Kordiam
A post in the post list that originated in Kordiam.

A post in the post list that originated in Kordiam.

Kordiam is editorial planning software for newsrooms and content marketing teams. This plugin connects a Kordiam account to one or several WordPress sites and keeps the two in step: what the desk plans in Kordiam appears in WordPress, and what the site publishes shows up on the story lists in Kordiam.

Two ways of working are supported.

  • Planned content. A story is planned and given its meta-data in Kordiam. Kordiam creates the matching post in WordPress, and later changes on either side are synced.
  • Breaking news. A story starts as a post in WordPress. The plugin sends the relevant data to Kordiam so the story lists stay complete.

The following is kept in sync:

  • Slug and story description
  • Publishing date and time
  • Statuses, matched to WordPress post statuses you choose
  • Categories, matched to WordPress categories or to a custom field
  • Authors, matched by email address
  • Links back and forth between the two systems
  • Custom fields, both story-level and publication-level
  • Tasks and their assignees
  • Text, pictures, video and other files planned in Kordiam

Nothing is synced until you have said what maps to what. Every mapping has an explicit “do not import” option, and each of the ten settings screens is a plain two-column table: what Kordiam sends, and where it should go.

The plugin works with both the block editor and the classic editor. In either one, a panel next to the post shows the story description and a link straight to the story in Kordiam.

You need a Kordiam account to use this plugin. Teams of 15 or more users can request a free test account on the Kordiam website.

Switching from the Desk-Net plugin

Desk-Net has been renamed Kordiam, and this plugin is the successor to the Desk-Net plugin. It is a separate plugin rather than an update, so nothing changes until you install it and switch over.

When you activate Kordiam, it copies all your Desk-Net settings: your API credentials, your status, category, custom field and task mappings, and the links between posts and stories. You don’t need to set anything up again. The Desk-Net data is copied, not moved, so you can always switch back.

  1. Back up your database. This is a standard precaution.
  2. Install the Kordiam plugin. Don’t delete Desk-Net yet.
  3. Deactivate Desk-Net. Deactivate it only; don’t delete it.
  4. Activate Kordiam. Your settings and post links are copied across automatically. If both plugins are active at the same time, Kordiam pauses and shows a warning, so that stories are not sent to Kordiam twice. Once Desk-Net is deactivated, Kordiam takes over and picks up any changes made in the meantime.
  5. Check your settings. A new Kordiam item appears in the admin menu below Posts. Go through its sub-pages and confirm your mappings are there.
  6. Test the sync. Create or edit a post in WordPress and check that it appears in Kordiam. Then edit a story in Kordiam and check that the changes reach WordPress.

What to change in Kordiam: nothing. The site keeps its existing API credentials. The old REST namespace wp-desk-net/v1 keeps working alongside the new kordiam/v1, so requests from Kordiam continue without any reconfiguration.

Rolling back: deactivate Kordiam and activate Desk-Net again. Kordiam never changes the Desk-Net data, so everything works as it did before the switch.

When to delete Desk-Net: only after you have confirmed that everything works.

  • Don’t delete Desk-Net before activating Kordiam. Deleting Desk-Net erases its settings, and then only the post links would be left to copy.
  • After you delete Desk-Net, you can no longer go back to it with your old settings.

External services

This plugin connects to Kordiam, the editorial planning service it exists to integrate with. Without a Kordiam account the plugin has nothing to talk to and does nothing.

Traffic goes in both directions, and both directions are described below.

What this site sends to Kordiam

Requests go to https://kordiam.app. They are made when a post is created, updated, trashed or deleted, and when the plugin needs to look up your Kordiam configuration for a settings screen.

Depending on which mappings you have configured, a request can contain:

  • The Kordiam API credentials for your account, exchanged for a short-lived access token
  • The post ID, title and slug
  • The post’s public URL and its edit-screen URL on this site
  • The publishing date and time
  • The Kordiam status and category you mapped the post’s status and category to
  • The values of the post fields you mapped to Kordiam custom fields
  • The display name and email address of the post author, or of the user in a post field you mapped to a Kordiam task

What Kordiam sends to this site

Kordiam calls this site’s REST API to create, update and delete posts, and to upload files. To do so it authenticates with the API key and secret shown on the plugin’s “WordPress Credentials” screen. Those requests carry the story data planned in Kordiam — title, description, slug, status, category, dates, tasks, custom fields — and any files attached to a story, which the plugin adds to the media library.

Terms