Install & Setup

Get Deskuss up and running on your WordPress site — from installing the plugin to configuring your first department.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure your site meets the system requirements. At a glance:

• WordPress 5.5 or newer (6.0+ recommended)
• PHP 7.4 or newer (8.0+ recommended)
• MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+
• Permalinks set to anything except "Plain" (Settings → Permalinks)
• Your WordPress database user must have CREATE, ALTER, and INDEX privileges
• At least 50 MB of free disk space

Installation

Pick whichever install method matches your workflow.

wp plugin install deskuss --activate

Smoke Test

After installation, run a quick smoke test to confirm everything works end-to-end before going live:

1. Visit https://yoursite.com/deskuss/ in an incognito window — the portal landing page should load
2. Click Open a New Ticket, fill in the form with a test email you control, and submit
3. Check that email's inbox for the auto-responder (allow up to a minute for SMTP delivery)
4. Click the auth-link in the auto-responder to confirm guest access works
5. Open the new ticket in the staff control panel and reply to it
6. Verify the customer (you) receives the agent reply

License Activation

After installing Deskuss, activate your license to unlock all features. The license menu is at the top level of the WP admin sidebar (it's its own menu, separate from the Deskuss settings).

1. Go to Deskuss → License in your WordPress admin
2. Paste your license key (the one from your purchase email or account dashboard)
3. Click Activate License
4. You should see a green confirmation with your plan name and remaining activation slots

Initial Configuration

Once activated, walk through these steps in order. Most teams finish in under 10 minutes.

1. Configure the URL Slug

By default, Deskuss uses /deskuss/ as the portal URL. To change it, go to Settings → Deskuss → General and enter a new slug (e.g., support, help, tickets).

2. Add a Department

Departments organize tickets by team. Common starting points: Support, Billing, Technical.

1. Go to Deskuss → Departments in the staff control panel
2. Click Add New Department
3. Set the name, default SLA, and auto-responder email
4. Save

3. Add an Agent

1. Go to Deskuss → Agents
2. Click Add New Agent
3. Search for an existing WordPress user or create a new one
4. Choose an access scope (default: Limited — see Agents & Roles)
5. Assign to the department
6. Save

4. Set Up Email (Optional but Recommended)

Configure SMTP at Deskuss → Emails → Email Addresses so the auto-responder and notifications actually deliver. See Email Setup for the full walkthrough.

NGINX Rewrites

On Apache, mod_rewrite handles the routing automatically. On NGINX, add this to your site config (replace deskuss with your actual slug):

location /deskuss/ {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

Then reload NGINX: sudo nginx -s reload.

Database Tables

On activation, Deskuss creates ~50 custom tables prefixed with {wp_prefix}dk_. The most important ones:

Uninstallation

When you deactivate and delete the plugin via the WP admin, the following happens by default:

• All dk_* database tables are preserved (so a re-install is lossless)
• Custom roles deskuss_staff and support_client are removed
• All plugin options (prefixed deskuss_) are deleted from wp_options
• Ticket attachments uploaded to the WP media library are removed (attachments stored in dk_file are preserved)
• The license activation is released on the license server