feat(tags): add private tags feature by wil-gerken · Pull Request #4507 · Automattic/newspack-plugin

wil-gerken · 2026-02-23T21:40:02Z

All Submissions:

Have you followed the Newspack Contributing guideline?
Does your code follow the WordPress' coding standards and VIP Go coding standards?
Have you checked to ensure there aren't other open Pull Requests for the same update/change?

Changes proposed in this Pull Request:

Productizes the private tag concept from Texas Tribune's private plugin into core newspack-plugin.

Gated behind the NEWSPACK_PRIVATE_TAGS_ENABLED feature flag for gradual rollout via Newspack Manager.

Carried over from Texas Tribune:

"Private tag" checkbox on Add/Edit Tag forms
(private) label in the admin tag editor and Gutenberg sidebar
Private tags removed from post tag link lists
Private tags excluded from tag cloud widgets
Tag archive pages return 404
Tag RSS feeds return 404

New in this implementation:

Private tag slugs stripped from post_class / body_class HTML attributes
Private tags filtered out of GAM ad targeting data
Private tags excluded from Yoast SEO JSON-LD structured data
Private tags excluded from Yoast XML sitemap
"Private" column in the Tags list table with Screen Options toggle
Quick Edit support with pre-populated checkbox

New Granular settings (Advanced Settings page):

New "Private Tags" section under Newspack → Settings → Advanced Settings
"Customize where private tags are hidden" toggle. This is off by default (all behaviors active)
When enabled, individual behaviors can be toggled independently:
- Public-facing site: Disable tag archive pages, Disable tag RSS feeds, Hide from tag lists on posts, Hide from tag cloud widgets
- SEO and integrations: Exclude from CSS body classes, Exclude from Google Ad Manager targeting, Exclude from Yoast SEO metadata, Exclude from Yoast XML sitemaps
Settings are stored in newspack_private_tags_settings option with input sanitization
Settings UI only renders when feature flag is active

Architecture: Setup Wizard integration

Private Tags settings are decoupled from the Setup Wizard via two new filters:
- newspack_setup_wizard_settings — allows feature modules to inject non-theme-mod settings into the wizard's REST response
- newspack_setup_wizard_update_setting — allows feature modules to handle saving their own settings, returning true to skip set_theme_mod()
The feature flag check (is_enabled()) lives exclusively in class-private-tags.php, following the Custom Bylines pattern. The wizard has no direct references to Private Tags.
This pattern is reusable.

Relates to NPPD-780

How to test the changes in this Pull Request:

Setup:

Create a tag named Bauhaus and assign it to at least one published post.
Add define( 'NEWSPACK_PRIVATE_TAGS_ENABLED', true ); to wp-config.php.

Admin UI:

Go to Posts → Tags. Confirm the "Private tag" checkbox and description appear in the Add Tag form.
Edit Bauhaus, check "Private tag", and save.
Confirm the tag now reads Bauhaus (private) in the Tags list.
Confirm the "Private" column shows a ✓ next to Bauhaus.
Click Screen Options (top right) — confirm "Private" is a toggleable column.
Click Quick Edit on Bauhaus. Confirm the "Private tag" checkbox appears pre-checked. Uncheck it, save, confirm the checkmark disappears. Re-check it via Quick Edit before continuing.
View a post with Bauhaus in the block editor. Confirm the tag appears as Bauhaus (private) in the Tags panel.

Frontend (all behaviors active — default):

View a post tagged with Bauhaus — confirm the tag link does not appear in the post's tag list.
Visit /tag/bauhaus/ — confirm 404.
Visit /?feed=rss2&tag=bauhaus — confirm 404.
View page source on a tagged post — confirm tag-bauhaus does not appear in <body> or article class attributes.
If a tag cloud widget is active, confirm Bauhaus does not appear in it.
Visit /post_tag-sitemap.xml — confirm no entry for /tag/bauhaus/.
View page source — search for "keywords" in the JSON-LD block. Confirm Bauhaus is not listed.
View page source — search for common_targeting. Confirm bauhaus does not appear in the tag array.

Granular settings:

Go to Newspack → Settings → Advanced Settings. Scroll to "Private Tags" section.
Confirm the toggle reads "Customize where private tags are hidden" and is off by default.
Turn the toggle on — confirm two groups of checkboxes appear (Public-facing site / SEO and integrations), all checked.
Uncheck "Archive pages" and click Save. Reload the page — confirm the setting persisted.
Visit /tag/bauhaus/ — confirm the archive page now loads (not 404).
Confirm all other behaviors still work (tag links hidden, RSS 404, no CSS classes, etc.).
Re-check "Archive pages", uncheck "GAM targeting", and Save.
View page source on a tagged post — confirm bauhaus now appears in common_targeting but is still absent from CSS classes, JSON-LD, etc.
Confirm the settings UI behaves as expected when toggling other options on and off in various combinations.

Feature flag off:

Remove the NEWSPACK_PRIVATE_TAGS_ENABLED constant from wp-config.php.
Reload Newspack → Settings → Advanced Settings — confirm the "Private Tags" section does not appear.
Confirm private tags are not filtered on the frontend (tags appear normally even if marked private).

Other information:

Have you added an explanation of what your changes do and why you'd like us to include them?
Have you written new tests for your changes, as applicable?
Have you successfully ran tests with your changes locally?

