Introduction

Native Content Relationships (NCR) is a relationship layer for WordPress. It adds a first-class way to link content: post ↔ post, post ↔ user, post ↔ term.

You define relation types (e.g. related_to, parent_of, favorite_posts), create and remove links via a small API, and query them with WP_Query, REST, shortcodes, or blocks.

Minimal example

ncr_add_relation( 123, 'post', 456, 'post', 'related_to' );
$related = ncr_get_related( 123, 'post', 'related_to', [ 'limit' => 10 ] );

Why NCR

• Structured storage — Dedicated indexed table (wp_content_relations). No post meta or taxonomy hacks.
• One API, many surfaces — PHP API, WP_Query, REST, shortcodes, Gutenberg blocks, Elementor. Same relationships everywhere.
• Schema stable — Backward compatibility from 1.x onward.

Next steps

• Installation — Install the plugin
• Quick Start — First relationship in minutes
• Relationships — Create, query, remove from code
• Use Cases — Products, courses, related articles, favorites
• Widget — Sidebar widget for related posts
• FAQ — Common questions
• PHP API — Full API reference
• Admin & Tools — Overview, integrity, import/export

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See also

• Use cases — Products, courses, related articles, favorites
• FAQ — Common questions and answers
• Admin & Tools — Integrity checks, import/export
• Core concepts — Relation types and object kinds