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Getting Started

Requirements, installing Fieldcraft (wp-admin and FTP), the child theme, activation, and a full walk through the guided setup wizard.

Requirements

Before you install anything, make sure your host meets these minimums. The setup wizard checks most of these for you automatically and flags anything missing on its first screen — see Step 0: Requirements, below.

What's in your download

Your ThemeForest download .zip contains:

• fieldcraft.zip — the main theme, ready to upload in wp-admin
• fieldcraft-child.zip — the child theme starter (also bundled inside the main theme package so the setup wizard can install it for you with one click — see Step 0)
• Plugins/fieldcraft-core.zip — the companion plugin: required for the in-wizard demo import, the quote/newsletter forms, and the theme's SEO meta & JSON-LD
• Demo data/ — the same demo files the companion plugin bundles: all 8 demos, including the flagship Ironhouse demo (folder name mechanical) and the 7 single-trade variants (Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, Electrical, Roofing, Handyman, Painting, Landscaping), each in their own subfolder with the same three files (contents.xml, widgets.wie and customizer.dat). Included as a visible backup copy; you don't need to touch these directly — the setup wizard's Import Demo Data step reads them automatically. See Demo Content for the full list of 8 demos.
• documentation.html — the quick-start file you can open right now, offline, from this folder
• Licensing/ — your GPL and split-license paperwork

Install the main theme (wp-admin)

1. Log in to your site's wp-admin, then go to Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme.
2. Click Choose File and select fieldcraft.zip from your download (do not unzip it first).
3. Click Install Now, then click Activate.

Install the main theme (FTP / file manager)

If your host's upload limit is too small for wp-admin, or you prefer file access, install by FTP instead:

1. Unzip fieldcraft.zip on your computer. You'll get a single folder named fieldcraft.
2. Connect to your server with an FTP client (FileZilla, Cyberduck) or your host's file manager.
3. Upload the whole fieldcraft folder into /wp-content/themes/ on the server.
4. In wp-admin, go to Appearance → Themes, find Fieldcraft — that's the literal on-screen theme name; the theme is branded Fieldcraft everywhere else (the wp-admin dashboard menu, the setup wizard, this documentation) — and click Activate.

Activation

1. Go to Appearance → Themes and click Activate on Fieldcraft.
2. WordPress redirects you straight into the Fieldcraft → Setup wizard the first time — this is the fastest path through everything below. If you land somewhere else, go to the Fieldcraft menu in the wp-admin sidebar (it's a top-level menu, not nested under Appearance) and click Setup.

The guided setup wizard, step by step

The setup wizard (Fieldcraft → Setup) is the fastest way to get from a blank install to a finished demo site. It walks through up to five screens — a Requirements check only appears if something needs fixing, then four numbered steps: Install Plugins, Choose Your Builder, Import Demo Data and Customize Your Site. Your progress is saved as you go, so closing the tab and coming back later always picks up where you left off.

Step 0: Requirements (only shown if something needs fixing)

If your host already meets every requirement, the wizard skips straight to Step 1 and you'll never see this screen. Otherwise:

1. Read the checklist — each row is either a green checkmark (already fine), a button you can click to fix it yourself, or a plain description of what to ask your host for.
2. If Permalinks shows “Plain — needs fixing,” click Fix now. Fieldcraft switches your permalink structure to Post name and flushes rewrite rules for you — no need to visit Settings → Permalinks yourself.
3. If Child theme active shows a plain circle instead of a checkmark, click Install & Activate. The wizard copies the child theme that's bundled inside your parent theme download into wp-content/themes/ and switches to it in one click — you never have to go back to your download and install it separately.
4. Rows like PHP version, memory limit, cURL, GD or DOMDocument have no fix button — they're facts about your server. Each row tells you exactly what to ask your hosting provider for.
5. Click Continue to plugins once you've fixed what you can. Nothing here blocks you permanently — you can continue even with an unresolved advisory item, and every step keeps reminding you until it's actually fixed.

