Install Keystone through your WordPress dashboard via Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, or unzip the Keystone folder and upload it directly to your server via FTP at: your_site_root/wp-content/plugins.

Once installed, activate the plugin. Freemius will prompt for your license key on first activation. You will have received your license key via email. After plugin activation, the Keystone menu appears in the WordPress admin sidebar.

Keystone stores its data in dedicated database tables separate from your existing content. Module assignments, completions, survey results, and progress records stay isolated from core WordPress data. Sections and Topics use WordPress taxonomies; Modules and Items are custom post types.

Uninstalling the plugin automatically removes all Keystone data cleanly.

Keystone is fully managed through Freemius. Your license is tied to the number of sites included in the option you’ve chose (see pricing), but can easily be transferred between sites.

If your license lapses, the plugin continues working. However, automatic updates and support will stop until your license is renewed.

You can manage your license at any time via the account page.

Keystone provides three access levels via WordPress user capabilities:

• View Assigned — the basic member level which allows a user to see any assigned or open content, and complete module assignments.
• Manage Section — the management level which allows a user to create and manage content, and also view completion reports of other members.
• Manage All — the administrator level with full access to all sections, members, assignments, and settings.

These capabilities can be granted to any WordPress user role. Configure capabilities to roles at Keystone → Settings → Capabilities. The provided matrix maps your WordPress roles to these access levels.

• Administrators always have full access.
• Editors are managers by default.
• Subscribers, Authors, and Contributors are members by default.
• Because Keystone works entirely through WordPress capabilities, any role that exists on your site can be configured, including custom roles added by other plugins or your theme.

Keystone uses a three-level hierarchy: Sections → Modules → Items. See more details on the Features page.

Sections (taxonomy) are broad topic groupings — create them first at Keystone → Sections.

Modules (custom post type) sit “inside” sections and come in two types: Required — tracked; completion is expected and reported, and Reference — browsable; no tracking.

Items (custom post type) are the actual content, built in the block editor, each belonging to one module.

Item type is determined automatically by the blocks inside the item. Specifically, if you use a block that is provided by Keystone, such as ‘Keystone Checklist’ or ‘Keystone Survey’, the item type will automatically update and no other type-defining Keystone block will be allowed in the content without a warning.

Items that use type-defining Keystone blocks still support additional content above and below the Keystone block.

The available item types are:

• Reading — the default; any item without a type-defining Keystone block is a Reading item.
• Checklist — add a Keystone Checklist block; member must check all tasks before completing.
• Knowledge Check — add a Keystone Knowledge Check block; member must answer all questions correctly to pass.
• Document — add a Keystone Document block; member reviews an embedded file and acknowledges receipt.
• Video — add a Keystone Video block; member watches and marks as viewed; supports re-completion.
• Survey — add a Keystone Survey block; member submits choices to poll questions.

Item Templates are available in the block editor — pre-built scaffolding for each type to get you started faster. They are completely optional and fully editable once selected.

Members only see modules they’ve been explicitly assigned — with one exception (see Open Access below). If a member has not been assigned any modules, and there are no open access modules, the member will not see Keystone in the WordPress dashboard at all.

Modules can be assigned from the module’s own assignments view page, from a member’s profile, and several other places around Keystone. Modules can also be assigned in bulk, by user role, by section, or by copying the assignments of another member.

Any user that has at least the lowest Keystone capability can be assigned a module. That means managers and administrators can have module assignments.

Open Access is a per-module setting on Reference modules that makes them visible to all members without explicit assignment. This is useful for shared resources, and only applies to Reference modules.

An email notification is sent to the member on assignment if enabled in Settings.

Only Required modules are tracked. Reference modules have no completion state.

Each item type has its own completion action: Mark Complete, I Acknowledge, pass the quiz, etc. All items can be completed, regardless of module type (required or reference). However, only required modules track the completion of its included items. Completing items inside of a reference module is simply for user convenience (knowing what you’ve already seen).

Sequential completion — required module only; optional per-module setting; members must complete each item in order before the next item unlocks.

Re-completion — if you update an item’s content, you can flag it; members see it as incomplete and must re-complete it. Prior completion is preserved but marked stale.

Due dates — set per required module; due dates surface on member dashboards and in reports with overdue and upcoming highlighting.

Acknowledgement mode — optional on certain items, changes the item completion action to “I Acknowledge,” and timestamps the record.

Sequential completion and re-completion are per-item and per-module settings in the block editor sidebar — easy to miss on a first pass.

Keystone → Reports shows completion rates for all Required modules, organized by section.

Click into any module to see completion status member by member

View by Member — a full completion history for a single user: every assigned module, current progress, last activity, and due dates, etc.

Reference modules appear in reports, but not completion tracked. They can be hidden from view.

Members only see the Keystone menu item in their WP admin — nothing else in WordPress changes for them.

The Keystone dashboard shows assigned modules split into Required (with progress bars) and Reference groups in the Knowledge Browser.

Incomplete Required modules surface a next-up prompt based on due dates and progress.

Search — scans item titles, item body content, and module titles, scoped to the member’s assigned content only.

Topics — cross-cutting labels on items; a filter select menu appears on the dashboard when topics are present.

Favorites — members can ‘star’ any item; a Favorites button appears on the dashboard for quick access.

General — give the plugin a custom name that appears in the admin menu, dashboard header, and notification emails. Useful for white-labeling as “Training Hub,” “Company Wiki,” etc. Note: this only renames the UI — “Keystone” still appears in code, database, and URLs.

Modules — configure the default state when creating new modules. For example, if you use Keystone as an open knowledge base without completion tracking, you would configure modules to be reference and open access by default.

Notifications — toggle assignment emails on/off. Emails are batched per request, so assigning someone to multiple modules at once sends one email, not several. Delivery depends on your server’s email configuration — an SMTP plugin is recommended for reliability.

Capabilities — the role/access matrix covered in Roles & Capabilities above. All user roles registered on your WordPress website can be configured here.

Data & Privacy — manages orphaned data if a user is removed from WordPress. Data is kept until you choose to remove it. If there is no user orphaned data, there isn’t anything that needs to be done here.