GriffinForms - Form Builder with Multi-Step and Registration Forms

GriffinForms is a WordPress form builder for multi-step forms, user registration, uploads, payments, and forms that need more than a single message field. It gives you stronger control over how the form looks, behaves, and continues after submission. It is a better fit for registration forms, applications, requests, uploads, and payment collection than for a simple one-page contact form. If you need forms that do real work, GriffinForms is built for that next step. Why teams choose GriffinForms

• Multi-step forms: break longer forms into pages with per-step validation so users can complete structured flows without feeling overwhelmed.
• WordPress user registration: create WordPress users from form submissions with immediate, pending-activation, or manual-review workflows, multiple registration workflows per form, role assignment, duplicate-account handling, and account-action visibility in the admin area.
• File uploads: support multi-file uploads per field with controls for file types, size limits, file counts, image constraints, and storage behavior.
• Stripe and PayPal payments: build WordPress payment forms with product-style workflows, product images, a cart-style review step, hosted checkout options, and resume links for pending payments.
• MailChimp integration: subscribe form submitters to MailChimp audiences as part of the submission flow — map form fields to MailChimp merge tags, assign tags, and control consent behavior per form.
• WordPress conditional logic: go beyond simple show and hide with rules that can change labels, values, headings, success messages, redirects, and submit behavior — across fields, rows, and pages.
• Email and notifications: send notifications and autoresponders through WordPress mail, Custom SMTP, SendGrid, or Mailgun, with reusable messages and merge variables.
• Spam protection: choose from reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Cloudflare Turnstile, or honeypot, and combine them with native rate limiting on submissions and file uploads for layered protection.
• Builder checks system: a live status bar in the form builder surfaces errors, warnings, and info counts as you edit — covering spam config, email setup, compliance, registration risks, and layout issues before you publish.
• Compliance profiles: per-form GDPR and HIPAA-ready profiles with submission hashing, layout snapshots, configurable retention, and WordPress personal data export and erase integration.
• Templates and theming: turn forms into reusable templates, then style them with built-in themes or your own custom theme variations.
• Submission clarity in WordPress: review entries in a richer admin view with event timelines, per-submission audit logs, metadata, and settings history when troubleshooting production forms.

Best-fit use cases

• WordPress user registration forms with account creation or admin review
• Multi-step request and intake forms
• Application forms with file uploads
• Support workflows with conditional fields
• Payment forms for donations, simple orders, or paid requests
• Multi-step forms where incomplete submissions should still stay visible in the admin area
• Forms that need stronger styling control, clearer notifications, and better admin visibility

Built for structured form workflows GriffinForms treats layout as a core part of form building. The drag-and-drop builder uses pages, rows, columns, sidebar controls, and reusable fields to make complex forms easier to shape and maintain. Then you can layer in conditions, uploads, notifications, and payments where needed. This makes longer forms easier to manage and easier for users to complete. Reusable fields also help solve a common admin problem: teams should not need to recreate the same Name, Email, Phone, or Address field across every new form. Common fields can be managed from one place, which helps keep repeated workflows faster to build and more consistent over time. File uploads with practical control File uploads are not limited to a basic attachment field. GriffinForms supports multi-file uploads per field and is designed for workflows where uploads matter, such as applications, support requests, and document collection. For example, an application form can collect resumes, ID documents, certificates, and supporting images in one submission instead of forcing users to send files separately later. You can control allowed file types, per-file and total upload size limits, max file counts, image-specific constraints, and storage behavior, then manage uploaded files from WordPress. Payment workflows with Stripe and PayPal If you enable Stripe or PayPal, GriffinForms can handle payment collection inside the form flow. This is useful for donations, simple product or service requests, paid applications, and other workflows where payment is part of submission instead of a separate checkout. GriffinForms supports a fuller review-and-pay pattern with product-style selections, product images, and cart-style summaries. Stripe can stay on-page for card collection, while PayPal uses its hosted popup approval flow. For pending payments, resume links can bring users back so they can continue from where they left off. Strong conditional logic layer Conditional logic in GriffinForms goes beyond a simple show-or-hide toggle. You can use field, row, and form-level rules to change labels and values, control headings and visibility, swap success messages, trigger redirects, and adjust submit-button behavior. Conditions also go beyond basic text matching. GriffinForms supports checks across field values, counts, password strength, browser time, address parts, and payment-specific conditions such as product, gateway, totals, and counts. That makes it useful for smarter routing, cleaner payment flows, and forms that react as the submission takes shape. For example, you can show a payment step only when a paid option is selected, then change the success message or redirect users to a different next step after submission. Themable forms with deeper styling control Forms should not look disconnected from the rest of your site. GriffinForms includes built-in themes, but the theme system goes further than picking a preset. You can create new themes from scratch or modify existing ones with control over typography, layout, inputs, buttons, and states such as hover, focus, and active. Dark themes also look especially strong in GriffinForms, which helps when you want forms to feel more polished and deliberate instead of settling for one generic form look. Submissions, logs, and admin visibility Submissions are stored in your WordPress database, but the admin experience goes further than a simple entry list. GriffinForms includes a richer submission view with metadata, payment context where applicable, submission-specific logs, and event timelines so you can follow what happened to a submission and where it changed. Native logging adds another layer of visibility for production sites. Timeline-style logs, searchable categories, job visibility, retention settings, and settings history make it easier to troubleshoot failed steps, trace changes, and understand what happened over time. GriffinForms also supports partial submissions, which means incomplete multi-step submissions can still remain visible in the admin area when that workflow matters. WordPress account registration workflows GriffinForms includes a flexible user registration workflow for registration forms that need to create or manage WordPress users after submission. You can build a simple WordPress registration form for one account, or use an iterable email field for multi-user registration from a single form submission. GriffinForms lets you choose whether a registration form should use a mapped password or send the native WordPress password setup link, assign the WordPress user role for the account being created, and map optional profile data such as username, first name, last name, and profile image when the form collects it. This user registration system is built for real workflows, not just one fixed registration form pattern. You can decide whether user registration happens immediately, waits for admin activation, or stays in manual review, and you can control how duplicate-account cases are handled. GriffinForms also gives registration forms stronger admin visibility through native logging, submission-side account activity, account-action follow-up, and builder checks that help catch missing mappings, risky password choices, and iterable registration-form edge cases before the form goes live. Helpful docs:

