Eventonomy

RSVP Settings

The RSVP card enables the attendee registration system and configures its rules: capacity defaults, guest policy, deadlines, and sub-features like waitlists and magic links.

Go to Eventonomy → Settings → Registration to access these options. (This was its own RSVP tab before the settings screen was consolidated into seven tabs; the old ?tab=rsvp link still resolves here.)

What You Will Learn

  • How to enable or disable RSVPs globally
  • How to set default capacity and guest limits
  • How RSVP deadlines work
  • How to control guest (non-account) RSVPs
  • How to enable the waitlist and magic-link features
  • How to set the registration mode new events start on

Settings Reference

All settings below are under the RSVP feature card. The card's toggle enables or disables RSVPs site-wide. Switching it off is absolute - new events then start as No registration needed and no event can show a registration panel, so an individual event cannot opt back in.

Default Attendee Capacity

Setting: default_event_capacity Default: 0 (unlimited)

The attendee cap applied to new events that do not set their own capacity. Set to 0 for unlimited. Organizers can override this per event in the event editor.

Let Attendees Bring Guests

Setting: allow_rsvp_guests Default: On

The master switch for the "+guests" field. On, an attendee can add extra people to their RSVP. Off, the guests field is removed and any RSVP that still asks for guests is rejected - use this for seated, capped, or per-person events. The Max Additional Guests cap below only applies while this is on.

Max Additional Guests Per RSVP

Setting: rsvp_max_guests Default: 0 (unlimited)

The maximum number of additional people an attendee can include in their RSVP (their "+guests"). Each additional guest counts toward the event capacity. Set to 0 for unlimited.

RSVP Deadline

Setting: rsvp_deadline_hours Default: 0 (no deadline)

Closes RSVPs this many hours before the event starts. Once the deadline passes, the RSVP block shows "Registration closed" and the Register button in the event's hero is hidden, so there is no dead control to click. Set to 0 for no deadline.

For example, setting 24 closes RSVPs 24 hours before the event begins.

Do Attendees Need an Account?

Setting: account_policy Default: Create an account automatically

One choice replaces the three separate switches earlier versions had for guest RSVPs, login and buyer accounts. It applies to RSVP registration, the paid-event waitlist form and ticket checkout.

Choice What a logged-out visitor sees
Create an account automatically The form, with a "Create an account at this address" checkbox, ticked by default. They can untick it.
Guest, no account The form with no account checkbox. The registration is stored against a name and email only, and the guest manages it through the secure link in their email.
Must log in A login prompt instead of the form.

An email that already has an account is always matched to it, whichever choice you make. Sites that used the old switches were moved to the matching choice on update.

Show Remaining Spots

Setting: show_remaining Default: Off

Displays the number of remaining spots on event cards, the single-event page, and the RSVP block. Hidden automatically when capacity is unlimited.

Hide Sold-Out Events from Listings

Setting: hide_sold_out Default: Off

Removes events that are at capacity from the events list and upcoming blocks. The event's page still exists; it just does not appear in archive listings.

Note: Page counts in the REST API may still include sold-out events even when this is on, because the count runs before the display filter is applied.

Manage RSVP by Secure Link (Magic Link)

Setting: magic_link (feature flag) Default: On

Enables the magic-link flow for guest RSVPs. When on, guests who RSVP receive a private URL that lets them view or change their RSVP without a WordPress account. The link is valid for 7 days; after that it stops working and the guest has to request a fresh one. Developers can change the lifetime with the evnm_magic_link_ttl filter.

If you disable this, guests can still RSVP but they have no way to manage or cancel their registration after submitting.

Waitlist When Full

Setting: waitlist (feature flag) Default: On

When on, attendees who try to RSVP Going after capacity is reached are placed on a waitlist instead of being rejected.

  • Free RSVP events: when a Going attendee cancels, the oldest Waitlist RSVP is automatically promoted to Going and receives a notification.
  • Events with tickets: a sold-out event offers a Join waitlist form (name and email, no payment), but the waitlist is never promoted automatically. You admit people yourself. See Waitlist for Sold-Out Paid Events.

Site-Wide Setting vs Per-Event Mode

The settings on this page are the site-wide defaults. Whether any individual event actually takes registrations is a per-event choice made in the event editor: People register here, Registration is on another site, or No registration needed.

Turning RSVPs off here disables them everywhere. Leaving them on does not force every event to collect them - an announcement or a drop-in session can still be set to No registration needed without changing anything site-wide. See Create your first event.

New events start as

Setting: default_registration_mode Default: People register here

Sets which Registration option a new event opens with, so organizers on a mostly-announcements site are not made to switch every event by hand.

Option Stored value
People register here rsvp
Registration is on another site external
No registration needed none

Three things worth knowing:

  • It is a default, not a rule. Organizers change it per event, and the setting is never forced on them.
  • It applies to new events only. Existing events are not touched when you change it.
  • It applies wherever an event is created without an explicit mode - the editor, the REST API and the importers all inherit it, because the default is applied in the service layer rather than in the form. Duplicate is the exception: a duplicated event copies the source event's settings, so it inherits the source event's registration mode and question selection, not this default.

If RSVPs are switched off site-wide, new events start as No registration needed regardless of what is saved here.

Built-in Spam Protection

Public RSVP and order submissions are protected automatically, with nothing to configure and no CAPTCHA for real visitors to solve:

  • Honeypot - the RSVP form carries a hidden field real visitors never see. Bots that fill it are silently discarded (they even receive a fake success response, so they never learn they were caught). No record is created.
  • Per-IP rate limit - each IP address may create at most 10 RSVPs and 10 orders per 10 minutes. Requests over the limit get a neutral "too many requests" error.

When a legitimate crowd hits the limit: many people signing up from behind one shared IP (a campus network, an office proxy, a conference venue's Wi-Fi during a live "register now" moment) can collectively exceed 10 submissions in 10 minutes and see the error until the window resets. If you expect that pattern, raise the limits with the evnm_rate_limit_rsvps and evnm_rate_limit_orders filters:

// Allow 50 RSVPs per 10 minutes per IP for a live signup event.
add_filter( 'evnm_rate_limit_rsvps', function ( $rule ) {
    return array( 'limit' => 50, 'window' => 10 * MINUTE_IN_SECONDS );
} );

Only public (REST) traffic is guarded; admin actions, WP-CLI, and internal calls are never throttled.

What's Next?

Set up custom registration questions to collect extra information from attendees.

Questions Settings →