REIGN
Get Reign

Set up BuddyNext

Activate BuddyNext, run its setup, then the header and auth behaviour Reign wires up once it detects the plugin.

BuddyNext is the newer community engine. Reign detects it and adapts automatically - it does not install or configure BuddyNext itself.

BuddyNext and BuddyPress cannot both run

They are mutually exclusive at runtime. Reign loads its BuddyPress layer when BuddyPress is active, and its BuddyNext layer only when BuddyNext is active and BuddyPress is not. Running both is not a supported configuration.

If you are moving an existing community from BuddyPress, treat it as a migration and test on a staging copy first. Your BuddyPress content does not transfer by activating BuddyNext.

1. Install and activate

Install BuddyNext, then activate it. If BuddyPress is currently active, deactivate it first.

Reign can install BuddyNext for you in one click from Reign Settings > Extend once your licence is active - see installation.

2. Run BuddyNext’s own setup

BuddyNext takes you to its BuddyNext Setup screen on activation and manages its own pages and routing. Complete that before judging how anything looks in Reign - Reign styles whatever BuddyNext renders, so an unfinished BuddyNext setup shows up as a Reign problem when it is not one.

What Reign adds

The header user area

Reign renders the logged-in user area - notification bell, messages icon, and the avatar dropdown - through BuddyNext’s own zero-JS section.

Reign guarantees the three icons that section needs (Message, Notification, User Menu) are present in your header icon set, even on a site that previously trimmed them while running BuddyPress. You do not have to re-add them by hand.

You can still reorder or hide them in Appearance > Customize > Header > Header Icons Options.

One difference from BuddyPress: the Friends Request icon is not offered under BuddyNext. Friends is a BuddyPress feature, so Reign deliberately leaves that control out rather than showing one that cannot work.

Your own menu in the profile dropdown

Assign a menu to the User Profile menu location (Appearance > Menus) and Reign feeds it into the BuddyNext avatar dropdown, so the dropdown shows a real menu you control rather than a fixed list.

Assign nothing and BuddyNext falls back to its own quick links. Log Out is always kept either way, so you cannot lock members out by assigning a menu that omits it.

BuddyNext ships its own login and register screens. With BuddyNext active, WordPress’s login, register and password-reset URLs resolve to that auth hub instead of wp-login.php. On a default install:

LinkResolves to
Login/login/
Register/login/signup/
Reset password/login/reset/

This applies on the front end only. wp-login.php itself and everything in wp-admin are left alone, so you keep a working admin login if the hub is ever misconfigured.

Which screen your header buttons actually open

The BuddyNext hub is not automatically what the header Login and Register buttons open. Reign resolves those in a fixed order, and the first match wins:

  1. Sign-in popup is on → the button opens the popup. This beats everything below, including BuddyNext’s own screens. See sign-in popup.
  2. A Login Page / Register Page is set in the Customizer → that page.
  3. Neither → the BuddyNext auth hub.

So if you want members to land on BuddyNext’s screens, leave the sign-in popup off and leave the Login Page and Register Page settings empty. Turning the popup on is a deliberate choice to use Reign’s popup instead of BuddyNext’s screens - both work, but only one of them can be what the button does.

The Register button also needs registration to be open. Reign hides it unless WordPress’s Anyone can register setting is on (Settings > General > Membership).

Reign also removes the padding around BuddyNext’s full-canvas auth screens so the cover image sits flush against the theme header and footer, with no gap.

Then check it

  1. Log in as a member and confirm the bell, messages icon and avatar dropdown appear in the header.
  2. Open the avatar dropdown and confirm it shows your User Profile menu, and that Log Out is present.
  3. Log out and click a login or register link from the front end - you should land on the BuddyNext auth hub, not wp-login.php.
  4. Check the auth screen on a phone: the cover should reach the header and footer with no visible band.

Confirm Reign sees BuddyNext

Reign Settings > Integrations lists what Reign is styling. With BuddyNext active you should see a BuddyNext tile reading Styling active, and no BuddyPress tile.

If it says BuddyPress instead, you are on a build older than 8.0.7 - earlier versions mislabelled the tile.