Archive-facing view count storage and sorting using WordPress post meta (ec_post_views).

Current Implementation

The theme relies on the ec_post_views post meta key for archive sorting (see inc/archives/archive-custom-sorting.php).

The ec_post_views value is written by the network analytics system (the extrachill-analytics plugin). The theme treats this meta as read-only.

Using in Templates

The theme treats view counts as read-only display data. When needed, templates can read the stored meta directly:

$views = (int) get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'ec_post_views', true );

Query Posts by Views

// Get most viewed posts
$query = new WP_Query( array(
    'post_type'      => 'post',
    'posts_per_page' => 10,
    'meta_key'       => 'ec_post_views',
    'orderby'        => 'meta_value_num',
    'order'          => 'DESC',
) );

Storage Details

Meta Key: ec_post_views
Data Type: Integer
Stored In: wp_postmeta table

Direct Access:

$views = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'ec_post_views', true );

Notes

The write path for view counts lives outside the theme; this doc only covers how the theme reads and sorts by ec_post_views.