Install

The theme installs like any other WordPress theme. If you're replacing an older version, use Overwrite — settings and content are preserved.

Steps

1. Upload the theme

Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme → select toolplaybook.zip → Overwrite existing if replacing → Activate.

2. Flush permalinks

Settings → Permalinks → Save Changes (click Save even if you didn't change anything — this forces WordPress to re-register the review post type's rewrite rules).

Without this step, /reviews/, /reviews/category/<slug>/, and single-review URLs won't resolve.

3. Set the blog page

Settings → Reading:

• Your homepage displays → A static page
• Homepage → leave empty (the theme uses front-page.php regardless)
• Posts page → Blog (create this page first if it doesn't exist yet)

Without a Posts page assigned, /blog/ will 404 or render the wrong template.

4. Create the site pages

Pages the theme expects at least once:

Slug	Title	Template
/about/	About	About page
/contact/	Contact	Contact page (paste your form's shortcode into the body)
/affiliate-disclosure/	Affiliate Disclosure	Prose / legal page
/privacy-policy/	Privacy Policy	Prose / legal page
/blog/	Blog	(no template — assign as Posts page in step 3)

Set the template via the Page Attributes → Template dropdown on the right sidebar of the page editor.

5. Purge any cache

If LiteSpeed Cache (or any other cache plugin) is active, purge everything to clear stale HTML from the previous theme:

LiteSpeed Cache → Toolbox → Purge All

What happens on activation

The theme auto-creates six default Review Categories:

• CRM Software (crm)
• Email Marketing (email)
• SEO Tools (seo)
• Funnel Builders (funnels)
• Form Builders (forms)
• Project Management (pm)

You can rename, delete, or add more via Reviews → Categories.

Rewrite rules are also flushed automatically on activation. If you ever run into /reviews/… URLs 404-ing after a change, re-save Settings → Permalinks.

Plugins to install

Optional but recommended:

• Rank Math SEO — the theme auto-adds the review CPT + review categories to Rank Math's sitemap. Enable schema on Rank Math → Titles & Meta → Reviews if you want structured data.
• Fluent Forms — for the contact form + the blog sidebar newsletter. Paste the shortcode into the Customizer (see Customizer reference).
• LiteSpeed Cache — if your host bundles it, keep it. If not, WP Rocket or WP Super Cache is fine.

Verify install

Load these URLs after activating:

• / — homepage renders with hero scorecard + category grid + top-scored + blog teaser
• /reviews/ — reviews archive with filter chips + search
• /reviews/gohighlevel/ (or any review slug) — single review with scorecard sidebar
• /blog/ — blog index with featured post + chip nav
• /sitemap_index.xml — should list review-sitemap.xml and review_category-sitemap.xml
• /this-does-not-exist/ — custom 404 with search + shortcuts

If any of those don't work, the most common cause is step 2 (permalinks not saved) — go back and re-save Settings → Permalinks.