• Registration workflow modes
• Submission Accounts Accordion
• Password strategies

Spam protection and rate limiting GriffinForms supports multiple CAPTCHA providers, including reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare Turnstile, and hCaptcha. It also includes native rate limiting and backend anti-spam checks, so spam protection does not depend on a single layer. That protection applies across the submission flow, including workflows that use file uploads. Email delivery and notifications GriffinForms can send admin notifications and autoresponders through WordPress mail or configured delivery providers such as Custom SMTP, SendGrid, and Mailgun. That gives you more flexibility when you need more dependable delivery for production forms. Helpful docs:

• Email settings
• Managing messages
• Mail merge placeholders

Reusable messages and merge variables GriffinForms includes a reusable message system for admin alerts and autoresponders. You can build messages once, reuse them across forms, and insert merge variables so subjects and message bodies can pull values from the submission at send time. That makes it easier to maintain more personalized and more consistent email workflows without rewriting the same message for every form. GriffinForms also supports mapping autoresponders to different email fields inside the same form. For example, a staff member can submit a form on behalf of a client, student, or employee, while the correct confirmation message is still sent to the email field for that actual person. Admin alerts can also be mapped per recipient, so different staff members or teams can receive different messages for the same submission. For example, one alert can go to admissions, another to finance, and another to operations when each team needs different context. Easier first-form experience GriffinForms includes a guided onboarding flow to help new users create and publish a useful first form more quickly. That makes it easier to start with a working form instead of a blank builder and then expand into more advanced flows later. Starter forms and reusable templates also help teams move faster when they need to repeat similar workflows across forms or sites. Griffin Assist — AI form building inside the builder Griffin Assist lets you build and refine forms using plain-English prompts directly inside the GriffinForms builder. Describe the form you need, and Griffin Assist drafts the structure for you. From there you keep full control — drag, rearrange, and fine-tune using the same builder you already know. This is not a separate AI tool that hands off a static export. Griffin Assist works inside your live draft, so changes appear immediately in the builder as you prompt them. Drafting a new form: type a prompt in the Create Form modal and Griffin Assist generates a starting structure with pages, rows, and fields. The draft opens in the builder ready for you to refine. When you are happy with it, publish it to make it live. If you want to start over, discard it — your other forms are never affected. Editing an existing form: open any form in AI draft mode using the AI Edit action. Griffin Assist targets only the elements you ask about, so editing a field label or adding a new page does not rebuild the whole form or disturb fields and logic you already configured. Chat Mode: toggle Chat Mode on to ask questions, explore ideas, and get suggestions before committing to a change. Griffin Assist returns clickable action buttons so you can review a suggestion and apply it with one click. Structural suggestions such as adding a new section, page, or row appear alongside copy advice. Suggestion pills: each element type in the builder has a set of context-aware suggestion pills — one-tap actions tailored to what is currently selected. Improving a field label, polishing a description, adding a file upload hint, or refining dropdown options all have their own targeted pills. Translation is also available as a one-tap action that rewrites all labels, descriptions, options, and button text into your target language. Griffin Assist requires an active AI provider connection. You can connect OpenAI, Anthropic, or another supported provider from the AI settings tab. A data-sharing consent step is required before Griffin Assist sends any form data to an external provider. GriffinForms Pro GriffinForms Pro is an optional paid add-on that extends the core plugin with premium field types and submission management tools. Pro field types:

• Signature — collect signatures directly inside the form, stored alongside the submission
• Rating — star-based rating fields for feedback, surveys, and reviews
• Rich Text — let respondents format answers with bold, lists, and basic text formatting
• Image Selection — present options as clickable image cards instead of plain radio buttons or checkboxes
• Likert Scale — structured grid for multi-row agreement or frequency questions Submission export: Download submission data as CSV, JSON, Excel (XLSX), or Printable HTML directly from the WordPress admin. Export a single entry with the row action or bulk-select a batch. Complex fields like address and Likert scales are cleanly flattened for use in Excel or Google Sheets.

