Capitol GAINS: CreativEngine Congressional Utilities

Capitol GAINS (Government Archives & Information Navigation Suite) is a comprehensive WordPress plugin that provides a suite of tools for managing congressional operations, including meetings, participants, members, files, and related data. The plugin integrates with Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) Pro and Elementor for content management and display.

Key Features

• Meeting Management: Create, update, and manage congressional meetings with full metadata support
• Participant & Member Tracking: Manage witnesses, nominees, and committee members
• File Management: Upload and organize meeting files with embargo support
• REST API: Complete REST API for external system integration
• CSV Import: Bulk import meetings, panels, panel members, members, participants, and files via CSV
• Elementor Integration: Custom widgets for displaying meetings, files, filters, and more
• Live Hearings: Support for live streaming and upcoming meeting alerts
• Advanced Filtering: Dynamic filter system with real-time count updates
• Preview System: Generate previews of meetings before publishing

Requirements

• WordPress: 6.2 or higher
• PHP: 7.4 or higher
• ACF Pro: Required (plugin will show notice if not active)
• Elementor: Optional but recommended for frontend display

Custom Post Types

The plugin registers the following custom post types:

• Meetings (meeting) – Main meeting post type
• Participants (meeting_participant) – Witnesses and nominees
• Members (meeting_member) – Committee members
• Meeting Files (meeting_file) – Files associated with meetings

Taxonomies

• Meeting Status (meeting_status)
• Meeting Type (meeting_type)
• Committee Type (committee_type)
• Privacy Type (privacy_type)
• Congress (congress)
• Subcommittee (subcommittee)
• Participant Type (participant_type)

Taxonomies can be enabled/disabled and assigned to different post types via plugin settings.

Database

The plugin uses custom database tables for optimized data storage:

• wp_capigacr_meetingmeta – Meeting metadata
• wp_capigacr_participantmeta – Participant metadata
• wp_capigacr_membermeta – Member metadata
• wp_capigacr_filemeta – File metadata

Database migrations are handled manually via admin UI.

API Integration

The plugin provides a comprehensive REST API for external system integration with endpoints for:

• Creating and updating meetings
• Managing files
• Checking meeting existence
• Getting live meetings
• Filter counts
• Preview generation

Base URL: /wp-json/meetings/v1/

External Services

This plugin may fetch data from external services in the following scenarios:

• File Imports: When importing files via CSV, the plugin may download files from external URLs if specified in the import data. This is user-initiated and requires explicit import action.

All external requests use WordPress’s built-in HTTP API with proper SSL verification and timeouts.