WordPress plugin: sell your courses and add single sign-on
Show and sell your Acatudy courses on your WordPress site. Create a key, install the plugin, place blocks and shortcodes, and let students go straight into the classroom with single sign-on (new in 2.1).
On this page
In this topic 7
- Design your student area: styles, logo, colors, home and menu
- Build and publish your website with the Website Builder
- Connect your own domain (CNAME or A record) with automatic HTTPS
- SEO and Google Search Console: sitemap, robots.txt and site verification
- Design your sign-in and sign-up pages: 14 layouts with your image and text
- FAQs for your students and visitors: help center, order and FAQ rich results
- WordPress plugin: sell your courses and add single sign-on
In this guide
- What the Acatudy plugin for WordPress does, and what stays in Acatudy.
- Create a key, install the plugin and connect it.
- The blocks and shortcodes you can place on your pages.
- New in 2.1: single sign-on from WordPress to the classroom.
- What to do when something doesn’t work.
What the plugin does
The Acatudy plugin shows and sells your academy’s courses on your WordPress site. Say Lincoln Test Prep already has a website built with WordPress and sells an SAT course: the plugin puts that course, its price and a “Buy now” button on the site, without anyone copying data by hand.
- Course pages, synced with Acatudy every hour.
- Pricing tables, in 10 designs.
- Course catalog, in 4 designs.
- “Buy now” window: it sends the buyer to your academy’s Stripe payment page.
- Welcome page and a native sign-up form.
- Dashboard in WordPress with your students and your sales.
- Block patterns and Elementor widgets.
- “Classroom” link for your menus.
The classroom, the students and the payments stay in Acatudy. The plugin only shows them on your site and sends people to the right place.
Install and connect
-
Create a key in Acatudy
Go to My academy → General → Details & domain → API, find the Connect WordPress section and click Create WordPress key. The key is shown only once: copy it right away. It expires after 1 year, and we email you reminders 30, 7 and 1 day before. You can have up to 3 WordPress keys at a time.
-
Install the plugin
In the same section, click Download the plugin (.zip). In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload plugin, choose the .zip, install it and click Activate. You can also search for Acatudy in Plugins → Add New and install it from there.
-
Paste the key
When you activate the plugin, the setup wizard opens. Paste the key and click Test connection. If it works, you’ll see your academy’s name.
-
Choose a style and create your pages
Pick the style that fits your site. Then create the Courses, Pricing, Sign up and Welcome pages in one click.
Treat the key like a password
Anyone who has it can connect to your academy. Don’t share it by email or chat. If you lose it, or someone who had it leaves, create a new key and replace it in the plugin settings.
Blocks and shortcodes
Everything you can place on a page is available as a block in the editor and as a shortcode. The plugin also adds block patterns and Elementor widgets.
| Shortcode | What it shows |
|---|---|
[acatudy_courses] | The course catalog, in one of its 4 designs. |
[acatudy_plans] | The pricing table, in one of its 10 designs. |
[acatudy_access] | The “Buy now” access button. |
[acatudy_signup] | The native sign-up form. |
[acatudy_welcome] | The Welcome page content. |
[acatudy_classroom_button] | The “Go to my classroom” button (new in 2.1). See the next section. |
Single sign-on from WordPress
New in version 2.1. Your students log in to your WordPress site. With single sign-on they can click one button and land in their Acatudy classroom already logged in, without typing their password again.
What your students see
A student who is logged in on your WordPress site clicks Go to my classroom. You can offer it in four ways:
- The block Go to my classroom (Acatudy).
- The shortcode
[acatudy_classroom_button label="My classroom" return="/student/courses" logged_out="hide"].labelis the button text,returnis the page of the classroom where they land, andlogged_out="hide"hides the button from visitors who are not logged in. - The option in the Acatudy classic widget.
- The Classroom menu link, or the Classroom (Acatudy) link in the Navigation block.
Turn it on in Acatudy
It is off by default. You decide what is allowed, and only an owner or admin can change it.
-
Open the section
Go to My academy → General → Details & domain → API and find Single sign-on from WordPress.
-
Tick what you want to allow
Use the three checkboxes described in the table below, then save.
