic cleanup of read Inbox messages finishes (number deleted, cutoff)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_referral_completed – When referral is completed
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_after_checkin – After user check-in
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_streak_restored – After a user paid Coin to keep their check-in streak (user ID, missed days, cost, new streak)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_after_claim_reward – After user claims reward
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_vip_purchased – After VIP is purchased
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_add_exp – Triggered when adding EXP via hook
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_add_coin – Triggered when adding Coin via hook
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_coin_changed – After user’s Coin balance is updated
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_cash_changed – After user’s Cash balance is updated
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_admin_send_notice – When admin sends notification via wp-admin.
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_display_name_unlocked – After an administrator lets a member change their display name again (user ID)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_after_update_profile – After a member saved the Edit Profile modal (user ID, submitted data without passwords)
init_plugin_suite_user_engine_password_changed – After a member changed their password from the Edit Profile modal (user ID)

REST API Endpoints

Base: /wp-json/inituser/v1/

POST /register – Create a new user account
POST /checkin – Daily check-in (optional JSON body: prompt_restore, restore_streak, restore_cost for Streak Recovery)
POST /claim-reward – Claim reward after online duration
GET /transactions – Get Coin/Cash transaction log
GET /exp-log – Get EXP log
GET /inbox – Get inbox messages
POST /inbox/mark-read – Mark a message as read
POST /inbox/mark-all-read – Mark all as read
POST /inbox/delete – Delete a single message
POST /inbox/delete-all – Delete all messages
POST /vip/purchase – Purchase VIP package
GET /referral-log – Get referral history
POST /avatar – Upload new avatar
POST /avatar/remove – Remove custom avatar and revert to default
GET /profile/me – Get current user profile (includes display_name_limit: days, locked, next_change, notice; limits: maximum characters per field; require_current_password)
POST /profile/update – Update profile information. Every field is checked before anything is saved; errors return HTTP 400/403/429 with data.field naming the field. Changing the password needs current_password and returns a new nonce
GET /daily-tasks – Get list of completed daily tasks and rewards
POST /exchange – Convert Cash Coin based on exchange rate
POST /redeem-code – Redeem gift code (returns Coin/Cash rewards)

License

This plugin is licensed under the GPLv2 or later.
You are free to use, modify, and distribute it under the same license.

Init User Engine – Gamified, Fast, Frontend-First