Submission editing: Let submitters return and edit their own submissions via a secure, time-limited edit URL. Configure access policies, edit windows, and age limits per form. Edits appear in the submission history timeline with rollback support, so admins retain full visibility over what changed and when. All Pro features work with conditional logic, multi-step forms, compliance profiles, and Griffin Assist — the same as core fields. Gutenberg and advanced workflows GriffinForms works with Gutenberg and also includes a stronger technical foundation for advanced evaluators, including a documented REST API surface, capability-aware access control, device management for protected companion routes, and webhook-ready architecture. Multi-step submissions use AJAX handling with server-side validation and anti-spam checks, which helps longer forms feel more responsive while still enforcing validation on the backend. Post-submission actions such as emails and other follow-up work can also be processed in the background, which helps more complex workflows stay smoother after a form is submitted. These are not the first thing most users need, but they help show GriffinForms is built for more than a simple one-page contact form. Helpful docs:

• Embedding forms
• Multi-page forms
• Conditional logic

Privacy-conscious by default Form submissions stay in WordPress by default. External services are only involved when you enable them, such as payments, CAPTCHA, or email delivery providers. See the External Services section below for details. GriffinForms also includes per-form compliance profiles (Standard, GDPR, and HIPAA-ready) with submission hashing, layout snapshots, configurable retention policies, and WordPress personal data export and erase integration when those workflows matter. External Services GriffinForms can connect to these third-party services when enabled:

• Google reCAPTCHA (spam protection): Terms and Privacy
• Stripe (payments): Terms and Privacy
• PayPal (payments): Terms and Privacy
• Cloudflare Turnstile (spam protection): Terms and Privacy
• hCaptcha (spam protection): Terms and Privacy
• SendGrid (email delivery): Terms and Privacy
• Mailgun (email delivery): Terms and Privacy
• MailChimp (audience sync): Terms and Privacy

Learn more

• Documentation: GriffinForms Docs
• User docs: GriffinForms User Docs
• Templates: Form Templates
• Releases: Release Notes
• Privacy: Privacy Policy

Use-case guides

• WordPress user registration form
• WordPress multi-step form
• WordPress payment form
• WordPress file upload form
• WordPress conditional logic form

Stable tag: 3.1.3.0 3.1.3.0 – 2026-05-12 Minor

• Added Anthropic, Google Gemini, xAI Grok, and Mistral as supported Griffin Assist AI providers alongside OpenAI, each with bring-your-own API key configuration in the AI settings flow.
• Added submissions-list extension hooks so Pro and future extensions can inject bulk actions, row actions, and page modals without Core file edits.
• Added a Global Settings General-section extension hook so Pro and future extensions can append settings rows without replacing the Core settings page.
• Added Core-side submission export upsell registration and locked/live discoverability surfaces across submissions list actions and the single submission page.
• Refreshed the single submission page design for cleaner readability and aligned the Download action surface with the new export entitlement flow.

3.1.2.0 – 2026-05-11 Patch

• Added Mailchimp as a first-party marketing integration. Global API key and audience discovery are configured in the Integrations modal. Per-form settings control audience selection, subscriber email mapping, optional first/last name mapping, static tags, consent source field, and subscription mode.
• Added Mailchimp post-submission subscriber sync through the existing jobs/pipeline architecture. Sync runs in the background so frontend submissions are not blocked by third-party API latency.
• Added Mailchimp subscriber identity storage: canonical submission-level state is persisted to submission metadata, with secondary user-meta indexing when a WordPress user account is linked to the submission.
• Added Mailchimp-specific log support with a dedicated log category, covering connection tests, configuration saves, audience discovery, and per-submission sync lifecycle events (queued, processing, synced, skipped, failed).
• Added Mailchimp signal to the submissions list signals column so Mailchimp-enabled and synced submissions surface a Mailchimp indicator alongside existing signals.
• Added Mailchimp checks-pipeline coverage: builder and runtime checks surface missing audience configuration, missing subscriber email mapping, and stale audience references before submission time.
• Added marketing activity summary card to the single submission view. The card shows Mailchimp provider identity, sync status badge, and submission-level Mailchimp state rows when Mailchimp metadata exists for a submission.
• Added Mailchimp support documentation covering API key setup, audience selection, configuration field reference, Marketing vs Transactional key differences, and log state meanings.

