Core Policies

Property	Value
description	Current core settings and defaults shipped by MAC Core.
tags	doc, mac-core, setting, core
rating

Human: 4 - AI-assisted (low impact)

Some AI used for minor parts (phrasing, ideas), but nothing critical. Fully reviewed.

Overview

The core settings module controls site-wide WordPress behavior that is not specific to media handling.

Current Settings

Setting key	Default	Behavior
delete_data_on_uninstall	false	Enables uninstall cleanup for plugin settings, licensing data, and last-login user meta.
developer_branding_enabled	false	Outputs the frontend HTML comment and replaces the admin footer text.
developer_branding_author	Mihai Circea	Author name used in branding output.
developer_branding_company	Circea	Company name used in branding output.
developer_branding_url	https://circea.co	URL used in branding output.
comment_control_enabled	false	Master switch for the MAC Core comment policy. When disabled, MAC Core leaves comment behavior and comment-related admin UI untouched.
comments_enabled	true	Global comments master switch for the plugin policy.
comments_posts_enabled	true	Allows comments for posts when comment control is enabled and global comments are enabled.
comments_pages_enabled	true	Allows comments for pages when comment control is enabled and global comments are enabled.
disable_frontend_admin_bar	false	Hides the frontend admin bar for users who do not match the exempt target.
frontend_admin_bar_exempt_target	administrator	Role or capability that keeps the frontend admin bar.
disable_auto_updates	false	Disables WordPress automatic updates and keeps update actions manual.
disable_site_health	false	Removes Site Health screens and the dashboard widget.
remove_dashboard_clutter	false	Removes stock dashboard widgets and the Welcome panel.
excerpt_length_enabled	false	Enables the excerpt length override below.
excerpt_length	40	Word count used for excerpts when the override is enabled.
add_last_login_column	false	Adds and maintains the user list table last-login column.

Notable Dependencies

Comments

MAC Core comment control is now explicitly opt-in.

When comment_control_enabled is false:

• MAC Core does not alter comments_open or pings_open
• MAC Core does not empty the comments array
• MAC Core does not remove comment support from post types
• MAC Core does not remove comment-related admin UI or redirect the comments screen

When comment_control_enabled is true:

• if comments_enabled is false, MAC Core disables comments and cleans up the related admin UI
• if comments_enabled is true, the post and page toggles control which built-in post types remain comment-enabled

In a stack that includes both MAC Core and Perfmatters, choose one owner for comment control:

• if comment control is enabled in MAC Core, use MAC Core
• if MAC Core is not being used for comment control, use Perfmatters as the fallback owner

If you are upgrading from an older build where MAC Core comment control was effectively always active, you now need to enable comment_control_enabled explicitly to keep managing comments through MAC Core.

Frontend Admin Bar

frontend_admin_bar_exempt_target is only meaningful when disable_frontend_admin_bar is enabled.

The value is treated as a sanitized key and is intended to represent either:

• a role slug
• a capability slug

The default is administrator.

Excerpt Length

excerpt_length does nothing by itself. The override only runs when excerpt_length_enabled is checked.

Last Login Column

When enabled, the policy stores and reads the mac_core_last_login user meta key to power the user-table column and sorting behavior.

Uninstall Cleanup

When enabled, uninstall removes:

• mac_core_settings
• maccore_license_options
• the SureCart version transient for mac-core
• the mac_core_last_login user meta key across users

Recommended Usage

Enable only the policies that should be shared across multiple projects. If a rule is highly project-specific, keep it in the child theme or a site plugin instead of forcing it into shared MAC Core.