Documentation · Getting Started

Installation Guide

This guide describes how to install and activate the ADP Car Market Hub WordPress plugin on a WordPress site, and how to verify that the installation was successful before any further configuration.

It does not cover API credentials or import configuration — those topics are covered in First Setup, API Credentials Setup and Connection Test.

When to use this document

Use this document if you are:

Installing ADP Car Market Hub on a new WordPress site for the first time.
Reinstalling the plugin on an existing site (for example after a server migration or a clean rebuild).
Validating that an installation done by a third party (agency, hosting provider, internal IT) was completed correctly.
Preparing a documented installation procedure for a customer hand-over.

The audience is a WordPress administrator with full back-office access and, where SFTP installation is used, with file-system credentials for the target server.

Before you start

Confirm the following before you begin the installation. Most issues seen during installation come from one of these prerequisites being incomplete.

Plugin package. A signed plugin ZIP archive of ADP Car Market Hub provided by AD Promotion or your distribution channel. Do not rename the archive or unpack and repack it.
License key. Your ADP Car Market Hub license key, provided by AD Promotion. The plugin installs and activates without it, but every admin tab except Settings stays locked behind a "License required" screen until the license is activated. License activation is covered in First Setup.
WordPress environment. A working WordPress installation that meets the plugin's minimum requirements:
WordPress 6.2 or higher (Requires at least: 6.2 in the plugin header).
PHP 8.1 or higher (Requires PHP: 8.1 in the plugin header and composer.json).
A WordPress-supported database (MySQL or MariaDB).
PHP extensions openssl, curl, mbstring, json, and one of gd or imagick.
A writable uploads directory (wp-content/uploads/). See Technical System Requirements for full details.
Outbound HTTPS connectivity. The web server must be able to reach the AutoScout24 API host that you will configure later. See API, Network and SSL Requirements.
Administrator account. A WordPress user with the manage_options capability (typically the administrator role) is required to install, activate and configure the plugin.
Backup. A current, restorable backup of the WordPress site, including database and wp-content/. Production installations should always have a recent backup before installing or activating any plugin.
Staging environment (recommended). For production sites it is strongly recommended to install and validate the plugin on a staging copy first, then promote the configuration to production. See Staging to Live Migration.
Pre-installation checklist. Step through the Pre-Installation Checklist to confirm hosting, PHP, database and network readiness.

Step by step instructions

There are two supported installation paths:

Option A — ZIP upload through the WordPress admin (recommended for most environments).
Option B — Manual upload by SFTP (recommended when the WordPress admin disallows plugin uploads, when the hosting environment enforces read-only file systems for the admin user, or when installing as part of a deployment pipeline).

Use one path or the other; do not run both at the same time.

Option A — Install via the WordPress admin (ZIP upload)

Sign in to WordPress as an administrator.
In the left admin menu, open Plugins → Add New.
Click Upload Plugin at the top of the page.
Click Choose File and select the ADP Car Market Hub ZIP archive.
Click Install Now and wait for WordPress to upload and unpack the archive.
When the upload completes, click Activate Plugin.

If the upload fails with a size or memory error, this is normally a server-side limit (upload_max_filesize, post_max_size, memory_limit, or a web-application-firewall restriction). Resolve the limit with your hosting provider, or use Option B.

Option B — Install manually via SFTP

Unpack the ADP Car Market Hub ZIP archive on your local computer. You should obtain a single folder named adp-car-market-hub/ containing the plugin files.
Connect to the WordPress server using SFTP (or SSH) with an account that can write to wp-content/plugins/.
Upload the entire adp-car-market-hub/ folder into wp-content/plugins/ so the final path is wp-content/plugins/adp-car-market-hub/.
Verify that wp-content/plugins/adp-car-market-hub/adp-car-market-hub.php exists on the server. WordPress identifies the plugin by this main file.
Sign in to WordPress as an administrator.
Open Plugins → Installed Plugins, locate ADP Car Market Hub in the list and click Activate.

Do not change permissions of plugin files manually unless your hosting provider explicitly requires it. The plugin does not need write access to its own directory.

Activation checks

After clicking Activate, WordPress should show a success notice and ADP Car Market Hub should appear in the list of active plugins.

If activation is blocked, WordPress displays a message describing the reason. The most common causes are:

The site does not meet the plugin's WordPress or PHP minimum versions.
A required PHP extension is missing.
A previous, incomplete installation of the plugin still exists on disk.
File permissions on wp-content/plugins/ prevent WordPress from finalising activation.

Resolve the underlying issue and try activation again. The plugin does not modify themes or other plugins during activation.

Post activation checks

Run these checks immediately after a successful activation. They confirm that the plugin loaded correctly and is ready for configuration.