3.1.1.0 – 2026-05-10 Patch

• Added PayPal as a core payment processor alongside Stripe.
• Added PayPal integration-modal configuration for sandbox/live mode, client ID, client secret, and optional buyer-facing label, description, and logo visibility settings.
• Added server-side PayPal order creation, resume, and capture flow using the official popup-based checkout model.
• Refactored the core payment controller and review-step runtime so multiple payment gateways can share the same session/create/resume/complete architecture.
• Added PayPal Review & Pay frontend support with lazy SDK loading, hosted PayPal buttons, popup approval, and server capture completion.
• Kept Review & Pay aligned with FormTheme and no-theme rendering contracts for both Stripe and PayPal.
• Fixed encrypted settings caching so server-side PayPal authentication always reads the decrypted client secret during checkout.
• Improved payment visibility in admin submissions by showing the correct payment gateway name, icon, and PayPal order/capture metadata in submission payment cards.
• Updated submissions list signals so payment submissions can show payment-processor icons, with a dedicated pending-payment signal icon for unpaid payment submissions.

3.1.0.0 – 2026-05-09 Minor

• Added Pro Fields section to the form builder left sidebar, surfacing Pro field types as non-draggable pills with a Pro badge so users know what upgrading unlocks. Pills become fully draggable when Pro is active and entitled.
• Seeded default folder structure on first installation so new installs have an organised starting point.
• Removed redundant top borders from the page navigation widget and toned down label font size.
• Added a preview button to the builder titlebar with a desktop/tablet/mobile viewport switcher and fullscreen expand mode. Preview loads the live WordPress theme with conditional logic and submission workflows active.
• Applied form theme page background colour as a 70% white tint to the builder form area so the canvas reflects the configured theme without being overwhelming.
• Checks pipeline: email edit-access field is no longer required, allowing blank values to pass validation correctly.
• Added {submission:edit_url} merge token for use in messages and notifications, resolving to the frontend edit URL for the current submission.
• Switched the builder UI to Inter as the default typeface with a 14px root and an em-based type scale. Font applies to the builder surface and all builder modals.
• Added Image Selection field: core scaffolding and frontend/admin integration.
• Expanded the loading overlay quote library from 62 to 150 entries, adding Marcus Aurelius, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Bertrand Russell, Feynman, Heisenberg, Faraday, Dickens, Brontë, Maupassant, O. Henry, and public-domain poetry stanzas from Frost, Keats, Byron, Shelley, and Milton.
• Fixed image selection option keys (e.g. opt_XXXXXXXX) being printed as the submission display name in the submissions list.
• Fixed Pro page heading badge contrast (white text on light grey) by applying Bootstrap text-bg-secondary.
• Suppressed horizontal scroll in the field picker left sidebar; styled the vertical scrollbar to match the builder aesthetic.

3.0.9.0 – 2026-05-07 Patch

• Fixed uninstall flow to delete migration and backfill markers when delete-data is enabled, so reinstall on the same database starts clean.
• Fixed Freemius detection so Pro is recognised correctly after the plugin folder is renamed.
• Fixed builder loading overlay flash caused by the spinner becoming briefly visible on fast loads.
• Refined builder overlay design to a flush full-area style.
• Added delayed fade-in for admin container pages to hide unstyled layout flash when Bootstrap loads slowly.
• Removed rounded-circle class from submit button so button shape follows the form theme correctly.
• Capped font sizes on no-theme forms to prevent site theme inheritance from producing oversized text. Iteration, payment, and success message elements now included.
• Added Bootstrap-native button classes to no-theme form buttons for consistent default styling.
• Fixed preview modal so it fills available viewport height instead of being clipped short.
• Fixed log list primary column so JSON-encoded messages show a readable label instead of raw JSON.
• Fixed menu icon dark flash on page load by adding an explicit white fill to the SVG path.
• Standardised all admin list column badges to Bootstrap badge text-bg-* classes for consistent styling.
• Added unread-state blue orb to the submissions signals column.
• Added live unread submission count badge to the Submissions submenu item.
• Added Mark Read and Mark Unread row actions to the submissions list with inline AJAX.
• Added Mark Read and Mark Unread bulk actions to the submissions list.
• Added Read and Unread filter links to the submissions list subsubsub bar.
• Added paperclip signal to submissions list when a submission has file attachments.
• Added payment signal to submissions list when a submission has a payment attached.
• Fixed integration settings JSON decode errors from flooding the log on every page load.
• Fixed log page HTML entities being double-escaped in message output.
• Fixed log list Array to string conversion warning from raw array message values.

3.0.8.0 – 2026-05-05

• Added support for submission editing in the builder and submission screens, so Pro features can be surfaced more clearly.
• Added a cleaner upsell experience for locked Pro features.
• Fixed preview links so they no longer get saved as real frontend locations.
• Polished a few admin controls and badges to make the interface feel more consistent.

3.0.7.0 – 2026-05-01

• Added the frontend URL publication footprint widget in the builder sidebar.
• Hardened submission display names so Likert JSON payloads no longer surface as raw technical values.
• Added Griffin Assist Likert schema awareness and preview modal improvements from the 3.0.7.0 release plan.

3.0.6.0 – 2026-05-01 Hotpatch

• Improvement: update and builder bootstrap is faster on webservers after repeated schema checks are cached efficiently.
• Improvement: page, row, column, and field insert workflows now return rendered HTML in the same request, so the builder updates faster after drop and add actions.
• Improvement: item summary widgets now load more quickly and show placeholders while content is coming in.
• Fix: cron schedule registration is now loaded early enough to avoid the griffinforms_process_jobs warning.