-
Add it to your existing keys
Click Add single sign-on to my WordPress keys. Keys you created before don’t get the new permission on their own. You don’t need to change anything in WordPress: the key you pasted keeps working. Keys you create from now on already include it.
| Checkbox | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Let students sign in from WordPress | Students who already have an account in your academy can enter the classroom from your site. |
| Create students from WordPress | A person who is registered on your WordPress site but has no student account yet gets one the first time they click the button. |
| Allow admins to open the Acatudy dashboard from WordPress | WordPress administrators can open your Acatudy dashboard from the plugin. Acatudy asks for your current password before you can tick it. |
Turning an option off is immediate
When you untick a checkbox, the permission is removed from your keys right away. Students can no longer use that option from WordPress, and the normal login keeps working.
What you see in WordPress
In WordPress, open Acatudy → Single sign-on. The tab shows:
- The status in Acatudy: Students, Create students and Administrators, each marked On or Off.
- A warning if your key doesn’t have the permission yet, and a Refresh data button to check again after you change something in Acatudy.
- The switches On this site: students, the menu link and administrators. They let you turn each part on or off on your WordPress site only.
- Where to add the button on your site.
How it stays safe
In plain words:
- The WordPress site asks Acatudy for a one-time pass. It works once, for one minute, and only in your academy.
- The browser shows a screen that says “Continue to Lincoln Test Prep — You are about to log in as j***@…”. The student clicks Continue. Because of this step, programs that preview links (like email scanners or chat apps) can’t use the pass.
- The first time each WordPress user uses it, Acatudy emails the student a link to confirm that the WordPress account is theirs. The link is valid for 60 minutes and only works in the same browser where they clicked the button, so nobody can link someone else’s account. After that, entering is direct.
- No password is ever sent to WordPress or stored in it.
Who can’t use it
These people are sent to the normal Acatudy login page instead:
- Visitors who are not logged in on WordPress.
- People without a student account in this academy. The exception is when Create students from WordPress is on: then the account is created, they get an email to create their password, and they click the button again afterwards.
- Students whose email is not verified.
- Accounts that also belong to another Acatudy academy.
- Teachers and admins, through the student button.
- The demo academy.
- Academies that are closed or paused.
Two-step verification
If a student has two-step verification turned on, Acatudy still asks for the code it sends by email. Single sign-on skips the password, not the second step.
Administrators
The Open Acatudy dashboard button appears in the plugin header and in the Single sign-on tab. It works only if all of this is true:
- The person is a WordPress administrator.
- Their WordPress email is the email of an owner or admin of this academy.
- That owner or admin has two-step verification turned on in their Acatudy profile.
Acatudy always asks for the emailed code, unless that browser was already trusted for 30 days. Then you land on the academy dashboard.
Not for accounts with several academies
It doesn’t work for accounts that manage several academies (multi-center). Use the normal login there.
Activity log
Every pass that is issued, used, refused or failed is recorded in your academy’s activity log, so you can see what happened and when.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| The plugin says the connection failed, or the key has expired or been revoked. | Create a new key in Acatudy (My academy → General → Details & domain → API → Create WordPress key) and paste it in the plugin settings in WordPress. |
| Your connection key does not have single sign-on permission yet | In Acatudy, click Add single sign-on to my WordPress keys. Then, in WordPress, click Refresh data. |
| This sign-in link is no longer valid | The pass lasts one minute and works once. Click the button again. |
| The student didn’t get the confirmation email. | Ask them to check the spam folder. If it isn’t there, wait 10 minutes before asking again: Acatudy sends at most 3 emails per hour. |
| The student lands on the normal login page. | Check the list in “Who can’t use it”: not logged in on WordPress, no student account, email not verified, or another academy. |
Frequently asked questions
Do I need single sign-on to sell my courses?
No. Selling works without it. Single sign-on is optional and off by default.
Does WordPress store my students’ passwords?
No. Passwords stay in Acatudy and are never sent to WordPress.
Can a teacher use the “Go to my classroom” button?
No. The student button is only for students. Teachers log in with the normal Acatudy login.
Follow this guide in your own academy
Create it free in a couple of minutes and keep your admin panel open next to this guide.
Open a ticket from Help → Support in your panel: we reply within 24–48 h depending on your plan.