How to use a custom post type archive as front page?

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I’d like to use a custom post type archive as a site’s front page, so that 

 http://the_site.com/

is a custom post type archive displayed according to my archive-{post-type}.php file.

Ideally I would like to alter the query using is_front_page() in my functions.php file. I tried the following, with a page called “Home” as my front page:

 add_filter('pre_get_posts', 'my_get_posts');
 function my_get_posts($query){
     global $wp_the_query;
     if(is_front_page()&&$wp_the_query===$query){
        $query->set('post_type','album');
        $query->set('posts_per_page',-1);
     }
     return $query;
 }

but the front page is returning the content of “Home” and seems to be ignoring the custom query.

What am I doing wrong? Is there a better way, in general, of going about this?

5

After you have set a static page as your home page you can add this to your functions.php and you are good to go. This will call the archive-POSTTYPE.php template correctly as well.

add_action("pre_get_posts", "custom_front_page");
function custom_front_page($wp_query){
    //Ensure this filter isn't applied to the admin area
    if(is_admin()) {
        return;
    }

    if($wp_query->get('page_id') == get_option('page_on_front')):

        $wp_query->set('post_type', 'CUSTOM POST TYPE NAME HERE');
        $wp_query->set('page_id', ''); //Empty

        //Set properties that describe the page to reflect that
        //we aren't really displaying a static page
        $wp_query->is_page = 0;
        $wp_query->is_singular = 0;
        $wp_query->is_post_type_archive = 1;
        $wp_query->is_archive = 1;

    endif;

}

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