almost perfect

@sxn31 have you looked at the yarpp_related() function and/or YARPP shortcode?

For example, you can do:

[yarpp exclude="1,2,3"] - exclude posts with categories with IDs 1,2 and 3

All the parameters accepted by yarpp_related() can also be used in the shortcode.

https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/yet-another-related-posts-plugin/#installation

Is this relevant?

From https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/yet-another-related-posts-plugin/#how%20to%20add%20support%20for%20a%20custom%20post%20type%20%28cpt%29%3F

How to add support for a Custom Post Type (CPT)?

To make YARPP support your Custom Post Type (CPT), the attribute yarpp_support must be set to true when the CPT is registered. The CPT will then be available in the YARPP settings page.

‘yarpp_support’ => true

For example:

function register_my_cpt() {
$args = array(
‘public’ => true,
‘label’ => ‘Books’,
‘yarpp_support’ => true,
);
register_post_type( ‘book’, $args );
}
add_action( ‘init’, ‘register_my_cpt’ );