Oryx Bookings

Oryx Bookings is a powerful, feature-rich appointment and service booking plugin designed for businesses that require a reliable, scalable, and secure booking infrastructure. Built from the ground up with custom database tables, clean architecture, and modern PHP 8.0+ practices, Oryx Bookings delivers exceptional performance even at scale.

Whether you run a salon, clinic, consulting firm, spa, fitness studio, or any service-based business, Oryx Bookings provides everything you need to manage appointments, staff schedules, and customer bookings seamlessly.

Why Choose Oryx Bookings?

• Custom Database Architecture – Optimized InnoDB tables with proper indexing for lightning-fast queries
• Enterprise-Grade Security – Rate limiting, spam protection, booking locks, and GDPR compliance built-in
• Clean Architecture – Repository pattern, Use Cases, and proper separation of concerns
• Real-Time Availability – Intelligent slot calculation with double-booking prevention
• Elementor Integration – Native Elementor widget with 6 beautiful templates
• Developer-Friendly – Action hooks, well-documented code, and extensible design

Core Features

Service Management

• Create unlimited services with custom pricing and duration
• Rich text content editor with media support for detailed service descriptions
• Featured images for visual service presentation
• Service categories with hierarchical support for organized navigation
• Active/Inactive status control for seasonal or temporary services
• Two availability modes: Staff-based (requires staff selection) or Service-only (company schedule)
• Assign multiple staff members to each service

Staff Management

• Complete staff profiles with name, job description, and photo
• Link staff to WordPress users (optional)
• Flexible Availability Modes:
  • Use company default working hours
  • Custom weekly schedule per staff member
• Individual staff days off management
• Active/Inactive status for staff availability control

Booking System

• Real-time available slot calculation
• Automatic slot generation based on service duration
• Smart conflict detection prevents double-bookings
• Support for multiple booking statuses: Pending, Confirmed, Cancelled, Completed
• Customer information capture (name, email)
• UTC timestamp storage for timezone accuracy
• Action hooks for integration with email notifications and CRM systems

Company Schedule & Holidays

• Working Hours Configuration:
  • Set opening and closing times for each day of the week
  • Mark specific days as closed (e.g., weekends)
  • Visual time picker interface
• Company Days Off / Holidays:
  • Add unlimited holiday dates with optional reasons
  • Automatic booking prevention on closed dates
  • Easy management with add/delete functionality

Security & Protection

• Rate Limiting:
  • Configurable request limits per action (slots lookup, booking creation)
  • Adjustable time windows
  • IP + User-Agent tracking for accurate limiting
• Spam Protection:
  • Honeypot fields to catch bots
  • Time-based tokens prevent instant form submissions
  • Minimum form fill time requirement
• Slot Security:
  • Cryptographically signed slot tokens
  • Token expiration (TTL) prevents replay attacks
  • Server-side validation of all booking requests
• Booking Lock:
  • Transient-based locking prevents race conditions
  • Configurable lock duration (5-60 seconds)
  • Ensures only one booking per slot
• Security Logging:
  • Track rate limit hits, token failures, booking conflicts
  • Privacy-conscious logging with IP masking and email hashing
  • Option storage or error_log output

GDPR Compliance

• Personal Data Export: Integrated with WordPress privacy tools for data export requests
• Personal Data Erasure: Anonymizes booking records while preserving business data
• Privacy-First Design: Minimal data collection, secure storage practices

Frontend Integration

• Shortcode: [oryx_bookings] – Display the complete booking form anywhere
• My Bookings Shortcode: [oryx_bookings_my_bookings] – Let customers view their bookings
• AJAX-Powered: Smooth, no-reload experience for date/slot selection
• Responsive Design: Works perfectly on desktop, tablet, and mobile
• Template System: Choose between Default and Steps templates
• Customizable Colors: Primary color picker to match your brand
• CSS Classes for Styling:
  • .oryx-bookings-form – Main form container
  • .oryx-bookings-field – Individual form fields
  • .oryx-bookings-submit – Submit button

Elementor Integration

• Native Elementor Widget – Drag-and-drop booking form widget
• 6 Beautiful Templates:
  • Grid
  • Stepper
  • Accordion
  • Card Flow
  • Flat Split
  • Focus Input
• Live Preview in Elementor editor
• Custom Widget Category for easy access

Admin Dashboard

• Quick Overview: Pending bookings count, active services, active staff at a glance
• Modern UI: Clean, card-based design with Tailwind CSS
• Easy Navigation: Quick links to all management areas
• Real-Time Stats: Database-driven statistics

Internationalization

• Fully translation-ready with complete text domain support
• All strings wrapped in translation functions
• POT file generation ready
• RTL-compatible design

Developer Features

• Action Hooks:
  • oryx_bookings_booking_created – Fires when a new booking is created
• Repository Pattern: Clean data access layer for all entities
• Use Cases: Business logic encapsulated in dedicated classes
• PSR-4 Autoloading: Modern PHP class loading
• Type Declarations: Strict typing with PHP 8.0+ features
• WordPress Coding Standards: Fully compliant with WPCS

Usage

Quick Start Guide

Step 1: Configure Working Hours Go to Oryx Bookings > Settings > Working Hours and set your business operating hours for each day of the week.

Step 2: Add Holidays (Optional) Navigate to Settings > Holidays to add any dates when your business will be closed.

Step 3: Create Staff Members Go to Staff > Add New Staff and create profiles for your team members. Choose whether they follow company hours or have custom schedules.

Step 4: Create Services Navigate to Services > Add New Service. Set the name, duration, price, and assign staff members who can provide this service.

Step 5: Display the Booking Form Add the shortcode [oryx_bookings] to any page or post, or use the Elementor widget.

Shortcodes

Main Booking Form: [oryx_bookings] Displays the complete booking form with service selection, staff selection (if applicable), date picker, time slots, and booking confirmation.

Customer Bookings: [oryx_bookings_my_bookings] Allows logged-in customers to view their booking history.

For Developers

Hook into new bookings: add_action('oryx_bookings_booking_created', function($booking_id, $booking_data) { // Send email notification // Update CRM // Trigger automation }, 10, 2);

Third-Party Libraries

This plugin bundles the following third-party libraries:

Flatpickr v4.6.13 A lightweight, powerful datetime picker Source: https://flatpickr.js.org/ Copyright (c) 2017 Gregory Petrosyan License: MIT License (https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

Support

For support, feature requests, or bug reports, please visit the plugin support forum or contact the developer.

Credits

Developed by Rabie Eltegani with a focus on performance, security, and user experience.