3.0.5.0 – 2026-04-30 Core reliability

• Improvement: GriffinForms now activates faster on webservers.
• Improvement: Updates are more reliable, especially on sites that were only partially upgraded before.
• Improvement: Reinstalling or reactivating the plugin no longer repeats as much setup work as before.

Builder and list UX

• New: The All Forms list now gives you Publish and Preview actions right where you need them.
• New: Folder management is easier, and the list looks less crowded now that the Theme column is gone.
• New: When you create a form, Blank Form comes first and can quickly seed common starter fields.
• New: The builder now shows a full-page loading screen while it finishes loading, and page-navigation label controls are easier to edit.

AI and polish

• Improvement: Griffin Assist now understands the Pro Signature, Rating, and Rich Text fields when the matching package is available.
• Improvement: Submission names are cleaner, the single log page is easier to read, onboarding feels more polished, and the field picker looks better.

3.0.4.0 – 2026-04-29 Griffin Assist

• Improvement: The Griffin Assist setup notice now includes a direct link to the API key guide when a provider is selected but no key has been saved yet — makes first-time setup easier without leaving the builder.

Submissions

• New: Each submission now records the URL of the page it was submitted from. The source page is shown as a link in the single submission view — useful for attribution when a form is embedded on multiple pages.

Admin

• New: A branded footer now appears across GriffinForms admin pages with quick links to Documentation, Support, and a review prompt. The footer is scoped to GriffinForms pages only and is hidden on the form builder and onboarding screens.

Builder

• Fix: Gutenberg block preview no longer clips a few pixels from the right edge. Theme-styled fields with box-shadows or borders now display fully.

Date field

• Improvement: The Day Type setting in date field options is now hidden unless custom date validation is active, reducing visual noise in the default configuration.

Bug fixes

• Fix: Integration settings decode errors are no longer written to the log repeatedly on every page load for the same form. The warning is now logged once per request.
• Fix: Webhook delivery no longer retries indefinitely on permanent failures (HTTP 400, 404, 410, 422). Permanent failures are logged as warnings and the job is not re-queued. The legacy webhook path also now enforces a five-attempt ceiling.
• Fix: Bulk action Apply button on list views was permanently disabled. The button is now enabled when both a row and an action are selected, and the correct confirmation modal is wired up.

Upcoming: GriffinForms Pro

• Preparation: Core now includes full support for the Signature, Rating, and Rich Text field types being introduced in the upcoming GriffinForms Pro add-on. When Pro is available, these fields will have builder previews, settings panels, conditional logic evaluators, Gutenberg block renderers, theme CSS generation, and graceful handling when Pro is inactive.

3.0.3.0 – 2026-04-23 Progress bar for multi-step forms

• New: Optional horizontal progress bar for multi-step forms. Enable it per-form in the Form tab of the builder.
• New: Two progress bar styles — Stepper (circular beads with connector line) and Tabs (equal-width tab row).
• New: Progress bar colors inherit from the form's assigned theme. Forms without a theme use Bootstrap primary fallback colors.
• New: Progress bar visible in the builder preview, updating as you scroll between pages.
• New: Step labels are directly editable in the builder preview — click a label to edit and changes save via AJAX.
• New: Each form page supports an optional step name and step icon (Google Material Symbol) used by the progress renderer.
• New: Builder checks advisory when the progress bar is enabled on a single-page form.
• New: Builder hint when the form has multiple pages but the progress bar is off.
• Improvement: Progress bar suppressed on single-page forms even when the toggle is on.
• Improvement: Import/export preserves progress bar configuration and step data.

Fixes

• Fix: Gutenberg block no longer shows "Your site doesn't include support for the GriffinForms Form block" after a plugin update. Missing script dependency declarations caused wp-blocks, wp-element, and related WordPress packages to load after the block script, leaving wp.blocks undefined. Added asset.php files to declare the correct load order.
• Fix: Gutenberg block preview now shows the progress bar when enabled on a multi-step form. Includes both stepper and tabs styles, step labels (with Show Page Headings support), step icons (Material Symbols), and correct active/complete state rendering.
• Fix: Form page container no longer overflows the block width in the Gutenberg block editor preview when a theme with padding is applied.

