Troubleshooting

No related posts / empty shortcode

Check:

1. Relations exist — In the post editor, open the relationship panel and confirm links are saved. Or query the table: SELECT * FROM wp_content_relations WHERE from_id = <post_id> AND type = 'related_to'; (use your prefix).
2. Correct type — Shortcode type and PHP relation_type must match a registered type (e.g. related_to). Typos or wrong type = no results.
3. Post ID — Shortcode uses current post in the loop. On archive or outside the loop, pass post_id="123" or use PHP and ncr_get_related( 123, 'post', 'related_to', ... ).
4. Status — Shortcodes only list published posts. Draft/private targets are excluded from output (they may still be stored as relations).

WP_Query with content_relation returns nothing

• Keys: Use content_relation (not ncr_relation). Required keys: post_id, type. Optional: direction ('from' or 'to').
• Direction: For “posts that are related TO this one” use 'direction' => 'to'. For “posts this one points TO” use 'direction' => 'from' (often default).
• Post type: Ensure post_type matches the related posts (e.g. post, page, or your CPT).

Example:

$q = new WP_Query( [
	'post_type'        => 'post',
	'content_relation' => [
		'post_id'   => get_the_ID(),
		'type'      => 'related_to',
		'direction' => 'to',
	],
] );

See WP_Query.

Permission errors when creating relations

• Capability: Creating relations requires naticore_create_relation (or equivalent). Editors and above usually have it. If you use custom roles, grant this capability or use a filter to allow creation.
• Filter: naticore_relation_is_allowed can block a relation. Return false to disallow. Check custom code that uses this filter.
• Self-relation: Post cannot relate to itself. Same for user–user if you add such a type. The API returns an error in that case.

REST API: 404 or “route not found”

• Base: NCR routes live under /wp-json/naticore/v1/. Ensure permalinks are not plain (Settings → Permalinks: use any non-plain structure) and that REST is not disabled by another plugin.
• Auth: Creating or deleting relations via REST usually requires authentication (cookie or application password). Unauthenticated GET may work for public content depending on your setup.

REST embed (?naticore_relations=1) empty

• Query param: Use ?naticore_relations=1 on the single resource URL, e.g. GET /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/123?naticore_relations=1. Not on listing endpoints.
• Response key: Look for naticore_relations in the JSON response. If the post has no relations, the array is empty.

Shortcode outputs nothing

• post_id: On homepage or archive there may be no “current post”. Set post_id="123" explicitly.
• Type and limit: Ensure type is valid and limit ≥ 1.
• CSS: Content may be there but hidden by your theme. Inspect the HTML; wrapper classes are .naticore-related-posts, .naticore-related-list, etc.

Duplicate or wrong relations after migration

• Run the migration once. Running ACF (or other) migration again can duplicate links.
• Use the Integrity or Orphaned tools (if available in your version) under Settings → Content Relationships to find and clean orphaned or duplicate relations.

Performance with many relations

• NCR uses an indexed table. For very large datasets (tens of thousands of relations per post), use limit in queries and consider caching ncr_get_related() results (e.g. transients) for heavy pages. See Performance and Scaling.

Getting help

• GitHub Issues — bugs and feature requests.
• WordPress.org support forum — general support.

Include: WordPress and PHP version, NCR version, and what you tried (shortcode/PHP/REST + expected vs actual result).