Codulon Serial Manager Lite

Description

Codulon Serial Manager Lite lets store owners create and manage manual license keys directly inside WordPress.

This free plugin focuses on manual key management, customer lookup by shortcode, and a basic REST validation endpoint.

Lite includes

  • Manual license-key creation.
  • Automatic serial generation from the manual form.
  • License status management: active, suspended, and expired.
  • Searchable admin table.
  • Copy-to-clipboard serial buttons.
  • Basic customer shortcode: [codulon_serial_keys_lite].
  • Working validation API for locally created serials.
  • First-activation binding to hardwareId.
  • Hardware ID mismatch protection for locally created serials.

Pro adds

  • WooCommerce order automation.
  • Automatic serial generation when orders are paid.
  • Product-level “Issue serial/license key” settings.
  • Product and variation license settings.
  • Perpetual license keys.
  • Time-limited license keys.
  • One-time evaluation licenses.
  • Paid upgrade targets for evaluation products.
  • Duplicate evaluation blocking by customer, website, or device.
  • Advanced manual serial entry with product and variation defaults.
  • Manual expiry/subscription controls.
  • Advanced status, sorting, filtering, and operational views.
  • Serial suspension, unsuspension, expiry, and revoke workflows.
  • Serial history logs.
  • Resend serial delivery emails.
  • CSV import.
  • CSV export.
  • Customer account delivery.
  • Customer serial status, expiry, activation, download, and evaluation-expiry details.
  • License PDF downloads.
  • Purchased file download links in account and email views.
  • Branded serial emails.
  • Order confirmation template.
  • Invoice / order-details payment template.
  • Renewal payment request template.
  • Trial-ending reminder template.
  • Expiry reminder emails.
  • Expired/revoked license notice emails.
  • Packing list and order item email sections.
  • Email template editor.
  • Test/sample email sending.
  • Restore default email templates.
  • Copy header/footer regions between templates.
  • Email-safe header logo/image sizing.
  • Email tokens for serials, renewal choices, order items, totals, VAT notes, customer data, store data, and downloads.
  • VAT note and tax/totals integration.
  • Store contact, footer link, and address tokens.
  • Email and shop theme settings.
  • Preset themes and color controls.
  • WooCommerce storefront styling for shop, cart, checkout, order, payment, and account pages.
  • Product images in email rows.
  • Subscriptions, renewals, and evaluation upgrades.
  • Renewal order generation.
  • Multi-license renewal selection page.
  • Early renewal extension handling.
  • Unpaid renewal handling.
  • Scheduled renewal and expiry sweeps.
  • Activation API checks.
  • Website/plugin activation binding.
  • Desktop app hardware ID hash support.
  • Activation mismatch protection.
  • Expired, suspended, revoked, and duplicate API responses.
  • API rate limiting.
  • API settings and integration guidance.
  • PDF, CSV, import, export, and operational tools.
  • Automatic revoke on cancelled, failed, or refunded WooCommerce orders.
  • Revoked and unpaid-revoked customer email handling.
  • Virtual license order processing support.
  • Built-in manual and documentation page.
  • Update delivery tools for the separate full version.

Buy the full version:
https://codulon.com/shop

API reference

This plugin includes a working serial validation API for locally created serials:

POST https://yourdomain.com/wp-json/wc-custom/v1/validate-serial

Required fields:

  • serial – the license key shown to the customer.
  • hardwareId – one stable activation identity.

For websites, WordPress plugins, or PHP apps, use the canonical site URL as hardwareId.

For desktop software, use a stable hashed device ID as hardwareId. Do not send raw hardware serial numbers.

Example JSON request:

{
  "serial": "ABCD-EFGH-IJKL-MNOP",
  "hardwareId": "https://example-client-site.com"
}

Example success response:

{
  "valid": "True",
  "message": "Serial validated and hardware ID activated.",
  "email": "customer@example.com",
  "last_name": "Customer"
}

Common failed responses use "valid": "False" with a message, for example serial not found, hardware ID mismatch, expired, suspended, or rate limited.

Important: this plugin validates serials created inside Codulon Serial Manager Lite. The separate full version uses the same endpoint path but validates WooCommerce serials, subscriptions, renewals, revoked access, customer order data, and advanced license rules.

Installation

  1. Upload the codulon-serial-manager-lite folder to /wp-content/plugins/, or upload the zip through Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
  2. Activate Codulon Serial Manager Lite.
  3. Open License Keys Lite in the WordPress admin menu.
  4. Create a license key or review the sample keys.

FAQ

Does Lite expire?

No. Lite is permanent and does not cap the number of manual license keys.

Does Lite automatically create serials from WooCommerce orders?

No. WooCommerce automation is part of Codulon Serial Manager Pro.

Does the API endpoint work in Lite?

Yes. Lite registers POST /wp-json/wc-custom/v1/validate-serial and validates serials created in this plugin. It does not validate WooCommerce order serials, renewals, subscriptions, revoked access, or full-version customer order data.

Where is the customer-facing shortcode?

Use [codulon_serial_keys_lite] on a private page. Logged-in users will see keys that match their account email address.

Reviews

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Contributors & Developers

“Codulon Serial Manager Lite” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Changelog

1.1.1

  • Removed the manual-key cap.
  • Moved frontend CSS and admin JavaScript to WordPress enqueue APIs.
  • Updated REST URL generation and public API rate limiting.

1.0.0

  • Initial release.