Admin menu. Confirm that a new top-level menu entry Car Market Hub is visible in the WordPress admin sidebar (the plugin display name in the menu is shortened — the plugin file itself is registered as ADP Car Market Hub). Hover over the entry to see the available submenu items, including Dashboard, Settings, Car Importer, Import & Limits, Tools, System & Help, Logs and others.
Plugin action links. On Plugins → Installed Plugins, the ADP Car Market Hub row should now expose a License activation link and a Settings link in addition to Deactivate. License activation opens the Settings page anchored to the License Activation card; Settings opens the plugin's Settings page.
Settings page renders. Open Car Market Hub → Settings. The page should load without PHP notices, fatal errors or missing-asset warnings. The License Activation card should appear at the top of the page, and the fields API Base URL, Seller ID, Client ID, Client Secret and Default currency should be visible and empty (on a fresh installation). On a fresh installation the other plugin tabs show a "License required" screen until a license is activated.
System & Help. Open Car Market Hub → System & Help. The page should display environment checks (PHP, JSON, OpenSSL, cURL, GD/Imagick, uploads) with traffic-light style status badges. A fresh installation that meets the requirements should not show red badges; a missing extension or unwritable directory will be flagged here. Address any issues before continuing.
No fatal errors in logs. Confirm that the WordPress debug log (if enabled) and your hosting error log do not show fatal errors related to the plugin. The plugin maintains its own log file at wp-content/uploads/as24ci-logs/, which will be created automatically on first use.

If any of these checks fail, do not proceed to the configuration steps. Resolve the issue first or roll back to the most recent backup.

First Setup Wizard notice

After the first activation of the plugin, an admin notice titled Welcome to ADP Car Market Hub appears at the top of every WordPress admin page. The notice provides two buttons:

Start Setup Wizard opens the First Setup Wizard, a seven-step flow (license, mode, dealer profile, AutoScout24, pages, features, finish). License activation is the first, mandatory step; the remaining steps are optional.
Skip for now dismisses the notice. The wizard remains reachable from the Dashboard and from Car Market Hub → Tools.

The notice is not a forced redirect. It only appears when the first-activation timestamp has just been recorded and the wizard has not yet been completed or skipped. Plugin upgrades that do not trigger a fresh activation do not display the notice on existing installations. The wizard is optional but recommended; everything it offers can also be configured manually through the regular admin tabs.

Configuration notes

This document covers installation only. The following points apply specifically to the install/activate stage:

Plugin slug and folder. The expected folder name is adp-car-market-hub. Renaming the folder is not supported and will affect WordPress's ability to manage updates.
Custom post type and taxonomies. On activation, the plugin registers the as24ci_car custom post type and a set of vehicle taxonomies. These are technical artefacts and do not require manual setup.
Custom database tables. The plugin creates its own database tables on activation through dbDelta() (for example for analytics events and saved search alerts). No manual SQL is required.
Custom capability and role. The plugin provisions its own capability and a delegated role used for day-to-day management. Initial installation and configuration should still be performed by a full WordPress administrator. See Access Control and Capabilities.
No data import on activation. Activation does not import any vehicles or contact AutoScout24. Imports start only after credentials are configured and an import is triggered.

Operational notes

Updates. Future updates to the plugin should be applied through the same channel used for installation (admin upload of a new ZIP, or SFTP replacement of the plugin folder). Keep the plugin slug and folder name unchanged so settings, vehicles and leads are preserved. Always take a fresh backup before updating in production.
Deactivation. Deactivating the plugin disables its features but keeps imported vehicles, options, leads and analytics data in the database. The plugin removes its data only on uninstall, and only when the corresponding cleanup setting is enabled. See Uninstall and Data Cleanup.
Multisite. ADP Car Market Hub is intended to be activated on the individual site that should display the vehicle inventory, not network-wide. Confirm with your hosting / network administrator before installing on a multisite environment.
Production discipline. Production installations should follow a documented release procedure: backup → install on staging → validate → install on production → re-verify. See Staging to Live Migration.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	What to check
Upload fails with "The link you followed has expired" or a size error.	Server upload limits (`upload_max_filesize`, `post_max_size`, `memory_limit`) or a WAF rule are too restrictive for the ZIP.	Increase the limits with your hosting provider, or install via SFTP (Option B).
WordPress shows "The plugin does not have a valid header."	The wrong file was uploaded (for example the ZIP was unpacked and only the inner files were re-zipped).	Re-upload the original signed ZIP archive without modification.
Activation refused with a PHP / WordPress version error.	The site does not meet the minimum requirements (`Requires at least: 6.2`, `Requires PHP: 8.1`).	Update WordPress and/or PHP, or migrate to a hosting environment that supports them.
Activation refused with a missing extension error.	One of the required PHP extensions is not installed (`openssl`, `curl`, `mbstring`, `json`, `gd`/`imagick`).	Ask your hosting provider to enable the missing extension.
Plugin appears active but the Car Market Hub menu is missing.	The current user does not have the required capability, or another plugin/theme blocks the admin menu.	Sign in as a full administrator. Temporarily disable other admin-customising plugins to isolate the conflict.
"Settings" link is missing on the plugin row.	Activation did not complete cleanly, or another plugin overrides the action-links filter.	Deactivate and reactivate the plugin. Review the WordPress error log and the plugin's own log under `wp-content/uploads/as24ci-logs/`.
`wp-content/uploads/as24ci-logs/` is empty or missing after first use.	The uploads directory is not writable by the web-server user.	Fix the directory ownership/permissions with your hosting provider; the plugin cannot create the directory otherwise.
Fatal error referencing `AS24CI\` classes.	Plugin files were uploaded incompletely (interrupted SFTP transfer) or the folder was renamed.	Re-upload the full `adp-car-market-hub/` folder and confirm the slug is `adp-car-market-hub`.

If the issue persists after these checks, gather the diagnostics described in Support Information Checklist before contacting support.