Content Sources — Plugixa Recipe

The [plugixarecipe] shortcode draws recipes from the plugin’s own tables. But the same grid can be scoped by:

1. All recipes (default).
2. Category — one or more categories.
3. Cuisine — one or more cuisines.
4. Course — one or more courses.
5. Collection — recipes in a curated collection / cookbook.
6. Featured — only is_featured = 1.
7. Diet flag — filter by is_vegetarian, is_vegan, etc.
8. Search term — server-side full-text.

Only recipes are rendered — the plugin does not mix in posts / pages / WooCommerce products, unlike some FAQ plugins. If you need to surface WooCommerce products alongside recipes, see the WooCommerce integration (Pro).

Selecting a content source in the builder

Open any saved shortcode (Recipes → Shortcodes → Add New). In the Content section, pick one or more:

• Categories (multi-select)
• Cuisines (multi-select)
• Courses (multi-select)
• Collection (single select — switches to collection-mode rendering)
• Featured only (toggle)
• Diet flags (11 toggles)

The builder writes these into the shortcode’s config JSON.

Using a collection as a source

A collection can serve as a curated list (like a cookbook or meal plan). When a collection is selected, the shortcode:

• Ignores categories / cuisines / courses.
• Returns recipes in the collection’s display_order.
• For meal-plan type collections, respects day_number / meal_type if shown by the template.

Combining sources

Sources are combined with AND semantics — a recipe must match every active constraint.

[plugixarecipe categories="breakfast" cuisines="italian" featured="true"]

Returns only breakfast recipes that are also Italian and are marked featured. If that combination is empty, the grid simply shows nothing (no fallback).

Search-only source

Omit category/cuisine filters and pass a search term:

[plugixarecipe search="chocolate" orderby="rating_average"]

Searches title and description with MySQL LIKE. For larger sites, consider exposing the [plugixa_recipe_search] widget instead (better UX).

Excluding a recipe from output

Recipes in status draft, pending, or archived are excluded from public shortcodes by default. Only published is shown.

For logged-in admins, the plugin exposes a filter that can show drafts too — see HOOKS.

Performance tip

Each active filter adds a JOIN against the respective taxonomy table. The plugin indexes every join column — but for very large sites (10k+ recipes), prefer saved shortcodes so WordPress can object-cache the recipe IDs, rather than re-evaluating the filter graph on every render.