Publishing to the plugin shop

The plugin shop (Settings → Plugins → Plugin shop) lists community plugins. Every Hub reads the official shop by default, and the people who run a Hub install plugins from it with one click; then everyone on that Hub chooses which ones to turn on.

How the shop works#

• The official shop is hosted by the official Hub, which sets PLUGIN_SHOP_URL to 'self'. It keeps each plugin's newest version in data/shop/ and counts downloads.
• Every other Hub reads its catalog at https://<official hub>/app/api.php?action=shop_catalog (the default PLUGIN_SHOP_URL). A Hub can point at another catalog, or host its own with 'self'.
• Installing downloads the ZIP, checks its SHA-256 against the catalog, unpacks only plugin files, and runs the same checks as a plugin uploaded by hand. A plugin someone installed by hand is never replaced by the shop.

Publishing a plugin#

Write and test your plugin first: the plugin guide has everything. Then, on the Hub that hosts the shop:

php tools/shop-publish.php path/to/your-plugin --tags=fun,games --homepage=https://example.com/your-plugin

You can pass the plugin's folder (it's zipped for you) or a .zip. To publish an update, raise "version" in plugin.json and publish again: each version can only be published once, and only the newest is offered.

php tools/shop-publish.php --list            what's in the shop, with download counts
php tools/shop-publish.php --remove=my-plugin take a plugin out (Hubs that installed it keep their copy)

Publishing from inside the app is coming: the publishing code (shop_publish() in lib/plugins.php) already checks ownership, so only a plugin's first publisher can publish its new versions.

What a published plugin must have#

• A valid plugin.json (id, name, version, main), exactly as for any plugin.
• Only plugin files: js, css, json, md, txt, images, fonts and sounds. Up to 3 MB zipped and 6 MB unpacked.
• homepage, if you give one, must be an https:// link. Linking to the plugin's source helps people trust it.

Catalog format#

A shop catalog is JSON with a plugins list. Each entry has id, name, version, author, description, homepage, tags, download (where its ZIP is) and sha256 (the SHA-256 of that exact ZIP). The official shop adds downloads and updated. plugin-shop.example.json is a complete example if you'd rather host a static catalog.