Custom Fields

Add structured fields to member profiles - collect the information that matters to your specific community.

PRO - This feature requires Jetonomy Pro.

What You Will Learn

• How to create and manage custom profile fields
• Which field types are available
• How to set visibility and required status
• How members fill in their fields
• How to read and update field values via the REST API

Why Custom Fields Matter

A generic WordPress profile has a bio and a website URL. That is not enough for most communities. A developer community needs a GitHub handle. A healthcare community needs a specialty. A SaaS community needs a company name. Custom Fields lets you define exactly the information that makes members useful and findable in your community.

Enabling Custom Fields

1. Go to Jetonomy → Extensions in your WordPress admin.
2. Find Custom Fields and click Enable.
3. A Custom Fields item appears under the Jetonomy admin menu.

Creating a Field

1. Go to Jetonomy → Custom Fields.
2. Click Add Field.
3. Fill in the field settings:

Setting	Description
Label	Displayed on the profile and in the edit form
Field Key	Unique slug used in the REST API (auto-generated, editable)
Type	See field types below
Required	If on, members cannot save their profile without filling this in
Visibility	Who can see the field value
Description	Optional helper text shown below the input

4. Click Save Field.

Field Types

Type	Best for
Text	Short single-line answers (job title, company, username)
Textarea	Longer free-form text (bio supplement, expertise description)
Number	Numeric values (years of experience, team size)
Email	Contact email address
URL	Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, portfolio links
Select	Predefined options as a dropdown, single choice (country, role, industry)
Checkbox	Yes/no toggle (newsletter opt-in, open to work)
Radio	Predefined options as radio buttons, single choice
Date	A calendar date (joined date, availability)

For the Select and Radio types, you define the options in the field editor - one per line. Select renders a dropdown; Radio renders a set of radio buttons.

Visibility Options

Each field has one of three visibility settings:

Visibility	Who sees the value
Public	Anyone, including logged-out visitors
Members only	Logged-in community members
Private	Only the member themselves and admins

Private fields are still editable by the member but do not appear on their public profile. They are accessible to admins via the admin Users page.

How Members Fill In Fields

Members edit their custom fields at /community/u/{username}/edit/ under the Profile Details section. Required fields show a red asterisk. Saving the profile validates all required fields before updating.

Tip: Guide members to complete their profiles right after joining by linking to the edit profile page in your welcome notification or email digest.

REST API

Custom Fields adds field-aware parameters to the existing profile and post endpoints:

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/users/{id}	Profile response includes custom_fields object
GET	/users	List response includes custom_fields on each member
PATCH	/users/{id}	Pass custom_fields: { field_key: value } to update
GET	/posts/{id}	Post response includes custom_fields if any post-level fields are configured
GET	/posts	List response includes custom_fields on each post
GET	/custom-fields	List all defined fields and their settings
POST	/custom-field-values	Set a single field value on a target object (user or post)

Example - read a profile with custom fields:

GET /wp-json/jetonomy/v1/users/45

{
  "id": 45,
  "name": "Priya Sharma",
  "custom_fields": {
    "company": "Acme Corp",
    "github_username": "priyasharma",
    "open_to_work": true
  }
}

Example - update custom fields:

PATCH /wp-json/jetonomy/v1/users/45
{
  "custom_fields": {
    "company": "New Horizons Ltd"
  }
}

Members can only update their own fields. Admins can update any member's fields.

Setting one value at a time: if you want to set a single field on a single object rather than sending the whole custom_fields object, POST /custom-field-values with the field key, the target object type and ID, and the value. This is the lightweight path used by the edit-profile form and is handy for partial updates from custom tooling.

How fields surface in output: once a field is configured, its value is embedded automatically in the relevant REST responses - the custom_fields object on /users and /posts (and their list endpoints) - and rendered on the matching frontend surface (the member profile for profile fields, the post for post fields), subject to the field's visibility setting. You do not register a separate read endpoint per field; the value rides along with the object it belongs to.

See the REST API reference for full payloads.

Upgrading From Older Versions

If you are on Jetonomy 1.4.1 or newer, custom field values are returned automatically on the /jetonomy/v1/posts and /jetonomy/v1/users endpoints, so any tool reading the API sees every field you have configured. On older versions the values were saved to the database but did not appear in API responses - update both the free and Pro plugins together to read custom fields over the API.

What's Next?

Recognize and reward your most engaged members with custom badges.

Custom Badges →