How to Display Co-Author Bylines in Your WordPress Theme

Co-Authors Plus stores multiple authors per post, but your theme needs to be updated to display them. Most themes use the standard WordPress get_the_author() function which only returns one author. Here is how to replace that with Co-Authors Plus template tags.

The Problem with Default Theme Author Display

Your theme probably has code like this in single.php or content.php:

<?php the_author(); ?>
<!-- or -->
<?php echo get_the_author(); ?>
<!-- or -->
<?php echo get_the_author_meta( 'display_name' ); ?>

All of these only return the primary registered author. Co-Authors Plus provides replacement functions.

Basic Byline with Linked Author Names

The simplest replacement is coauthors_posts_links() which outputs all author names as comma-separated links to their author archive pages:

// Replace the_author() or get_the_author() with:
<?php if ( function_exists( 'coauthors_posts_links' ) ) {
    coauthors_posts_links();
} else {
    the_author();
} ?>

The conditional check ensures your theme does not break if Co-Authors Plus is ever deactivated.

Byline with Custom Separators

coauthors_posts_links() accepts parameters for between, before last, and after last separators:

<?php
coauthors_posts_links(
    ', ',    // between authors
    ' and ', // before the last author
    '',      // before the list
    '',      // after the list
    true     // echo output (false to return as string)
);
?>

This outputs “Jane Smith, John Doe and Alice Brown” for a three-author post.

Plain Text Byline (No Links)

Use coauthors() for plain text without archive page links:

<?php coauthors( ', ', ' and ' ); ?>

Looping Through Authors for Custom Display

For a fully custom byline display — showing each author’s avatar, name, and bio separately — loop through the authors array:

<?php
$authors = get_coauthors();
foreach ( $authors as $author ) : ?>
    <div class="author-credit">
        <?php echo get_avatar( $author->user_email, 48 ); ?>
        <div class="author-info">
            <a href="<?php echo get_author_posts_url( $author->ID, $author->user_nicename ); ?>">
                <?php echo esc_html( $author->display_name ); ?>
            </a>
            <p><?php echo esc_html( $author->description ); ?></p>
        </div>
    </div>
<?php endforeach; ?>

Showing Co-Authors in the Loop (Archive Pages)

For archive pages where multiple posts are listed, use the same functions inside the loop. coauthors_posts_links() is context-aware and automatically reads the current post in the loop without needing to pass a post ID.

Adding Co-Author Support to Custom Post Types

By default Co-Authors Plus supports posts and pages. To add support for a custom post type, go to Settings, then Co-Authors, and add the post type slug. After saving, the co-author meta box appears when editing that post type and the template tag functions work correctly on its archive and single templates.

For theme integration beyond template tags — including custom author archive templates and schema markup for multiple authors — a WordPress developer can implement the full Co-Authors Plus setup in your theme.