Side Cart

What it does

Side Cart replaces the WooCommerce “redirect to cart” interruption with a drawer that slides in from the side of the page when a customer adds a product. The drawer shows line items, unit prices, a quantity stepper, line removal, the cart subtotal, and a free-shipping progress bar (when the Free Shipping Bar module is enabled). It works with both classic WooCommerce add-to-cart flows and the WooCommerce Blocks Product Collection block.

The module also injects a cart icon (with a live count badge) into the theme’s primary navigation menu, or as a floating bottom-right button if your theme has no nav to inject into. Clicking the icon, or adding any product, opens the drawer. Cart state stays synchronised with WooCommerce fragments, so any other cart widget on the page updates at the same time.

Replaces: CartFlows Cart ($239/yr), FunnelKit Cart ($99/yr), WooCommerce Side Cart ($79/yr).

Quick start

1. In WP admin, go to Asteris for WooCommerce → Modules and enable Side Cart.
2. Go to Asteris for WooCommerce → Side Cart (settings tab).
3. Choose Position (slide from right or left).
4. Decide whether to Auto-open the drawer on add-to-cart (recommended on) and whether to inject a Cart icon in header or show a Floating cart button.
5. Save settings.
6. Open the storefront, add a product to cart, confirm the drawer opens and shows the item.
7. (Optional) Enable the Free Shipping Bar module and set a threshold to make the progress bar appear inside the drawer.

Settings reference

Setting	What it does	Default	Valid values
Auto-open	Opens the drawer automatically when a product is added to cart	On (1)	1, 0
Position	Side of the viewport the drawer slides in from	right	right, left
Cart icon in header	Injects a cart icon with live count badge into the primary nav	On (1)	1, 0
Floating cart button	Shows a floating bottom-right cart button	Off (0)	1, 0
Free shipping bar	Shows the free-shipping progress bar inside the drawer	On (1)	1, 0

The option keys in wp_options are asteris_side_cart_auto_open, asteris_side_cart_position, asteris_side_cart_show_header_cart, asteris_side_cart_show_cart_button, and asteris_side_cart_show_free_ship.

Threshold and colour for the free-shipping bar are owned by the Free Shipping Bar module (asteris_free_shipping_bar_threshold, asteris_free_shipping_bar_mini_cart_pos). Side Cart only toggles whether to render it.

Common workflows

Replace the WooCommerce cart-page redirect with the drawer

WooCommerce’s default behaviour on add-to-cart is either a page reload with a notice or a redirect to the cart page. The drawer is a less disruptive alternative.

1. In WooCommerce → Settings → Products, turn off Redirect to the cart page after successful addition.
2. In Asteris for WooCommerce → Side Cart, turn on Auto-open.
3. Add a product from the shop archive. The drawer opens; the page does not navigate.
4. On the single-product page, when “Redirect to cart” is off, WooCommerce renders a .woocommerce-message notice — the drawer detects this on load and opens.

Use the drawer with the WooCommerce Blocks Product Collection block

Block-based themes and the Product Collection block do not fire jQuery added_to_cart. Side Cart subscribes to the wc/store/cart data store and opens the drawer when the cart item count increases.

1. Confirm Auto-open is enabled.
2. Place a Product Collection block on a page with the “Add to Cart” button on each card.
3. Click Add to Cart on any card. The drawer opens with the new item.

Inject a cart icon into a theme that has no header cart

Themes like Twenty Twenty-Five and many block themes ship without a built-in cart icon.

1. Enable Cart icon in header.
2. If the theme exposes its nav via wp_nav_menu(), the icon injects via PHP into the first non-footer menu.
3. If the theme uses a block-based navigation, the JavaScript fallback locates the first header <ul> and appends the icon there.
4. If neither succeeds (rare custom themes), enable Floating cart button instead.

Adjust quantity or remove items inside the drawer

The drawer’s quantity stepper and trash icon both call admin-ajax with a nonce; no page reload is required.

1. Open the drawer with at least one item.
2. Press the + or − button to change quantity. The drawer dims, posts to asteris_sc_update_qty, and replaces the inner HTML.
3. Press the trash icon to remove a line. The drawer posts to asteris_sc_remove.
4. The drawer also triggers wc_fragment_refresh, so any other cart widgets on the page update.

Show free-shipping progress inside the drawer

The progress bar pulls its threshold from the Free Shipping Bar module first, then falls back to the lowest enabled WooCommerce free-shipping zone method.

1. Enable the Free Shipping Bar module.
2. Set a positive Threshold in that module’s settings.
3. In Side Cart settings, ensure Free shipping bar is on.
4. Choose top or bottom position in the Free Shipping Bar module (asteris_free_shipping_bar_mini_cart_pos).

