Guardrails let Social Login, Magic Link and Email OTP authenticate existing WordPress users while giving you control over whether an unknown visitor may create a new account from a login form.
Free Core Guardrails are included in VentraConnect Free. Pro adds login-form settings for WooCommerce and membership/LMS integrations.
The short version: there is no single master switch. Each surface has its own rule, and a few surfaces are not covered by any Guardrail setting.
What Guardrails Do
Without account-creation controls, a login form can accidentally become a public registration surface: an unknown email arrives through Social Login, Magic Link or Email OTP and a new WordPress user is created.
Guardrails separate signing in an existing user from creating a new user, so you can keep modern login methods available to people who already have accounts while directing new users through the registration, checkout, membership or onboarding flow you intend.
Important: The WordPress setting Anyone can register (Settings → General) is not checked for Social Login, Magic Link or Email OTP. Turning it off does not stop these methods from creating accounts. It only controls the WordPress registration screen itself and Passkey registration.
How Account Creation Is Controlled
Account creation is decided per surface and per method, not by one master setting:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Allow new accounts from default login forms VentraConnect → Settings (General Settings card). On by default. | Applies to the WordPress login form (wp-login.php). When off, Social Login, Magic Link and Email OTP on that form only sign in existing users. |
| Registration mode (Magic Link and Email OTP) | Login only never creates accounts. Login & Register lets the method create a new account unless another rule blocks it on that surface. |
| Social Login | Has no Login only / Login & Register selector. Outside the surfaces covered by a setting above, Social Login can create a new account for an unknown visitor. |
| Passkeys | Have their own Registration mode and are not affected by the settings above. See section 4. |
| VentraConnect Pro | Adds an “Allow new accounts from … login form” setting for WooCommerce and for each membership/LMS integration. See section 5. |
Where more than one rule applies to the same surface, both must allow account creation. For example, on wp-login.php a Magic Link set to Login & Register cannot create an account while Allow new accounts from default login forms is off.
The Default WordPress Login Form
Allow new accounts from default login forms (VentraConnect → Settings, General Settings card; default: on) applies to the WordPress login form (wp-login.php).
context="shortcode" ([ventraconnect_sl_social_login context="shortcode"]); generic pages; and WooCommerce, membership and LMS forms, which have their own settings in Pro.Do not assume the setting stops sign-ups everywhere. A page that uses the default [ventraconnect_sl_social_login] shortcode is not covered by this setting, and Social Login has no Login-only option.
Passkeys Have Their Own Controls
Passkeys are not controlled by the Social Login / Magic Link / Email OTP Guardrails. A new account can be created with a passkey only on the WordPress registration page (wp-login.php?action=register), and only when WordPress Anyone can register is on, Register form is enabled in VentraConnect → Settings, and the Passkey Registration mode is Login & Register (default).
WooCommerce account settings never control passkey account creation. Passkeys require PHP 8.2 or higher and HTTPS.
What Pro Adds
VentraConnect Pro adds an Allow new accounts from … login form setting for WooCommerce and for each membership/LMS integration. These settings are on by default and apply only to that plugin’s login form. Turn one off to make that login form existing-users-only.
Registration, signup and checkout forms are not covered by these settings. There, Magic Link and Email OTP follow their Registration mode, WooCommerce placements follow WooCommerce’s account settings, and Social Login (which has no Login-only mode) can create an account.
See Guardrails with WooCommerce and Guardrails with Membership & LMS Flows for the per-surface rules.
Recommended Setup
Common Questions
context="shortcode"). WooCommerce and integration login forms have their own settings in Pro, and registration forms follow the method Registration mode.
