Action Hooks & Filters Reference

All plugin-specific hooks use the bautof_ prefix. Filters from the earlier bp_auto_ prefix are listed for back-compat.

Actions

bautof_create_friendships_event

Fires the friendship creation routine for a single user. Hooked to WordPress cron. Also scheduled directly when a user registers or when their role or member type changes.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
$user_id	int	ID of the user for whom friendships should be created

Example:

// Manually trigger friendship creation for a user.
do_action( 'bautof_create_friendships_event', $user_id );

---

bautof_create_existing_user_friendships_event

Fires the bulk friendship creation routine for existing users. Used by the manual processing card on the Overview tab.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
$add_friends	string	Mode: 'user_roles' or 'member_types'
$user_type	array	Array of role slugs or member-type term IDs

---

bautof_send_friends_add_friend

Fires for each chunk of users during the “Friend with existing members” operation. Scheduled via cron with a 5-second delay between chunks.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
$to_befriend	int	User ID being befriended with others
$pending_chunk	array	Array of user IDs to befriend in this chunk

Filters

bautof_enable_notifications_for_user

Filters whether BuddyPress friendship notifications should fire for a specific auto-friendship. The default is false - auto-friendships are silent by design.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
$enabled	bool	false	Whether to send notifications
$user_id	int	-	Recipient user ID
$bpaf_settings	array	-	Current plugin settings array

Returns: bool

Example:

// Send notifications only for users with the 'premium' role.
add_filter(
    'bautof_enable_notifications_for_user',
    function( $enabled, $user_id, $settings ) {
        $user = get_userdata( $user_id );
        return $user && in_array( 'premium', (array) $user->roles, true );
    },
    10,
    3
);

---

bautof_friendship_batch_size

Filters the number of users retrieved per database query during the bulk sync sweep.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
$batch_size	int	100	Users fetched per batch in bautof_create_existing_friendships()

Returns: int

Example:

// Increase batch size on high-memory servers.
add_filter( 'bautof_friendship_batch_size', function( $size ) {
    return 200;
} );

---

bp_auto_befriend_all_chunk_size

Filters the number of users processed per chunk during the “Friend with existing members” operation.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
$chunk_size	int	25	Number of user IDs per scheduled cron chunk

Returns: int

Example:

// Reduce chunk size on low-memory servers.
add_filter( 'bp_auto_befriend_all_chunk_size', function( $size ) {
    return 10;
} );

---

bautof_inline_befriend_threshold

Filters the member count below which the “Friend with existing members” backfill runs inline (in the same request) instead of being split into scheduled WP-Cron chunks. Communities below the threshold complete synchronously; larger ones queue background chunks.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
$threshold	int	100	Member count at or above which the backfill switches to chunked WP-Cron processing

Returns: int

Example:

// Always use background chunks by lowering the inline threshold.
add_filter( 'bautof_inline_befriend_threshold', function( $threshold ) {
    return 25;
} );

---

bautof_admin_tabs

Filters the admin tab registry before the sidebar is rendered. Allows adding, removing, or reordering tabs.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
$tabs	array	Associative array of tab slugs to tab config arrays

Tab config keys: label (string), icon (dashicons class), group ('main', 'settings', or 'account')

Returns: array

---

Key functions

bautof_force_friendship( $initiator_user_id, $friend_user_id )

Central friendship creation function. Handles all BuddyPress friendship states.

Since: 1.8.1

/**
 * Ensures a confirmed friendship between two users.
 *
 * @since 1.8.1
 *
 * @param int $initiator_user_id The user initiating the friendship.
 * @param int $friend_user_id    The intended friend user.
 * @return bool True if both users are confirmed friends after this call.
 */
function bautof_force_friendship( $initiator_user_id, $friend_user_id );

This function correctly handles pending and awaiting_response states by promoting them to confirmed via a direct database update. This works in cron and CLI contexts where bp_loggedin_user_id() returns 0.

---

bautof_get_global_friends()

Returns an array of user IDs marked as global friends. Results are cached in the WordPress object cache for 1 hour.

$global_friends = bautof_get_global_friends();
// Returns: int[]

---

bautof_mark_auto_created( $user_a, $user_b )

Records that the plugin auto-created the friendship between two users. Mirrors the record on both sides so cleanup from either direction finds it. Stored in _bautof_auto_created_friends user meta.

Since: 1.8.2

---

bautof_remove_auto_created_friendships( $user_id, $reason )

Removes all plugin-tracked auto-created friendships for a user. Uses explicit _bautof_auto_created_friends meta as the primary source (friendships since 1.8.2), with a legacy role/type heuristic fallback for friendships predating the tracking upgrade.

Since: 1.7.0

Returns: int|false - number of friendships removed, or false on invalid input.

WordPress cron events

Event hook	Callback	Purpose
bautof_create_friendships_event	bautof_create_friendships	Per-user friendship creation on registration or role change
bautof_create_existing_user_friendships_event	bautof_create_existing_friendships	Bulk sync for existing users (manual processing)
bautof_send_friends_add_friend	bautof_friends_add_friend	Chunked “Friend with existing members” backfill
bautof_process_friendship_batch	(batch processor)	Per-batch chunk handler during bulk sync
bautof_cleanup_transients	Admin class method	Daily transient cleanup

WordPress and BuddyPress hooks used

Hook	Purpose
user_register	Schedules friendship creation for new users
set_user_role	Triggers dynamic processing and cleanup on role replacement
add_user_role	Triggers dynamic processing on role addition
remove_user_role	Triggers cleanup if enabled
bp_set_member_type	Triggers dynamic processing and cleanup on member-type change
bp_remove_member_type	Triggers cleanup if enabled
friends_friendship_accepted	Cache invalidation
friends_friendship_deleted	Cache invalidation
bp_setup_nav	Registers the Friend Lists sub-tab and per-list activity tabs
rest_api_init	Registers REST API routes
admin_menu	Registers the WB Plugins hub and Auto Friends submenu