3.0.2.0 – 2026-04-19 Griffin Assist — AI Form Drafting

• New: Griffin Assist is now available directly inside the form builder. Type a prompt in the right sidebar to draft a new form or make targeted changes to an existing one.
• New: Create a form from a plain-English prompt in the Create Form modal. Griffin Assist drafts the structure for you in seconds, then opens it in the builder so you can refine it.
• New: "Create with AI" on the All Forms page now opens the Griffin Assist tab in the Create Form modal with the prompt input ready to go.
• New: Existing forms can be opened in AI draft mode using the "AI Edit" row action, letting Griffin Assist make targeted changes without affecting your published form.
• New: AI drafts live in a separate draft state. Review the result, then choose Publish to make it live or Discard to throw it away — your original form is never touched until you confirm.
• New: Undo and Reset are available while editing with Griffin Assist, letting you step back one change or return the draft to its original state.
• New: Griffin Assist now supports Chat Mode. Toggle it on to ask questions, explore ideas, and get suggestions with clickable action buttons — without modifying the form directly.
• New: In Chat Mode, Griffin Assist proactively suggests structural improvements such as adding new pages, sections, rows, and fields alongside copy and content advice.
• New: Dedicated AI Settings tab for connecting your preferred AI provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, and others) with encrypted API key storage.
• New: AI data-sharing consent gate — Griffin Assist checks for explicit acknowledgement before sending any form data to an external AI provider.

Surgical Patch-Based Mutation

• New: Griffin Assist now edits forms surgically instead of rebuilding the whole schema. Field IDs, conditional logic references, and integration settings are preserved across every AI edit.
• New: Scoped editing — when a field, row, column, or page is selected in the builder, Griffin Assist targets that element directly without touching the rest of the form.
• New: Suggestion pills appear in the sidebar based on what is currently selected. Each field type has its own context-aware set of one-tap actions such as improving a label, polishing a description, or updating placeholder text.
• New: Full suggestion pill support across all field types: text, email, phone, address, number, date, textarea, file upload, dropdown, checkbox, radio, time, password, terms and conditions, and payment.
• New: File upload fields support AI-generated upload requirement descriptions that reference your actual file type, size, and count constraints.
• New: Date fields support AI-generated date window hints that describe your configured date range in plain language.
• New: Number fields support AI-generated range hints based on your configured min, max, and step validations.
• New: Address fields support AI-improved sub-field labels (Street, City, State, etc.) derived from the form context.
• New: Dropdown, checkbox, and radio fields support option refinement and grouping via dedicated suggestion pills.
• New: Payment fields support AI-improved product name and description rewrites that preserve prices and product IDs.
• New: Full form translation — a Translate pill sends the entire form through a bulk mutation pass that rewrites all labels, placeholders, descriptions, options, and button text into your target language while keeping the structure intact.

Form Drafting Quality

• Improvement: Form names and headings derived from your prompt are now cleaned up automatically — imperative phrases like "Create a" or "I need a" are stripped so the resulting name is user-facing and professional.
• Improvement: Griffin Assist no longer fills the form description with the raw prompt text.
• Improvement: Opening a form via AI Edit no longer re-submits the original creation prompt on every visit — the one-shot flag is consumed correctly at page load.
• Improvement: Advisory action buttons and choice buttons now always commit directly when clicked — clicking a suggested action in Chat Mode no longer loops back into another advisory panel.
• Improvement: "Add a new section called X" requests now correctly create a new page with the given name and heading, rather than a blank unnamed row.
• Improvement: Newly inserted rows always include a heading derived from the requested topic or fields.
• Improvement: Chat mode is automatically turned off when a form is created from the modal prompt, ensuring the initial draft is generated rather than handled as a chat conversation.

UI Polish

• Improvement: The chat input area is now a unified composer card — textarea, divider, and toolbar sit together in one bordered card that highlights when focused.
• Improvement: The Chat Mode toggle is redesigned as a compact pill button with an animated dot indicator that turns blue when active.
• Improvement: Suggestions panel is hidden while Chat Mode is on to keep the interface focused.
• Improvement: Status line updates dynamically to reflect whether Griffin Assist is in mutation mode or chat mode.
• Improvement: Undo and Reset buttons are now disabled until the first successful change is made in a session, so they are never shown in an actionable state when there is nothing to undo.
• Improvement: Suggestion pills are disabled while a request is in flight and re-enable cleanly after the response is received.
• Improvement: Advisory action and choice buttons are now left-aligned for easier scanning.
• Improvement: Undo and Reset buttons are more compact to reduce toolbar height.
• Fix: Griffin Assist tab in the Create Form modal now renders correctly — the tab pane was previously missing from the modal content area.
• Fix: "Draft with Griffin Assist" in the Create Form modal was returning a network error due to a mismatched AJAX action name. Now fixed.
• Fix: The Griffin Assist avatar in the Create Form modal now uses the same icon as the builder sidebar.

3.0.1.0 – 2026-04-07

• Added: Foundational infrastructure for Griffin Assist AI assistant.
• Added: Secure encrypted storage for OpenAI API keys.
• Added: AI Broker and request normalization layer.
• Added: Token usage tracking and model routing logic.
• Fixed: Improved integration configuration UI and validation.

3.0.0.0 – 2026-04-07

• Major: GriffinForms now uses a stronger package-aware internal architecture that makes future upgrades and extensions safer without disrupting current Core workflows.
• Improvement: Core now handles missing, inactive, incompatible, or unavailable extension-owned behavior more safely with clearer fallback and preservation paths.
• Improvement: Diagnostics, logging, and state handling are now more consistent behind the scenes, which improves troubleshooting and long-term reliability.
• Improvement: Form building, connected features, and future extension points now behave more reliably behind the scenes, giving GriffinForms a cleaner foundation for long-term growth.