Step 1: Install the required plugins

1. Click the single Install required plugins button.
2. Watch the checklist: Fieldcraft Core (the companion plugin) installs first if it isn't active yet, then One Click Demo Import, Contact Form 7 and Envato Market install and activate one after another. Each row shows a spinner while its plugin is actively installing, then swaps to a green checkmark the moment it's done — rows you haven't reached yet stay blank, not a static circle, so it's always clear which plugin is currently in progress.
3. Wait for every row to show a checkmark. The wizard then auto-advances to Step 2 for you — no extra click needed.

Already have these plugins installed? Click I already have them installed — continue under the button instead of re-running the installer.

Step 2: Choose your builder

1. You'll see a card for each available builder. Gutenberg is marked Default and needs no install — it's the native WordPress block editor.
2. To build with Elementor instead, click Select on its card. The wizard installs and activates it from WordPress.org in one click, the same way Step 1 installs its plugins, then marks that card active.
3. Click Continue once your builder card is selected.

Fieldcraft also includes WPBakery Page Builder and Divi Builder compatibility — real elements/modules for all 22 signature sections exist for both, licensed separately (WPBakery from CodeCanyon or bundled with some other themes; Divi from elegantthemes.com) — but neither appears as a new pick on this screen. Fieldcraft cannot legally redistribute either premium builder. If a site already has WPBakery or Divi active (from before, or a direct option change), that builder's card still appears here, marked Active, and its elements/modules keep working normally. If you want to start using WPBakery or Divi from scratch today, install and activate your own licensed copy the normal way (Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin), outside the wizard — Fieldcraft's elements/modules become available as soon as it's active, and this screen then shows its card as Active too. You can change your builder choice at any time by revisiting Fieldcraft → Setup; it is never a one-time, irreversible decision.

Step 3: Import demo data (in-wizard, no separate importer screen)

This step runs the demo import right here in the wizard — you never leave Fieldcraft → Setup or land on the One Click Demo Import plugin's own admin page. OCDI still does the underlying work; the wizard just drives it directly and shows its own progress bar in place of OCDI's screen.

1. You'll see 8 demo cards, one per trade — the flagship “Fieldcraft — Ironhouse Mechanical (all trades)” plus 7 single-trade variants (Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, Electrical, Roofing, Handyman, Painting, Landscaping), each with its own preview thumbnail. Click the card that matches your trade to select it — the flagship demo is selected by default.
2. Click Import selected demo.
3. Watch the progress bar. It moves through three stages — “Importing content…,” “Applying colors and brand settings…,” then “Finishing up…” — and finishes with “Import complete!” Don't close the tab mid-import.
4. Click Continue to Customize.

Prefer the classic importer screen? A link at the bottom of this step (“Open it here”) opens One Click Demo Import's own reparented admin page as an advanced fallback — the normal wizard flow never sends you there automatically.

Step 4: Customize your site (finishes setup)

1. Read the confirmation — it names the demo you imported (or tells you that you're on a blank site if you skipped import) and shows your active builder choice.
2. Click Open the Customizer.

Clicking that button does two things at once: it opens Appearance → Customize so you can set your phone number, logo, colors and home-page sections, and it marks setup as complete behind the scenes. Once that happens, the “Finish setup” admin notice stops appearing, and returning to Fieldcraft → Setup later always shows this completed confirmation screen instead of resuming mid-wizard.

The companion plugin, if you install it manually

Fieldcraft ships a small companion plugin, Fieldcraft Core (Plugins/fieldcraft-core.zip in your download). The setup wizard's Step 1 installs it for you automatically — the steps below are only needed if you're installing it by hand instead:

1. Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose Plugins/fieldcraft-core.zip, click Install Now.
2. Click Activate Plugin.

The Fieldcraft admin menu, subpage by subpage

Fieldcraft adds one top-level Fieldcraft menu to the wp-admin sidebar (it is not nested under Appearance). Each area below is its own distinct subpage under that menu, navigated with WordPress's normal submenu sidebar: