Installation & Setup

Getting BricksMembers up and running is straightforward. There’s no setup wizard, no complicated configuration—just install, activate, and you’re ready to create your first membership level.

This guide walks you through the entire process, from uploading the plugin to creating your first protected post.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

WordPress 6.2 or higher installed
Bricks Builder activated
Admin access to your WordPress site
The BricksMembers plugin file (.zip)
Your BricksMembers license key (you’ll need this immediately after activation)

Time required: 10-15 minutes

Step 1: Install the Plugin

Upload Method

Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard
Go to Plugins → Add New
Click the Upload Plugin button at the top
Click Choose File and select the bricksmembers.zip file
Click Install Now
Wait for the upload and installation to complete
Click Activate Plugin

That’s it. BricksMembers is now active on your site.

What Happens During Installation?

When you activate BricksMembers, the plugin automatically:

Creates the core BricksMembers database tables (with your WordPress table prefix):

brm_levels for level definitions, brm_user_level_assignments for user levels, brm_post_level_requirements for protected-content requirements, brm_user_post_completions for direct completions, and brm_post_data for structure/access projection data.

Registers custom post meta fields
Adds admin menu items
Loads default settings

Note: Two additional tables are created when you enable optional modules:

brm_user_progress – Created when Progress Tracking module is enabled
brm_user_unlocks – Created when Drip Content module is enabled

Upgrade note for older sites: Current BricksMembers releases start on the normalized storage runtime. The older one-time storage upgrade notice introduced in 0.9.82 was retired in 1.1.12.

Upgrading from Members for Bricks Builder: If this site used the Free plugin before, BricksMembers keeps the shared levels, user assignments, protected-content rules, and Stripe EasySync setup. When both plugins are active, BricksMembers deactivates the Free plugin and shows a notice so only one plugin controls access. See Upgrading from Members for Bricks Builder Free.

You don’t need to run any setup wizard or click through configuration screens.

Step 2: Activate Your License Key

Important: You must activate your license key to receive plugin updates and BricksMembers support.

Go to BricksMembers → License & Support → License in the admin menu
Enter your license key in the “License Key” field
Click the Activate License button (blue button)
You’ll see a success message: “License activated successfully”
The “License Status” card will show “Active” with a green badge

What if I don’t activate my license?

The plugin continues to work – no features are blocked
You won’t receive plugin updates
You won’t have access to support

What if my license becomes inactive later?

The plugin continues to work (no blocking)
You won’t receive plugin updates
Support access will be disabled if support has expired
Go to BricksMembers → License & Support → License and click Re-check Status to refresh

Need help with licensing? See the complete License Management guide for detailed information about license types, renewal, troubleshooting, and site migration.

Step 3: Access BricksMembers Settings

After activation, you’ll see a new BricksMembers menu item in your WordPress admin sidebar.

Click BricksMembers in the admin menu
You’ll see the main BricksMembers interface with a custom sidebar containing these pages:

Core Setup:

Settings – Configure modules and global options
User Levels – Manage membership levels
Content Structures – Organize courses/content hierarchically

Content Management:

Access Control – Bulk protect/unprotect content
Content & Structures – Manage structures and parent-child relationships
Drip Content – Set up time-based content release rules (when enabled)

User Management:

User Levels – Manage levels and batch-assign them to users, posts, and terms
Import / Export Users – Import/export user levels via CSV

Automation and integration:

Level Automation – Automatically assign levels based on rules
Automations – Build workflows from BRM events and actions
Integrations – Manage native integrations, webhooks, and webhook mapping tabs

Tools:

Migration Center – Migrate from other membership plugins
Benchmark – Test plugin performance
Support – Submit support tickets
License & Support – Manage your license key and support access

Let’s configure the basics.

Step 3: Create Your Content First

Important: Before enabling modules, create your content structure and user levels first.

The Progress Tracking and Drip Content modules trigger heavy computations when enabled. It’s much more efficient to:

Create your user levels
Create your content structures
Protect your content
Then enable modules

This way, the modules only compute data for your actual content, not empty data.

We’ll cover modules in Step 6 (after you’ve set up your content).

Step 4: Configure Basic Settings (Optional)

Click BricksMembers → Settings to access the settings page.

Most settings can stay at their defaults, but you might want to configure access redirects.

Meta box cleanup (optional): If you do not use video fields on posts or pages, go to BricksMembers → Settings → General → Field Visibility and hide the BRM Video, Duration, or Image fields per post type. User level fields are always visible.

Access Control Settings (Optional)

Note: Access redirects are optional. The recommended approach is to use Bricks conditional logic to show/hide content (covered in the “Protecting Your Content” guide). Redirects are a simpler but less flexible alternative.

Logged-Out User Redirect

Where should non-logged-in users go when they try to access protected content?
Common options: Login page, sales page, homepage
Leave blank if you’re using Bricks conditional logic instead

Insufficient Access Redirect

Where should logged-in users without the required level go?
Common options: Upgrade page, account page, homepage
Leave blank if you’re using Bricks conditional logic instead

Excluded Pages

The plugin automatically excludes login, registration, and password reset pages from redirects
You can add additional pages if needed (e.g., your sales page)

You can skip this for now and configure it later if needed.

Step 5: Create Your First User Level

Now let’s create a user level.

Remember: User levels can represent anything—membership tiers, course names, download access, or any combination. For this tutorial, we’ll create a simple membership tier.

Go to BricksMembers → User Levels
You’ll see a list of existing levels (probably empty right now)
Click Add New Level at the top
Fill in the level details:

– Level Name: e.g., “Premium Member” – Description: Optional description for admin reference (e.g., “Monthly subscription tier”) – Link Target: Optional – leave blank for now (you can add this later)

Click Create Level

Your first user level is created!

Pro Tip: User levels are flexible. You can create:

Membership tiers: “Free,” “Pro,” “Premium”
Course names: “DaVinci Resolve Course,” “Final Cut Pro Course”
Download access: “Photography Presets,” “Videography LUTs”
Or mix all of the above!

See the “Understanding User Levels” guide for more details.

Step 6: Assign a Level to Yourself

Before you start protecting content, assign a level to your own user account so you can test access.

Go to Users → All Users in WordPress
Click Edit on your user account
Scroll down to the BricksMembers section
Check the box next to the level you just created (e.g., “Premium Member”)
Click Update User

You now have the “Premium Member” level assigned to your account.

Note: You can assign multiple levels to a single user. This is useful for users who have access to multiple courses, downloads, or membership tiers.

Step 7: Protect Your First Post

Let’s protect a piece of content so only users with the “Premium Member” level can access it.

Option A: Using Quick Edit (Faster – Recommended)

Go to BricksMembers → Content & Structures (if you have a structure)
Click Edit on your structure
Click Quick Edit next to any post
Check the box next to “Premium Member” under Required User Levels
Click Save

Option B: Using WordPress Post Editor

Go to Posts → All Posts (or Pages, or any custom post type)
Edit an existing post or create a new one
In the post editor, scroll down to the BricksMembers meta box
Under Required User Levels, check the box next to “Premium Member”
Click Update or Publish

That post is now protected. Only users with the “Premium Member” level can access it.

💡 Tip: Quick Edit is much faster than the WordPress post editor. All BricksMembers fields (BRM Video, duration, thumbnail, required levels) are in one modal with no page reloads.

Note: The recommended way to protect content is using Bricks conditional logic (show/hide elements based on user levels). This gives you much more control and better user experience. See the “Protecting Your Content” guide for details.

Test It (If Using Redirects)

If you configured access redirects in Step 4:

Open the post in a new incognito/private browser window (where you’re not logged in)
You should be redirected to your login page
Now open the post in your regular browser (where you’re logged in with the Premium Member level)
You should see the post content normally

It works!

Step 8: Batch Assign Required Levels (Optional)

If you have many posts to protect, BricksMembers provides two powerful ways to assign required levels in batches.

Method 1: User Levels Page (Posts and Terms Tabs)

The BricksMembers → User Levels page now includes the batch assignment workflow directly in the Users, Posts, and Terms tabs. This replaces the old standalone Bulk Assign page.

1. Assign on the Posts Tab

Perfect for hierarchical content structures, filtered post groups, and one-screen batch updates.

Go to BricksMembers → User Levels → Posts
Use Post Type, Structure, Parents, Term, Relationship, or Related Taxonomy filters to narrow the list
Select the rows you want to update
Choose one or more levels in Apply Levels
Click Apply Levels

Example: Assign “Premium Member” level to all lessons in Module 2, while leaving Module 1 lessons free.

2. Assign on the Terms Tab

Protect categories, tags, or custom terms themselves.

Go to BricksMembers → User Levels → Terms
Search or filter the term list if needed
Select the terms you want to protect
Choose the user level(s) to assign
Click Apply Levels

Example: Protect the “VIP Resources” category so only VIP members can access it.

Pro Tip: The User Levels page also supports inline add/remove controls directly in each row. Use the row checkboxes for batch updates and the inline + button for one-off changes.

Method 2: Structure Admin UI (Recommended for Hierarchies)

When working with content structures, the Structure admin page offers smart automation options.

Option A: Inherit from Parent (When Creating New Posts)

Go to BricksMembers → Content & Structures
Select your structure
Click + Add New (e.g., “+ Lesson”) on any parent item
In the Quick Add dialog, check “Inherit required levels from parent”
The new post will automatically copy the parent’s required levels

Option B: Apply to All Children (When Editing Existing Posts)

Go to BricksMembers → Content & Structures
Select your structure
Click Quick Edit on any parent post
Change the required levels
Check “Apply level changes to all child posts”
Click Save

All child posts (lessons, sections, etc.) will now have the same required levels as the parent.

Example: You have a course with 50 lessons. Instead of editing each lesson individually, just Quick Edit the course, select “Premium Member” level, check “Apply to all children”, and all 50 lessons are instantly protected.

Step 9: Enable Modules (After Content Setup)

Now that you’ve created your content structure and user levels, you can enable modules if needed.

Go to BricksMembers → Modules and enable the modules you want. Each toggle is confirmed and saved immediately.

Progress Tracking

Turn this ON if you want learners to mark content as complete
Enables progress bars, completion percentages, and the Progress Checkbox element
Recommended for: Course platforms, onboarding sequences, challenges
Creates table: brm_user_progress (when first enabled)

Drip Content Module

Turn this ON if you want to release content over time
Enables time-based unlocking, prerequisites, and cohort releases
Recommended for: Courses with weekly lessons, membership sites with scheduled content
Creates table: brm_user_unlocks (when first enabled)

Action Triggers Module

Turn this ON if you want to assign levels when WordPress action hooks fire
Great for internal events like form submissions, role changes, or lesson completion
Recommended for: On-site automations without webhook loopbacks

Protected Downloads Module

Turn this ON if you want to protect files (PDFs, videos, etc.)
Enables file upload, level-based access, and download tracking
Recommended for: Resource libraries, client deliverables, course materials

Why enable modules last?

These modules trigger heavy computations when enabled
By setting up content first, the modules only compute data for your actual content
Much more efficient than enabling modules on an empty site

What’s in the Database?

Core tables (created on activation):

wp_brm_levels – Level definitions
wp_brm_user_level_assignments – User level assignments
wp_brm_post_level_requirements – Post access requirements
wp_brm_user_post_completions – Direct completion rows
wp_brm_post_data – Post access rules and structure paths

Module tables (created when modules are enabled):

wp_brm_user_progress – Aggregated progress per user/scope (Progress Tracking module)
wp_brm_user_unlocks – Drip unlock timestamps (Drip Content module)

You don’t need to interact with these tables directly—BricksMembers handles everything automatically.

Common First-Time Questions

Q: Do I need to configure anything in Bricks Builder? A: Nope. BricksMembers elements, dynamic tags, and conditions are automatically available in Bricks after you activate the plugin.

Q: Can I use BricksMembers with other page builders? A: No. BricksMembers is built specifically for Bricks Builder and won’t work with Elementor, Divi, etc.

Q: What happens if I deactivate a module later? A: Your data is preserved. If you disable Progress Tracking, for example, all completion data stays in the database. Re-enable the module and everything comes back.

Q: Can I delete the plugin without losing data? A: Deactivating the plugin preserves all data. Deleting the plugin removes the database tables and all BricksMembers data. Make a backup first!

Q: How do I assign levels when users purchase? A: Use webhooks from your payment provider (Gumroad, LemonSqueezy, Stripe, PayPal, etc.). For on-site events (like a form submission or role change), enable the Action Triggers module and create a trigger instead.

Q: What if my license key expires? A: The plugin continues to work normally. You’ll see admin notices and won’t receive updates until you renew and reactivate your license.