2.4.4.0 – 2026-04-02

• Fix: Standard text fields now preview correctly in Gutenberg instead of looking like address fields.
• Improvement: Spam protection is now more reliable for live forms with stronger honeypot handling behind the scenes.
• Improvement: The empty Forms screen now feels cleaner and easier to follow when you are getting started.
• Improvement: The guided onboarding flow now feels more focused with a calmer, less cluttered admin experience.

2.4.3.1 – 2026-03-30

• Fix: Restored the final guided User Registration review step so the step label renders correctly as Review and the review content appears during new workflow creation.
• Fix: Corrected the guided workflow editor request contract so unsaved drafts are no longer misclassified as persisted workflows.
• Hardening: Prevented the undefined persisted-flag fatal in the User Registration editor AJAX path.

2.4.3.0 – 2026-03-28

• Improvement: User Registration now uses a guided workflow-creation experience that is easier to follow for first-time setup.
• Improvement: Existing User Registration workflows are now faster to review and edit with a clearer direct-edit layout.
• Improvement: Submission-side User Registration actions now use native GriffinForms confirmation UI instead of browser alerts.
• Improvement: Submission logs and User Registration status now refresh together more reliably after admin follow-up actions.
• Improvement: User Registration terminology is now clearer and more consistent across the builder, submission view, checks, and summary surfaces.

2.4.2.0 – 2026-03-27

• New: Registration forms now travel much more cleanly across your workflow, with stronger links between submissions and created WordPress users.
• New: Submission detail API responses now include account-registration outcome data, making companion and custom integrations much more useful.
• Improvement: Registration forms now get smarter setup warnings for missing CAPTCHA protection and weak mapped-password flows.
• Improvement: It is now easier to spot registration-enabled forms from the Forms list and understand which submitted email field powered account creation.
• New: Onboarding now includes a dedicated User Registration starter, so new users can build signup forms much faster.
• Improvement: Registration-enabled forms now keep their Accounts setup when exported and imported, with safer fallback handling for linked confirmation messages.

2.4.0.0 – 2026-03-21

• New: GriffinForms now includes a full WordPress user-registration workflow built directly into the form builder.
• New: You can create registration forms with flexible account-creation rules, profile mappings, password strategies, confirmation emails, and duplicate-account handling.
• New: Registration can now run through immediate create, pending admin activation, or manual-review flows depending on how your site needs to work.
• New: The submission view now includes a dedicated Accounts panel so admins can see exactly what happened for each registration target and take follow-up action when needed.
• Improvement: The builder now highlights risky registration setups earlier with checks for mapping problems, password issues, iterable constraints, and role guardrails.
• Improvement: Registration-enabled forms are now easier to identify from the builder and admin list surfaces.
• Hardening: Administrator role assignment remains blocked for registration setups in V1 for safer default behavior.

2.3.9.0 – 2026-03-19

• Improvement: Refreshed single-item edit pages with cleaner WordPress-style layout, stronger section hierarchy, and easier scanning on longer settings screens.
• Improvement: Finished the new builder toolbar flow with persistent selected-state controls, integrated drag and move actions, and a cleaner overall editing rhythm.
• Feature: Added a new builder overflow menu for secondary actions, giving the toolbar a more scalable and polished Gutenberg-inspired feel.
• Fix: Restored Gutenberg field preview parity so supported field types render correctly in the editor instead of falling back to plain text inputs.
• Improvement: Continued builder polish with more consistent action visibility, selection behavior, and interaction feedback across pages, rows, columns, and fields.
• Hardening: Expanded companion device-limit QA coverage and verified that per-user and global active-device guardrails behave correctly.

2.3.8.0 – 2026-03-15

• New: Added a guided onboarding flow so new users can create and publish their first form more easily.
• New: Added goal-based starter forms with optional fields, so you can begin with a useful form instead of a blank screen.
• New: Added a clearer publish flow with options to keep the form unpublished, add it to a new page, or place it in existing content.
• Improvement: Added clearer success screens, documentation links, and next-step actions after form creation.
• Improvement: Added safer handling for builder-managed pages such as Elementor, so GriffinForms avoids automatic placement where manual placement is the better choice.
• Improvement: Refined onboarding copy, layout, and controls to make the first-run experience calmer and easier to follow.

2.3.7.0 – 2026-03-07

• Feature: Added companion device registry endpoints and admin device-management UI (list/remove) with per-user and global active-device guardrails.
• Feature: Added notification fan-out/token lifecycle foundation for submission.created webhook delivery across active registered devices.
• Hardening: Completed webhook verification gates for signature validation, retry behavior, and receiver idempotency with release evidence artifacts.
• Fix: Prevented webhook dispatch-guard transient from being set when job enqueue fails, avoiding silent suppression of later queue attempts.
• Improvement: Added explicit webhook queue observability audits for skipped, queued, and enqueue-failed paths.
• Fix: Unblocked Gutenberg form picker by removing device-enforcement from editor form-catalog routes while keeping capability/rate-limit checks.
• Improvement: Enhanced Authorized Devices admin table UI with platform icons + fallback, state badges, normalized timestamps, fixed column widths, and improved user identity typography.