For developers

Stability commitment. Hooks, filters, REST endpoints, and shortcodes documented below follow semver. Breaking changes happen only on major version bumps, with at least one minor version of deprecation notice in advance. Anything not listed here (internal AJAX handlers, settings save handlers, internal plumbing hooks) is implementation detail — those may change without notice.

Frontend asset handles

Handle	Type	File
asteris-side-cart	style	assets/style.css
asteris-side-cart	script	assets/script.js (depends on jquery)

To dequeue the drawer JS conditionally (for example on a page where you do not want it), hook wp_enqueue_scripts at priority 100 and call wp_dequeue_script( 'asteris-side-cart' ). The matching stylesheet handle is the same.

The script’s internal ascData localised object (ajaxUrl, nonce, autoOpen, showHeaderCart, cartCount) and the asteris_sc_remove / asteris_sc_update_qty AJAX handlers are implementation detail used only by the drawer’s own UI — do not call them from third-party code.

Troubleshooting

Drawer does not open on add-to-cart from a block theme

If you are using the WooCommerce Blocks Product Collection block, the drawer relies on the wc/store/cart data store being available. Open browser DevTools and confirm window.wp.data.select('wc/store/cart') returns an object on the page. If it does not, the block scripts have not loaded — check that WooCommerce Blocks is up to date and that no optimisation plugin is stripping the WP Data store from front-end pages.

Two cart icons appear in the header

The PHP filter wp_nav_menu_items and the JS fallback both check for an existing .asc-header-cart-btn before adding a new one, and the JS also bails if it detects a known theme cart selector (Astra, GeneratePress, Elementor, Storefront, WC Mini Cart Block, and generic header a[href*="/cart"]). If you still see duplicates, your theme is exposing its cart link through a selector not in the list. Disable Cart icon in header and the floating button is enough; otherwise file a support request with the theme name and we will extend the selector list.

Quantity stepper or remove button does nothing

Both AJAX endpoints call check_ajax_referer( 'asteris_sc_nonce', 'nonce' ). If your install has aggressive page-caching that serves the cached ascData nonce to logged-out users, the nonce becomes stale after 24 hours and AJAX calls 403. Exclude pages that render the drawer from full-page caching, or shorten your cache TTL to under the nonce lifetime.

Drawer opens but is empty

WC()->cart must be available during wp_footer. Some loader plugins defer WooCommerce initialisation until after the footer renders, leaving WC()->cart null. Confirm WooCommerce is loaded before wp_footer runs, or disable the offending optimisation/lazy-init plugin for cart-bearing pages.

Theme’s existing cart icon still opens the theme’s own drawer

The JS intercepts a list of known theme cart selectors using a capture-phase listener (so it runs before React handlers on the WC Mini Cart Block). If a custom theme uses a selector outside that list, add a small snippet that calls document.querySelector('[data-asc-open]').click() from your theme’s cart click handler, or disable the theme’s cart icon in its customiser and let Side Cart inject its own.

Known plugin conflicts

• CartFlows Cart, FunnelKit Cart, XOO Aero Side Cart, WooCommerce Side Cart: these provide their own slide-out drawer. Run only one at a time — deactivate the other before enabling Side Cart.
• WooCommerce Blocks “Mini Cart” block: Side Cart intercepts clicks on the Mini Cart block button and opens its own drawer instead. If you genuinely want the Block Mini Cart, disable Side Cart.
• Aggressive full-page caches (WP Rocket “Cache Logged-in Users”, LiteSpeed Cache aggressive ESI): can serve stale nonces to the front end. Exclude cart/checkout pages and any page with an add-to-cart button, or use the cache plugin’s ESI/fragment options.
• Page builders with their own cart popovers (Elementor Pro Menu Cart, Bricks Cart element): behaviour with these is not formally tested. If you observe conflicts, please email support@asterisforwoocommerce.com with the theme and builder versions.

What is in Free vs Paid

Side Cart is a paid-tier module. Available in Starter, Pro, Agency, and Founder Lifetime. It is not included in Asteris Free.

Related

• Free Shipping Bar module — owns the threshold and colour for the progress bar shown inside the drawer.
• Trust Badges module — pairs with the drawer for checkout-stage reassurance.
• Stock Urgency module — surface low-stock messaging on product pages before the drawer opens.
• All modules — full list of what’s in Asteris for WooCommerce.
• Pricing — Starter, Pro, Agency, and Lifetime tiers.

Changelog

Version	Date	Notes
1.9.7	2026-06-01	Documented in detail. Previous entries in plugin changelog.