We are so glad to be able to do our part in helping the planet removing CO₂ from the atmosphere as it is critical to counteract climate change. A fraction of every purchase from CoCart helps new carbon removal technologies scale.
Now more than ever, it is a critically important role in helping fight climate change. To learn more on how you can do your part with Stripe, go to https://stripe.com/climate
We understand there are many great front-end plugins developed but not all can be supported just like that with CoCart.
We have a long list of quality extensions that we are working to audit and support.
Due to the nature of these extensions were originally designed for, the majority of them need converting so they can be supported via CoCart.
As headless decoupled architecture is still new to some, not all plugin developers who have designed these extensions for WooCommerce are either aware or want to support WooCommerce via the REST API.
So there are challenges and the results after an audit could mean that we can’t support said extension for the time being.
Thank you for your understanding.
Please check our updated support policy for what is and what is not supported with our support service.
This is a different news post one that I will do if I haven’t posted in a while.
First of all, all future development news will be under a new site called CoCart.dev The site is the new official hub for CoCart development.
There you can find all the resources you need to be productive with CoCart and keep track of everything that is happening with the plugin, including development decisions and scoping of future versions.
All previous posts have been redirected there.
Second, it’s also the first step in providing a faster site and more mobile responsive so you have quicker access to what you need.
As for this site it will remain used only for selling support for CoCart and access to download CoCart Pro and all it’s add-ons.
A new site design is also in the works to make the store faster along with some branding tweaks such as the colour palette and logo.
Cleaner logo for CoCart
That’s it for now.
For more news on CoCart development, head over to CoCart.dev
NEW: Should table creation fail during install, ask user if they have privileges to do so.
Improved: Prevent any further admin redirects if CoCart database failed to create.
Improved: Products API response for viewing a single variation to match all other product types with exceptions to certain fields not required.
Improved: Creation of CoCart database table and check it exists before attempting to do it again when CoCart updates.
Tweaked: Getting Started page by splitting upgrade information to a new sub-section called “Upgrade CoCart” with sub-menu shortcut.
Tweaked: WC Admin Notes for upgrading CoCart and 6 things to do with the products API.
What to do before testing!
If you have been using CoCart Products add-on, make sure you have the latest version of it installed before updating to this release to prevent crashing your site. Otherwise best to deactivate the add-on first.
Database changes
This release does not introduce any changes to the database.
If you discover any bugs during the testing process, please let me know by logging a report on the GitHub repository. There I can manage it better and get on the issue asap.
A new setup wizard is introduced that will help prepare the environment for a headless setup.
To help WooCommerce stores that are already selling, an option to transfer current sessions is available. This simply copies over all carts in the database to CoCart’s session table. Once completed it will remove them from WooCommerce session table to save database space.
If you are using multiple domains for your headless setup, CoCart Cors plugin will be installed and activated in the background. Upon completing the setup wizard, you will be presented with options on what you can do next.
You can if you wish ignore the setup wizard completely or run it again at any time from the CoCart menu.
CoCart Products add-on now merged and introducing API v2 with a new option to view single products by SKU. This gives users a great start to their development.
The product response is cleaner and better than before by including shortcuts for adding items to the cart or viewing other products connected.
Additional product support such as subscription data will remain in CoCart Pro only.
What to do before testing!
If you have been using CoCart Products add-on, make sure you have the latest version of it installed before updating to this release to prevent crashing your site. Otherwise best to deactivate the add-on first.
New Cart API route introduced that allows developers to add custom callbacks to update the cart for any possibility. See example.
No cache control has been added to the headers to help prevent CoCart from being cached at all so results return quicker.
If you discover any bugs during the testing process, please let me know by logging a report on the GitHub repository. There I can manage it better and get on the issue asap.
I’m pleased to announce CoCart v3 is now available. It’s my biggest release yet for CoCart and may be a while before I release any further updates as I get CoCart Pro ready for it’s next big update.
This release brings a new API providing more than before. Thanks to the amazing feedback from users, CoCart v3 brings a much better cart response designed for all with an all-new flow experience, new options and support for developers to utilize.
Adding grouped products is also now possible while adding variable products has become simpler. Error validation has also be improved so even the smallest of errors caused, a developer can get a clear explanation as to what went wrong.
Basic authentication is also now built in with additional support for use of email address for the username. So you don’t have to use the JSON Basic Authentication plugin no more which is also outdated.
Updating to the new API is simple and makes building your headless store easier than before. Most parameters are the same, other parameters have changed for the better including the default values.
Simply follow the upgrade guide and your good to go.
If your not new to CoCart I think your going to love this update. If you are new to CoCart, well I can already feel your smile of appreciation.
What’s New with CoCart v3?
🥇 NEW: API v2 with new routes to help with the flow.
💯 NEW: Better cart response based on the experimental free add-on “Get Cart Enhanced“.
⛓️ NEW: Carts can sync for guest customers between app and web once “Load Cart from Session” feature has been used.
🔑 NEW: Basic Authentication now built in with the ability to authenticate via email instead of username. 🥳
🔒 NEW: Each route can be forced to check if the user (meaning only a logged in user) has permission to use the API. This requires the use of a new filter. See article for more information.
🔎 NEW: Browse and Search CoCart add-ons or supported extensions from the plugin install page.
Search suggestions are added at the bottom of the plugin search results on the first page only if matching key words match.
New plugin install section “CoCart” displays information on available add-ons or supported extensions with compatibility information and links to more details.
Tweaked: Session data now handled by new abstract to gain more control over it.
Tweaked: Cart key now returns in the cart response the first time round. 🥳
Tweaked: The loading of the session handler for better initialization by filtering it outside the action hook woocommerce_loaded.
Tweaked: Loading a cart from session is now prevented if a user is already logged in.
Tweaked: Loading a cart from session is now prevented if a user is not logged in and the cart key requested matches any registered user.
Tweaked: Cart session now stores when the cart was created, it’s source and hash.
Tweaked: WooCommerce System Status Tools are made available even if COCART_WHITE_LABEL is set to true.
Deprecated: Redirect to cart after using load cart from session.
Tested: ✔️ Compatible with WooCommerce v5.3
Dev: 🐸 NEW Update database manually for CoCart via WP-CLI.
Dev: 🐸 NEW Get the current version of CoCart via WP-CLI.
Dev: Forked get_customer_unique_id() from WooCommerce session handler for backwards compatibility. Introduced to help with unit tests in WooCommerce since version 5.3. Not needed for CoCart.
There is a whole lot of action filters and hooks now available which you can view in the full changelog.
PHP requirement has been bumped to v7.3 to ensure you are getting the best of CoCart. However, web hosts will soon be updating the default PHP version to v7.4 and deprecating support for PHP 7.3 and below. CoCart v3 is ready for that.
This release does introduce changes to the CoCart session table to store when the cart was created, it’s source and cart hash.
If you have been keeping CoCart up to date until now then you will have no issues upgrading when your ready.
Just another warning encase you missed the first one.
If you have not updated CoCart to at least v2.9 then I must warn you. If you have large stores and you update CoCart directly to v3 ignoring previous patches, then the database upgrade will run automatically in the background without notice.
So please update to v2.9 before updating to v3 for a smoother upgrade process.
A new setup wizard is introduced that will help prepare the environment for a headless setup.
CoCart Products add-on now merged and introducing API v2 with a new option to view single products by SKU. This gives users a great start to their development.
New Cart API route introduced that allows developers to add custom callbacks to update the cart for any possibility. 
No cache control has been added to the headers to help prevent CoCart from being cached at all so results return quicker.
