u/Fjellfjolset

I'm building a very lightweight MVP marketplace in WordPress using:

• CPT UI
• ACF
• JetFormBuilder
• Gutenberg/FSE
• WooCommerce installed (but not really used for this flow)

The idea is simple:

For the MVP, I create a job (custom post type).

Another logged-in user can click a button to "Take Job".

When clicked, we want:

1. The job status to change from: pending → claimed
2. The logged-in user to become the owner/claimer of the job
3. The button to book/claim the job disappears after the job is taken (to avoid double booking)

Questions:

1. Is this the correct/safe MVP approach for a frontend "claim job" flow in WordPress?
2. Is using Post Author as the "claimed by" user a bad idea, or acceptable for an MVP?
3. What's the cleanest FREE way to:

• hide the "Take Job" button after status = claimed
• prevent race conditions/double claiming

1. Would you solve this differently?

• JetEngine?
• Meta Box?
• Fluent Forms?
• custom AJAX?
• something else?

Trying to avoid custom code for the MVP phase if possible, while also keeping costs down and preferably using free plugins/solutions.

That said, paying <100 USD for a fully functioning solution would still be acceptable.