| Rule area | Availability and purpose |
|---|---|
| Basic Cart Gate | Free and Pro: unlimited rules for all products, selected products or categories, with customer notices. |
| Advanced Cart Gate | Pro: additional attribute, product-type, stock-status and manual product checks. |
| Checkout Gate | Pro: restrict eligible shipping methods during checkout. |
Create and test a basic Cart Gate rule
- Open Cart Gate and create a rule with a descriptive name.
- Choose all products, specific products or categories as the supported Free condition scope. Configure the available restriction and a useful customer notice.
- Save the rule and enable its active state and module when ready.
- Test an allowed cart and a cart that violates the rule. Check adding a product, changing quantities and progressing to checkout.
Write notices that explain how the customer can continue, such as which item combination needs changing. WooCommerce’s normal stock and purchasability checks remain available in Free and are separate from the Pro condition types.
Use Pro conditions
Choose advanced condition types only with Pro installed. Test each relevant product attribute, type or stock state, including a non-matching item. Do not assume a general-purpose rule builder beyond the conditions exposed by the installed version.
Restrict shipping with Checkout Gate
In Pro, configure a Checkout Gate rule for the intended shipping restriction and save it. Test a matching cart/address and a non-matching one. Check every shipping package when the cart creates more than one package, and verify the final order submission.
Checkout Gate also applies to the supported Woo Store API checkout path. An excluded shipping method shown for explanation is not thereby allowed for purchase. Changing an address or cart can change the eligible methods; allow the checkout to refresh before selecting again.
Edition changes and recovered carts
Saved advanced Cart Gate rules remain intact when unavailable in Free; they are not silently simplified into weaker Free rules. Review active behavior after switching editions. Pro Cart Recovery rechecks current purchase and Cart Gate restrictions, and Checkout Gate still controls shipping afterward.
Diagnose a restriction
On staging, reproduce the exact cart and address, then compare with only the relevant rule disabled. A successful unrestricted checkout helps isolate the condition; it does not by itself prove the rule is faulty.