Wordpress - Password protect a custom post type programmatically

functions.php

<?php
/**
 * Password protects a custom post type programmatically.
 *
 * @param $post
 */
add_action( 'the_post', function( $post ){
	if ( $post->post_type != 'post' ) {
		return;
	}	
	$post->post_password = 'your_password';
} );
?>

@Moriaani. Ok, for your single posts, my code was broken up into two sections, one array for Post Types and one for Categories.

In both arrays, the key (on the left) is the name for the PT or Term, and the value is the password in plain text.

            $protected_post_types = [
                'post_type_name' => 'the_password',
                'pt_name_2' => 'password_2',
            ];

            $protected_categories = [
                'guides' => 'password',
                'recipes' => 'password',
                'news' => 'password',
            ];

So in answer to your question:

• in my current setup, you can either lock down all posts from a particular CPT ($protected_post_types) or you can lock down posts that are in a particular category ($protected_categories).
• You enter the unencrypted password on the right.
• 'guides' was an example of a category term name.

Of course, you could extend this logic to work for any taxonomy or any other post metadata.

Jerome

Thank you sooo much, @jerome-toole

Works like a charm 👍🙂