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds a “Hidden Tags” capability to Newspack so editors can mark post_tag terms as hidden and have them suppressed across multiple public-facing surfaces and integrations, while remaining available for internal organization in wp-admin.

Changes:

Introduces Newspack\Hidden_Tags to manage hidden-tag term meta, admin UI (Add/Edit/Quick Edit + list table column), and labeling.
Filters frontend/integration outputs to suppress hidden tags (term links, tag cloud, archives/feeds, CSS classes, ad targeting, Yoast schema/sitemaps).
Loads the new tags module from the main plugin include list.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 8 comments.

File	Description
`includes/tags/class-hidden-tags.php`	Implements Hidden Tags behavior, admin UI, and frontend/integration filtering.
`includes/class-newspack.php`	Registers the new Hidden Tags module for loading.

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Fixed two issues: one where programmatic saves could accidentally clear hidden status, and one where the tag filter was running in wp-admin, plus improvements around internationalization, accessibility, and query performance.

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…dits

leogermani · 2026-03-20T21:36:36Z

hey Wil, I gave it a first pass today and it's looking great. I want to get back and to a full test, but here's the initial (minor) feedback I have:

Check for the feature flag only once: Ideally we should check for the feature flag only in one place, inside the feature class. So instead of adding the if where you include the file, add the if inside the file wrapping the init() call. And those other places that add the theme_mod and stuff... Ideally there should be a hook there and we hook into it from within the feature class. If there is not a hook, let's add one. Also, let's add a docblock to the feature flag check, like we did with others.
I think we can be a little more verbose on the labels of the checkbox to make them easier to understand. For example, instead of just "Archives", say "Disable archives pages" and "Disable RSS feeds". Otherwise there is an ambiguity. Are we hiding the tags from RSS feeds? or are we deactivating the feed for that tag. It's a bit confusing as it is.

…enabled()

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wil-gerken · 2026-03-24T00:20:30Z

hey Wil, I gave it a first pass today and it's looking great. I want to get back and to a full test, but here's the initial (minor) feedback I have:

Thanks @leogermani!

I think we can be a little more verbose on the labels of the checkbox to make them easier to understand. For example, instead of just "Archives", say "Disable archives pages" and "Disable RSS feeds". Otherwise there is an ambiguity. Are we hiding the tags from RSS feeds? or are we deactivating the feed for that tag. It's a bit confusing as it is.

I've reworded this and it's much clearer now. Thanks!

Check for the feature flag only once: Ideally we should check for the feature flag only in one place, inside the feature class. So instead of adding the if where you include the file, add the if inside the file wrapping the init() call. And those other places that add the theme_mod and stuff... Ideally there should be a hook there and we hook into it from within the feature class. If there is not a hook, let's add one. Also, let's add a docblock to the feature flag check, like we did with others.

Great. I wasn't sure what the best practice was on this. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

The new modifications now follow the approach I spotted in Custom Bylines: the file is always included, init() is gated via is_enabled(), and there is also a clear docblock that matches the Custom Bylines approach.

For the wizard integration, I added two filters to class-setup-wizard.php — newspack_setup_wizard_settings (read) and newspack_setup_wizard_update_setting (write). Private Tags hooks into both from init(), so the wizard now has zero knowledge of the feature. When the flag is off, init() will return early, and the hooks never register.

This was a bigger change, but it should be helpful to other settings going forward.

--

I've updated the PR description and screenshots to reflect these changes. I also worked through the final Copilot review items.

# Conflicts: # src/wizards/newspack/views/settings/advanced-settings/index.tsx

github-actions · 2026-04-02T16:35:24Z

Hey @wil-gerken, good job getting this PR merged! 🎉

Now, the needs-changelog label has been added to it.

Please check if this PR needs to be included in the "Upcoming Changes" and "Release Notes" doc. If it doesn't, simply remove the label.

If it does, please add an entry to our shared document, with screenshots and testing instructions if applicable, then remove the label.

Thank you! ❤️

github-actions · 2026-04-02T18:20:21Z

🎉 This PR is included in version 6.37.0-alpha.1 🎉

The release is available on GitHub release

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github-actions · 2026-04-13T16:42:44Z

🎉 This PR is included in version 6.37.0 🎉

The release is available on GitHub release

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feat(tags): add Hidden Tags feature

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Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 23, 2026 21:40

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fix(tags): address Copilot review feedback

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Fixed two issues: one where programmatic saves could accidentally clear hidden status, and one where the tag filter was running in wp-admin, plus improvements around internationalization, accessibility, and query performance.

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fix(tags): address additional Copilot feedback and improve inline com…

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refactor(tags): rename hidden tags to private tags

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wil-gerken changed the title ~~feat(tags): add Hidden Tags feature~~ feat(tags): add private tags feature Feb 27, 2026

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fix(tags): address Copilot review feedback on private tags

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fix(tags): gate feed hook removal behind is_feed() check

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fix(tags): suffix check for label guard, cache invalidation on term e…

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thomasguillot added [Status] Needs Review The issue or pull request needs to be reviewed [Status] Design Approved labels Mar 19, 2026

wil-gerken added 2 commits March 23, 2026 12:25

fix(tags): clarify private tag settings labels

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refactor(tags): consolidate feature flag check into Private_Tags::is_…

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