Getting Started With GuestDock

You accept guest posts on WordPress without handing out admin access by installing GuestDock, running its four-step setup wizard, and inviting contributors into a sandboxed role that expires on a date you choose. Guests write inside WordPress with the real editor, but every query their session makes is filtered down to their own content before it leaves the database.

What GuestDock is

GuestDock is a free, GPL-licensed guest posting plugin published on WordPress.org. It exists because the stock Contributor role was designed for colleagues, not strangers: it leaves the media library browsable, other authors' drafts listable, and access permanent by default. GuestDock replaces it with a guest role that is isolated at the database query level — hooks into pre_get_posts, the AJAX attachment query, and the REST API filters mean a guest requesting someone else's content gets an empty result, not a hidden one.

Everything ships in the free plugin. There is no premium tier holding back the sandbox, the review queue, the analytics, or the REST API.

Installing and running the setup wizard

Install GuestDock from the WordPress.org plugin directory the same way as any plugin: search for it under Plugins → Add New, install, and activate. On first activation a four-step setup wizard walks you through the initial configuration — your review preferences, content rules, and email settings — so the plugin is usable before you touch a settings screen.

Two settings are worth deciding early. First, your content rules: the external-link cap, whether outbound links get rel="nofollow sponsored" automatically, and which categories guests may submit into. Second, your quality thresholds — word count, featured image, and excerpt requirements — which power the Smart Submission Checklist guests see live while writing.

The lifecycle of a guest post

Every contribution follows the same shape. You invite a guest by email with an expiration date and a post limit. They log in to a sandboxed workspace containing only their own content, see your guidelines in an onboarding modal, and write with the checklist and SEO Pre-Check guiding them. They submit; you approve from the central queue or send feedback that emails them for a revision. When the expiry date arrives, access ends on its own.

The two halves of that workflow have their own guides: inviting guest authors and running the review queue.

Next steps

• Invite your first guest author
• Review and publish submissions