Several Demos on One Site

How It Works

Add demos under Demo Maker > Demos. They share one database, one snapshot and one reset schedule. Each demo has:

• its own link, such as https://demo.example.com/?demo=bookings, for that product's sales page;
• its own demo logins, demo bar title and message, and Buy link;
• its own theme (see Sale Positive Theme);
• the plugins it loads;
• the shop categories it shows;
• the pages that belong to it.

Demo Settings

• Link: 1 to 20 lowercase letters, numbers or hyphens. Left empty, it is made from the name.
• Status: Draft (only you can preview it) or Live (on the landing page, and its link works for everyone).
• Starts at: the page visitors see first, such as / or /shop/.
• Landing page card: a description and an image address (shown 16:9).
• Plugins this demo loads: so plugins that can't run side by side, such as a free and a Pro version, each get their own demo.
• Shop categories this demo shows: products from other categories are hidden from that demo's shop, search, product lists, the admin product list, the cart (classic and block checkout) and the REST API. A product a visitor makes goes into the demo's first category.
• Pages that belong to this demo: a page ticked on any demo shows only in the demos it is ticked on. Pages ticked on no demo, such as Shop and Checkout, show in every demo.

The Landing Page

• Visitors who arrive without a demo link see a landing page with a card for each live demo, its description, image and login buttons. Set its Heading and Introduction on the Demos tab.
• A cookie remembers the demo a visitor picked, and the demo bar links back to all demos.

Loading Different Plugins

• Choosing the plugins a demo loads needs a small loader file, which Demo Maker copies into wp-content/mu-plugins and removes again when it is no longer needed or Demo Maker is turned off.
• Cron jobs, WP-CLI, the plugin screens and the login screen always load every plugin, so login protection such as two-factor keeps working.
• While a demo's plugins are loaded, the stored list of active plugins and the rewrite rules can't be changed.
• Only live demos load their own plugin choice. Opening any admin screen as yourself ends a demo preview, so your own admin always has every plugin.
• If you run a security plugin, tick it in every demo's plugins.

What Is Shared

Resets, the outbox, demo payment, the email gate, sandboxes and marketplace frames are shared by all demos. So are the front page, menus, site title, currency and WooCommerce settings: set them once so they suit every demo. Orders are not split by demo.