The 3-step builder flow

CAF Builder walks you through three steps - what gets filtered, what each result looks like, and how the two come together on the page. You can move between them freely at any time.

The three steps

When you choose With Builder while creating your first filter, the builder opens on step 1. Each step answers a different question, and together they make up the whole filter.

1. Step 1 : Query & Filters
   

   Step 1 decides what gets filtered, and it works two ways. A toggle at the top switches between Query Only and Design Filters. With Query Only you set the conditions yourself - which terms and custom fields the results have to match - so the selection is fixed and there is nothing for visitors to click. With Design Filters you build the panel visitors actually use, assembling it from modules like Search, Checkbox Filter, Dropdown Filter and Range Slider.

   

2. Step 2 : Post Item
   

   Step 2 is where you design the loop item - the single result that repeats for every post. You build it from modules: image, title and description for posts, and for WooCommerce products things like price and Add to Cart. Design it once, and every result on the frontend follows it.

   

3. Step 3 : Layout
   

   Step 3 is where the first two steps come together into one working layout, across two tabs. The Layout Settings tab covers the grid itself - posts per page, columns and gap, default order and loaders. The Layout Controls tab covers what sits around the grid, such as pagination, result count, sorting and active filters.

   

Moving between steps

The steps are numbered, but they aren't locked. You can jump to any step at any time and come back - there's nothing to finish before the next one opens. Navigation covers how to move around the builder in detail.

Saving your work

There's one save button at the top right, and it saves the whole filter - all three steps together. It reads Publish on a filter that hasn't been published yet, and Update after that. You don't need to save each step before moving to the next.

When only step 1 applies

If you connect CAF to a layout you already have - a WooCommerce shop or product archive, typically - that layout renders the results itself. There's no post item for you to design and no grid for you to arrange, so steps 2 and 3 both drop away and you use step 1 on its own. See filter an existing layout.