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Store Advanced Custom Field Local JSON in a plugin

Stanislav KhromovStanislav Khromov

Do you use the ACF Local JSON feature? You should!

Only bad part is, tying custom fields to a theme isn’t optimal, which I’ve spoken about earlier.

Here’s a quick way to put your ACF JSON field groups inside a plugin!

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: ACF Local JSON plugin
Plugin URI: 
Description: Put this file in a plugin folder and create an /acf directory inside the plugin, ie: /my-plugin/acf
Author: khromov
Version: 0.1
*/

//Change ACF Local JSON save location to /acf folder inside this plugin
add_filter('acf/settings/save_json', function() {
    return dirname(__FILE__) . '/acf';
});

//Include the /acf folder in the places to look for ACF Local JSON files
add_filter('acf/settings/load_json', function($paths) {
    $paths[] = dirname(__FILE__) . '/acf';
    return $paths;
});

After you create the main plugin file, make sure to create an empty folder called acf as well in the plugin root – that’s where your local JSON files will be saved.

Web Developer at Aftonbladet (Schibsted Media Group)
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Comments 8
  • Joe Fletcher
    Posted on

    Joe Fletcher Joe Fletcher

    Reply Author

    Hey Stan,

    I just put your acf-json snippet in my plugin, and it works like a charm. Thanks! Along with ACF’s json sync back into the db, this really helps with using ACF within a plugin for option fields, etc.


  • Ryan
    Posted on

    Ryan Ryan

    Reply Author

    Could this solution be used to share custom fields across all of the subsites in a WordPress Multisite network?


    • Stanislav Khromov
      Posted on

      Stanislav Khromov Stanislav Khromov

      Reply Author

      Absolutely. We’re doing this on a project right now. Just make sure to network activate your plugin / ACF and you’re golden!


  • Mark
    Posted on

    Mark Mark

    Reply Author

    Note that this will not play well with others doing the same thing due to acf/settings/save_json only allowing a single location for saved JSON. If you’re distributing this and concerned about compatibility, you may want to only include the second hook and not the first.


    • Stanislav Khromov
      Posted on

      Stanislav Khromov Stanislav Khromov

      Reply Author

      You are completely correct Mark.

      I’ve just started working on a plugin that’s called “Local JSON Manager” that would let multiple plugin register their ACF save_json folders and the user would then get a dropdown menu in the admin bar where they could select which folder should be used for saving. If that sounds interesting and you want to collab, shoot me a message at [email-obfuscate email="stanislav.khromov@gmail.com"]


    • Stanislav Khromov
      Posted on

      Stanislav Khromov Stanislav Khromov

      Reply Author

      There is now a plugin available to work with multiple plugins and themes using local JSON called the ACF Local JSON Manager:
      https://github.com/khromov/acf-local-json-manager


      • Koen
        Posted on

        Koen Koen

        Reply Author

        Great solution, Stanislav. Thanks!


  • Colin
    Posted on

    Colin Colin

    Reply Author

    Awesome! Needed this for multisite and it works perfectly. Probably will use it on all my sites as I am already storing ACF in a custom plugin. Only makes sense to have the json stay with it.