LW LMS

Lightweight LMS plugin for WordPress - courses, lessons, and progress tracking without the bloat.

Overview

Installation

composer require lwplugins/lw-lms

Or upload the lw-lms folder to /wp-content/plugins/ and activate through the Plugins menu.

Requirements

• PHP 8.1 or higher
• WordPress 6.0 or higher
• WooCommerce (optional, for paid courses)
• WooCommerce Subscriptions (optional, for subscription-based access)

Features

Course Management

• Custom post type for courses with Gutenberg support
• Course sections for organizing lessons
• Multiple access types: open, free (login required), paid (WooCommerce)
• Course attachments and downloads
• Course categories, tags, and difficulty levels
• Instructor field per course

Lesson Management

• Custom post type for lessons with Gutenberg support
• Video support (YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, self-hosted)
• Lesson attachments and downloads
• Automatic video provider detection

Progress Tracking

• Track user progress through courses
• Mark lessons as completed
• Course completion percentage
• Per-user progress storage

WooCommerce Integration

• Link courses to WooCommerce products
• WooCommerce Subscriptions support
• Automatic access control based on purchases
• Time-limited course access (per-product duration)

Admin Interface

• Intuitive course content builder
• Drag-and-drop lesson ordering
• Section management
• Access control settings
• Manual course enrollment on user profile pages
• Enrollment table with course name, source, granted date, and expiry

Settings

Configure under LW Plugins > LMS. Manage courses under Courses > Add New and lessons under their respective courses.

REST API

LW LMS provides a full REST API for headless implementations at /wp-json/lms/v1/.

WP-CLI Commands

# Migrate from LearnDash
wp lw-lms migrate-learndash
wp lw-lms migrate-learndash --dry-run --verbose

The migration command supports --dry-run and --verbose flags and migrates courses, lessons, sections, and lesson order from LearnDash.

AI Abilities

When used with LW Site Manager, the following abilities are available for AI agents. All abilities are registered under the lms category.

lw-lms/list-courses (readonly)

List all published courses with basic metadata.

Permission: can_edit_posts

Input:

Output:

{
  "success": true,
  "courses": [
    {
      "id": 42,
      "title": "Intro to PHP",
      "status": "publish",
      "url": "https://example.com/course/intro-to-php",
      "access_type": "free",
      "duration": "2h",
      "instructor": "Jane Doe"
    }
  ],
  "total": 5
}

lw-lms/get-course (readonly)

Get full course details including lessons and sections.

Permission: can_edit_posts

Input:

Output:

{
  "success": true,
  "course": {
    "id": 42,
    "title": "Intro to PHP",
    "status": "publish",
    "url": "https://example.com/course/intro-to-php",
    "access_type": "free",
    "duration": "2h",
    "instructor": "Jane Doe",
    "content": "<p>Course description...</p>",
    "excerpt": "Learn PHP from scratch.",
    "sections": [
      { "id": "sec-1", "title": "Getting Started", "order": 1 }
    ],
    "lessons": [
      {
        "id": 55,
        "title": "Hello World",
        "section_id": "sec-1",
        "order": 1,
        "duration": "10m"
      }
    ]
  }
}

lw-lms/get-progress (readonly)

Get user progress for a course, including per-lesson completion status.

Permission: can_edit_posts

Input:

Output:

{
  "success": true,
  "progress": {
    "user_id": 7,
    "course_id": 42,
    "percentage": 50,
    "completed_lessons": 2,
    "total_lessons": 4,
    "is_completed": false,
    "lessons": {
      "55": { "status": "completed", "completed_at": "2025-03-10 14:22:00" },
      "56": { "status": "completed", "completed_at": "2025-03-11 09:05:00" },
      "57": { "status": "in_progress", "completed_at": null }
    }
  }
}

lw-lms/set-progress (write)

Update lesson completion status for a user. Upserts the progress record.

Permission: can_edit_posts

Input:

Output:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Progress updated."
}

lw-lms/get-options (readonly)

Get global LW LMS plugin settings.

Permission: can_manage_options

Input: none

Output:

{
  "success": true,
  "options": {
    "courses_per_page": 10,
    "show_progress_bar": true,
    "enable_preview_lessons": true,
    "default_access_type": "free",
    "woo_enabled": true,
    "delete_data_on_uninstall": false
  }
}

Error Responses

All abilities return a WP_Error on failure. Common error codes:

FAQ

Do I need WooCommerce?

No, WooCommerce is only required if you want to sell courses. Open and free courses work without WooCommerce.

Can I use this with a headless frontend?

Yes, LW LMS provides a full REST API at /wp-json/lms/v1/ for headless implementations.

How do I create a course?

Go to Courses > Add New in your WordPress admin. Use the Gutenberg editor for course content, then use the metaboxes to add sections, lessons, and configure access settings.

How do I track user progress?

User progress is automatically tracked when users complete lessons via the REST API. You can view progress in the admin or query it via the API.