Core Features

• Track views using REST API + Vanilla JS, bypassing bots and crawlers
• Prevent duplicate counts using session or localStorage
• Supports counting by total, daily, weekly, and monthly views
• Stores view counts in a custom meta key: _init_view_count (no conflicts)
• Beautiful shortcode UI with support for template overrides (like WooCommerce)
• Fallback thumbnail included if a post has no featured image
• Powerful filter/hook system for developers to customize behavior
• No tracking, no bloat, no custom tables — just pure postmeta and clean code

Flexible View Display with Shortcodes

The plugin includes two main shortcodes:

• [init_view_count]: Display the current view count inside a post (supports total/day/week/month, format: raw/formatted/short)
• [init_view_list]: Show a list of the most viewed posts (customizable post type, category, tag, range, layout, class…)

You can customize number of posts, layout style, filter by category, tag, or post type. Templates can be overridden via your theme to fully match your site’s design. See the documentation: Using the shortcode in Init View Count (Vietnamese tutorial — use Google Translate to convert to your language).

Ready-to-Use REST API

Init View Count provides two REST API endpoints for easy integration with frontend apps or headless WordPress setups:

POST /wp-json/initvico/v1/count

Registers a view for a specific post (requires post_id).

GET /wp-json/initvico/v1/top

Retrieves the most viewed posts. See the documentation: Using the /top REST API in Init View Count (Vietnamese tutorial — use Google Translate to convert to your language).

Supported parameters:

• range: one of total, day, week, or month (selects the time range for view counts)
• post_type: post type to query, defaults to post
• number: number of posts to retrieve (default: 5)
• page: which result page to return, used with number for pagination
• fields: minimal (lightweight) or full (detailed response)
• tax: taxonomy name (e.g. category, tag, genre)
• terms: comma-separated term slugs or IDs to filter by
• no_cache=1: disable caching to always return the latest data

Easy Template Overrides

You can override any display template by adding a file to your theme at:

your-theme/init-view-count/[template-name].php

Example override for a grid layout:

your-theme/init-view-count/view-list-grid.php

Quick Installation

1. Download and unzip the plugin into /wp-content/plugins/init-view-count/
2. Activate it via the WordPress admin Plugins menu
3. Go to Settings → Init View Count to configure options
4. Use shortcodes in your content or widgets

Init View Count’s simple yet effective setup interface.

Compatibility & Performance

• Compatible with WordPress 5.5+
• Tested up to version 6.8
• Requires PHP 7.4 or higher
• Works with major themes (Astra, Blocksy, Hello…)
• Uses Vanilla JS, no jQuery dependency

For Developers

Init View Count includes a wide range of filters and hooks to allow full customization:

• Control when and how views are counted
• Customize the WP_Query used by shortcodes
• Modify REST API output
• Adjust cache durations and behavior

See the documentation: Extending Init View Count with Filters & Hooks (Vietnamese tutorial — use Google Translate to convert to your language).

Get Started

Need a lightweight, precise, and extensible post view counter for WordPress? Init View Count is your ultimate solution.