Prerequisites:
WordPress 5.6+ and PHP 7.4+. Plugin is translation-ready and works out of the box with most themes.

1. Install & Activate

• Upload the consentpress folder to /wp-content/plugins/.
• Activate ConsentPress from the Plugins screen.

1. Basic Configuration

• Go to ConsentPress → Cookie Settings.

  • Customize banner text and accent color.
  • Set log retention period.

2. Define or Scan Cookies

Save definitions; they are stored in cookie-definitions.json.

Navigate to ConsentPress → Cookie Definitions.

Click Scan Browser Cookies to auto-detect active cookies.

Edit or add definitions (type, duration, provider, purpose).

3. Display on Frontend

• Place the shortcode on your privacy or cookie policy page to show the cookie table:
• [cpc_cookie_table]

4. Configure Tracking (GTM / Pixels)

• Go to ConsentPress → Pixels & GTM.

  • Enter your GTM container ID and optionally Facebook / LinkedIn pixel IDs.
  • Choose mode (GTM only or GTM + direct pixels).
  • ConsentPress will push consent state to dataLayer (cpc_consent_update) for GTM Consent Mode.

5. View & Export Logs

• Open ConsentPress → Consent Logs to see captured consent events.
• Use the Export CSV button for audits or reporting.

6. Advanced / Troubleshooting

• Enable Debug Mode under Tools to include system/internal cookies and get extended logging in the console and PHP error log.
• Use Reset Local Preferences to force the banner to reappear for testing.

Optional: External Database

To store logs in a separate database, define these constants in wp-config.php before activation:

define('CPC_DB_HOST', 'your_host');
define('CPC_DB_NAME', 'your_database');
define('CPC_DB_USER', 'your_user');
define('CPC_DB_PASS', 'your_password');

Ready-to-Go

That’s it — ConsentPress will now show a cookie banner, respect user choices, log consent, and integrate with GTM/pixels based on consent. For full detail, see the Help & Documentation page inside the plugin.

Cookie definitions describe:

• The purpose of each cookie.
• Its duration/lifespan.
• Its classification (necessary, analytics, marketing, etc.).
• How it behaves from a consent perspective.

To perform an automatic scan:

1. Navigate to ConsentPress → Cookie Definitions.
2. Click Scan Browser Cookies to auto-detect active cookies.
3. Review detected cookies and accept or edit suggested definitions.

Follow these steps:

• Click “Add New” or select an existing definition.
• Provide name, purpose, category, and duration.
• Save the definition and verify it appears in the list.

To embed the table:

1. Open the page where you want the table (e.g., Privacy Policy).
2. Insert the shortcode [cpc_cookie_table] into the content editor.
3. Publish or update the page.
4. Verify the table renders and reflects current definitions.

Use:

[cpc_cookie_table]

This will output the current cookie definitions and their consent status.

Recommended locations:

• Privacy Policy page.
• Dedicated “Cookie Information” or compliance page.
• Footer link accessible from every page.

Tags should check for:

• analytics_storage
• ad_storage
• functionality_storage
• personalization_storage

ConsentPress makes it easy to manage Google Tag Manager (GTM) based on user consent. Here's how to set it up properly:

Step 1: Enable GTM in ConsentPress

1. Go to ConsentPress → Pixels & GTM.
2. Enter your GTM Container ID (e.g. GTM-XXXXXXX).
3. Select where and how GTM should load:

   • Header or Body placement.
   • Enable Consent-based firing (recommended).

Step 2: Configure Consent Initialization in GTM

1. In your GTM workspace, go to Admin → Container Settings.
2. Enable Consent Overview.
3. Create the following Consent Types if not already available:

   • analytics_storage
   • ad_storage
   • functionality_storage
   • personalization_storage

4. Set Default Consent State to denied.

Step 3: Add a Consent Initialization Trigger

1. Create a Custom Event Trigger:

   • Event Name: cpc_consent_update
   • This event is dispatched by ConsentPress after user choice.

2. Attach this trigger to any tags that depend on user consent.

Step 4: Update Tags to Respect Consent

For each tag (e.g., Google Analytics, Meta Pixel):

• Go to Advanced Settings → Consent Settings.
• Check "Require additional consent".
• Select relevant consent types (e.g., analytics_storage for GA4).

🧪 Testing

Use Consent Mode Debugger or GTM’s Preview mode to test consent states and tag firing.

Modify your tag triggers:

• Add conditions that check consent values.
• Use dataLayer variables or custom JS to reflect granted consent.
• Test in preview mode to ensure correct gating.

It pushes structured events such as cpc_consent_update that include:

• Consent categories and their states.
• Versioning or change metadata.
• Timestamp of update.

The object contains key/value pairs for each consent type, for example:

• analytics_storage: granted/denied
• ad_storage: granted/denied
• Additional metadata like version and timestamp.

To leverage it:

1. Create triggers referencing the appropriate dataLayer variables.
2. Condition tag firing on granted consent.
3. Fallback gracefully when consent is missing or denied.

Recommended approach:

1. Open GTM preview mode.
2. Simulate granting/denying different consent types.
3. Watch which tags fire in each state.

Turn on debug mode from the plugin interface to receive:

• Verbose console output.
• Server-side log details.
• Consent decision traces.

Look for:

• Mismatch between expected consent in dataLayer and actual tag firing.
• Errors or warnings in browser console.
• Backend log entries if consent processing failed.