2.3.6.1 – 2026-03-05

• Fix: Restored Gutenberg form-preview theme rendering by re-attaching theme payload fields on the form-structure API response.
• Fix: Resolved block sidebar form selector regressions by hardening wrapped REST response parsing and increasing block-only form fetch page size.
• Improvement: Updated block metadata to API version 3 for modern editor compatibility.

2.3.6.0 – 2026-03-05

• Feature: Added companion-app API contracts for form structure, submission detail enrichment, attachment binaries, and image thumbnails.
• Feature: Added signed outbound submission.created webhook delivery contract for companion notification workflows.
• Hardening: Added strict API guardrails for attachment token limits, trusted file-source enforcement, and thumbnail dimension validation with typed errors.
• Hardening: Expanded API audit coverage for failure branches and idempotency replay visibility.
• Improvement: Refined capability matrix behavior and normalized API/webhook audit channel semantics for cleaner triage.
• Fix: Hardened Gutenberg block registration timing/path to avoid editor registration regressions.

2.3.5.0 – 2026-03-04

• Feature: Added companion-app-ready submissions API endpoints for folders, forms, submissions, detail, PDF export, share links, and bulk delete.
• Feature: Added capability matrix controls for scoped API permissions so read and delete access can be managed independently.
• Hardening: Added typed validation failures for API request guardrails (sort/filter/date/per-page) and enforced bulk-delete idempotency contract.
• Hardening: Added share-link single-active-token revocation behavior and stronger API access-denied/rate-limit audit events.
• Observability: Expanded audit coverage with request correlation IDs, request method/URI metadata, and API-specific audit log categorization.
• Fix: Prevented duplicate guardrail audit logs in repeated request lifecycle callbacks.
• Fix: Guarded admin language loading path against abstract class instantiation fatal in API list execution paths.

2.3.4.0 – 2026-03-03

• Feature: Enhanced Create Form modal with improved template browsing, smoother navigation accents, and clearer search-state guidance.
• Feature: Blank form creation now initializes with a starter layout by default (one page, one row, one full-width column).
• Feature: Builder now prevents deleting the last remaining page, row, or column to preserve minimum valid form structure.
• Improvement: Auto-starter layout behavior is now enforced in add-page/add-row flows with server-side safeguards and client fallback protection.

2.3.3.0 – 2026-02-28

• Fix: Isolated Gutenberg block preview theme CSS per block instance so multiple GriffinForms blocks on one page keep independent theme rendering.
• Fix: Corrected address field city/postal joined-input corner behavior in builder preview so adjoining borders remain square.
• Improvement: Refined list delete confirmation modals with clearer destructive-action hierarchy and improved guard/error behavior.
• Fix: Resolved bulk form delete fatal error by adding shared child-relation sync support used by delete cascades.
• Improvement: Replaced passive builder new-element fade with a clearer insertion animation and reduced-motion fallback.

2.3.2.0 – 2026-02-14

• Fix: Added themed/no-theme validation parity so invalid controls are clearly highlighted in themed frontend forms.
• Fix: Removed leftover frontend theme asset debug error_log() output.
• Fix: Prevented Undefined array key "email_domain" warning in excluded email domain validation messaging.
• Fix: Corrected relation sync on page delete so formpages stays consistent and form list page counts remain accurate.
• Fix: Stabilized builder form-tree toggle behavior and resolved jerky right-sidebar accordion close motion.
• Fix: Improved no-theme responsive behavior in narrow containers (row/action button stacking) and aligned Gutenberg no-theme preview button styling with frontend defaults.

2.3.1.0 – 2026-02-08

• Fix: Restored a clear phone country dropdown caret across frontend, form builder, and Gutenberg preview renderers.
• Improvement: Phone country select sizing and compact behavior refined to avoid overlap and unbalanced wide-field layouts.
• Fix: Phone input-group border sync now preserves asymmetric theme border styles (per-side width/style/color) across renderers.
• Improvement: Message editor now preserves allowlisted HTML better between Code/Visual modes.
• Improvement: Message save sanitization now uses a dedicated allowlist policy for email-safe HTML (including heading tags).
• Fix: Removed invalid frontend theme stylesheet dependency causing WP_Styles::add notices on newer WordPress versions.

2.3.0.0 – 2026-02-06

• Feature: Compliance profiles (Standard, GDPR, HIPAA‑ready) with per‑form inherit/custom overrides.
• Feature: Submission metadata timeline with page + payment events and form version context.
• Feature: Builder warnings pipeline with status bar counts and overlays.
• Feature: WordPress Tools export/erase integration for GriffinForms data.
• Improvement: Compliance downloads now include full layout snapshots for traceability.
• Improvement: GDPR profile masks IPs and stores summarized user agent details.