Install and activate Beaconry

Fifteen minutes from clicking "Buy" to seeing your first conversion in Meta Events Manager. No GTM, no Stape, no FTP.

Reading time: ~6 minLast updated: 2026-05-02

1. Buy a license

Pick a tier on the pricing page. Within a minute or two of checkout you receive two emails: the receipt with your license key, and a direct download link to the latest beaconry.zip.

Copy the license key somewhere handy. The .zip always reflects the latest published version, you do not need to download a new one for updates later.

2. Check the system requirements

WordPress 6.4 or newer.
PHP 8.3 or newer (Beaconry uses modern type-hints and enums).
HTTPS on the WordPress site (server-side CAPI requests must originate from a TLS endpoint).
Outbound HTTPS allowed to the official API endpoint of each platform you configure (for example www.google-analytics.com for GA4, graph.facebook.com for Meta, business-api.tiktok.com for TikTok). Beaconry only calls the channels you actually set up, across all ten supported platforms.

Most managed-WordPress hosts allow outbound HTTPS by default. If you run inside a tightly firewalled VPC, ask the network admin to allow the platform endpoints you intend to use.

3. Install the plugin

WordPress Admin → Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin. Pick the beaconry.zip from your download. Click Activate Plugin.

You now have a new top-level admin menu called Beaconry. Its tabs are Dashboard, Tracking, Banner, Advanced and Logs, plus a Forms tab whenever a supported form plugin is active and a Commerce tab whenever WooCommerce, EDD or SureCart is active.

4. Activate the license

Go to Beaconry → Dashboard. The top card prompts for your license key. Paste the key from your purchase receipt and click Activate. The dashboard switches from "Inactive" to "Active".

Activation is per-site, not per-WordPress-network. Your tier (Solo / Studio / Agency) determines how many production sites the same key can activate. Dev and staging activations are unlimited on every tier.

Power user: if you prefer keeping the key out of the database, define BCNR_LICENSE_KEY in wp-config.php. The constant overrides whatever is stored in wp_options.

5. Wire up your first channel

The Tracking tab lists all ten channels with a status pill for each. Pick the one that matches the platform where you currently spend the most ad budget. The default order in the UI is Meta, TikTok, Google Ads, LinkedIn, GA4, Microsoft Ads, Pinterest, Snapchat, Reddit, X Ads, but you can configure them in any order, independently.

Each channel has its own setup guide:

6. Send a test event

Every channel has a Send test event button on the Tracking tab. Click it after saving credentials. The button fires a synchronous ViewContent (or equivalent per platform) and reports the platform's response back inline.

HTTP 200 with code: 0 (or platform-specific success) means the credentials are correct. HTTP 4xx means a credential is wrong. The Logs tab keeps the last 200 dispatches with the full request and response payload.

7. Decide on hybrid mode

Each channel has a "Hybrid mode" toggle. Server-side alone covers 100 percent of consenting visitors (no adblocker can block /wp-json/). Hybrid additionally loads the platform's browser pixel so first-party cookies (fbp, _ttp, li_fat_id) become available. Beaconry deduplicates browser and server events via the same stable event_id.

Recommended: leave hybrid mode off until you actually need first-party cookies for match-rate. The server-side pipeline is the safer default and ships fewer bytes to the visitor.

What's next

Once a channel is active, every WooCommerce purchase, Kadence Form lead and Fluent Form submission auto-fires through Beaconry. Read the server-side dispatch doc to understand the full event flow, or jump straight into the per-channel setup guides above.

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