Remote product networks involve two separate jobs: making store data available and presenting that data to an audience. PI Remote WooCommerce Product Display WordPress Plugin turns those jobs into three clear site roles: Publish, Display, and Publish + Display.
Selecting the correct role keeps the WordPress administration focused. The plugin shows only the tabs needed for the selected responsibility, and the role can be changed later without discarding saved settings.
Publish: the WooCommerce source store
Choose Publish when the website owns the products and runs WooCommerce. This role exposes a protected REST API endpoint containing published WooCommerce products.
The Publish workflow includes:
- A product-feed API endpoint.
- A maximum-products-per-request control.
- Publisher-side response caching and cache lifetime.
- Domain-bound API key management.
- Product filtering by category, tag, sale status, featured status and search.
- Ordering by date, price, popularity, rating, title or random order.
Publish mode requires WooCommerce because the endpoint reads live product records through WooCommerce. If WooCommerce is unavailable, the plugin prevents this role from being used as a working product source.
Use Publish for a brand store, marketplace supplier, ticket merchandise store, member-benefit vendor or any WooCommerce website that wants approved partners to feature its products.
Display: the affiliate or partner website
Choose Display when a WordPress website needs to promote products owned by another store. WooCommerce is not required on this site.
Display mode provides:
- A Remote API tab for adding source stores one at a time.
- Display on Pages placements for existing WordPress pages.
- A dedicated Shortcodes reference.
- Global settings for button text, link behavior, affiliate tracking, disclosure and colors.
- Grid, list and masonry presentation.
- A caching dashboard for remote responses.
This role suits publishers, event websites, associations, destination guides, influencers and partner portals. The display site curates discovery while the original store handles checkout.
Publish + Display: a connected commerce hub
Choose Publish + Display when a WooCommerce store should share its own products and also feature products from other stores. This role exposes all relevant tabs: publishing, API keys, remote sources, settings, page placements, shortcodes, caching, licensing, help and support.
A multi-brand website is a good example. It may sell its own merchandise through local WooCommerce while also displaying complementary products from approved partners. Local products remain part of the store; remote products send shoppers to the partner checkout.
A role-selection checklist
Ask three questions:
- Does this site run WooCommerce and own products? If yes, it can Publish.
- Should it show products from another store? If yes, it needs Display.
- Does it need to do both jobs? If yes, use Publish + Display.
Do not select Publish simply because the site displays products. Publishing means serving local WooCommerce data to another domain. Displaying means consuming a remote feed.
Tabs follow the selected role
The role controls the working area instead of forcing every administrator through irrelevant settings. A Display-only publisher sees connection and presentation tools. A source store sees publishing and key controls. A combined site gets the complete workflow.
The Site Role screen remains available if the business model changes. Saved API keys, sources and placements are retained when switching roles, so an administrator can review the configuration before enabling it again.
Plan the connection before configuration
Write down the source domain, display domain, responsible administrator and intended catalog before generating keys. One API key should represent one approved display domain. This makes access easier to understand, revoke and audit.
For a full overview of all three roles and their shared commercial features, visit the PI Remote WooCommerce Product Display landing page.
