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Building Your Own Plugin

Building your own Payload Plugin is easy, and if you're already familiar with Payload then you'll have everything you need to get started. You can either start from scratch or use the Plugin Template to get up and running quickly.

Our plugin template includes everything you need to build a full life-cycle plugin:

  • Example files and functions for extending the Payload Config
  • A local dev environment to develop the plugin
  • Test suite with integrated GitHub workflow

By abstracting your code into a plugin, you'll be able to reuse your feature across multiple projects and make it available for other developers to use.

Plugins Recap

Here is a brief recap of how to integrate plugins with Payload, to learn more head back to the plugin overview page.

How to install a plugin

To install any plugin, simply add it to your Payload Config in the plugins array.

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import samplePlugin from 'sample-plugin';
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const config = buildConfig({
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plugins: [
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// Add plugins here
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samplePlugin({
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enabled: true,
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}),
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],
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});
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export default config;

Initialization

The initialization process goes in the following order:

  1. Incoming config is validated
  2. Plugins execute
  3. Default options are integrated
  4. Sanitization cleans and validates data
  5. Final config gets initialized

Plugin Template

In the Payload Plugin Template, you will see a common file structure that is used across plugins:

  1. / root folder - general configuration
  2. /src folder - everything related to the plugin
  3. /dev folder - sanitized test project for development

The root folder

In the root folder, you will see various files related to the configuration of the plugin. We set up our environment in a similar manner in Payload core and across other projects. The only two files you need to modify are:

  • README.md - This contains instructions on how to use the template. When you are ready, update this to contain instructions on how to use your Plugin.
  • package.json - Contains necessary scripts and dependencies. Overwrite the metadata in this file to describe your Plugin.

The dev folder

The purpose of the dev folder is to provide a sanitized local Payload project. so you can run and test your plugin while you are actively developing it.

Do not store any of the plugin functionality in this folder - it is purely an environment to assist you with developing the plugin.

If you're starting from scratch, you can easily setup a dev environment like this:

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mkdir dev
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cd dev
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npx create-payload-app@latest

If you're using the plugin template, the dev folder is built out for you and the samplePlugin has already been installed in dev/payload.config.ts.

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plugins: [
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// when you rename the plugin or add options, make sure to update it here
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samplePlugin({
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enabled: false,
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})
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]

You can add to the dev/payload.config.ts and build out the dev project as needed to test your plugin.

When you're ready to start development, navigate into this folder with cd dev

And then start the project with pnpm dev and pull up http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

Testing

Another benefit of the dev folder is that you have the perfect environment established for testing.

A good test suite is essential to ensure quality and stability in your plugin. Payload typically uses Jest; a popular testing framework, widely used for testing JavaScript and particularly for applications built with React.

Jest organizes tests into test suites and cases. We recommend creating tests based on the expected behavior of your plugin from start to finish. Read more about tests in the Jest documentation.

The plugin template provides a stubbed out test suite at dev/plugin.spec.ts which is ready to go - just add in your own test conditions and you're all set!

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let payload: Payload
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describe('Plugin tests', () => {
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// Example test to check for seeded data
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it('seeds data accordingly', async () => {
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const newCollectionQuery = await payload.find({
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collection: 'newCollection',
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sort: 'createdAt',
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})
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newCollection = newCollectionQuery.docs
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expect(newCollectionQuery.totalDocs).toEqual(1)
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})
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})

Seeding data

For development and testing, you will likely need some data to work with. You can streamline this process by seeding and dropping your database - instead of manually entering data.

In the plugin template, you can navigate to dev/src/server.ts and see an example seed function.

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if (process.env.PAYLOAD_SEED === 'true') {
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await seed(payload)
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}

A sample seed function has been created for you at dev/src/seed, update this file with additional data as needed.

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export const seed = async (payload: Payload): Promise<void> => {
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payload.logger.info('Seeding data...')
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await payload.create({
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collection: 'new-collection',
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data: {
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title: 'Seeded title',
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},
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})
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// Add additional seed data here
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}

Building a Plugin

Now that we have our environment setup and dev project ready to go - it's time to build the plugin!

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import type { Config } from 'payload'
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export const samplePlugin =
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(pluginOptions: PluginTypes) =>
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(incomingConfig: Config): Config => {
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// create copy of incoming config
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let config = { ...incomingConfig }
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/**
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* This is where you could modify the
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* config based on the plugin options
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*/
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// If you wanted to add a new collection:
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config.collections = [
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...(config.collections || []),
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newCollection,
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]
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// If you wanted to add a new global:
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config.globals = [
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...(config.globals || []),
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newGlobal,
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]
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/**
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* If you wanted to add a new field to a collection:
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*
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* 1. Loop over collections
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* 2. Find the collection you want to add the field to
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* 3. Add the field to the collection
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*/
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// If you wanted to add to the onInit:
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config.onInit = async payload => {
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if (incomingConfig.onInit) await incomingConfig.onInit(payload)
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// Add additional onInit code here
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}
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// Finally, return the modified config
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return config
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}

To reiterate, the essence of a Payload Plugin is simply to extend the Payload Config - and that is exactly what we are doing in this file.

Spread syntax

Spread syntax (or the spread operator) is a feature in JavaScript that uses the dot notation (...) to spread elements from arrays, strings, or objects into various contexts.

We are going to use spread syntax to allow us to add data to existing arrays without losing the existing data. It is crucial to spread the existing data correctly, else this can cause adverse behavior and conflicts with Payload Config and other plugins.

Let's say you want to build a plugin that adds a new collection:

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config.collections = [
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...(config.collections || []),
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newCollection,
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// Add additional collections here
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]

First, you need to spread the config.collections to ensure that we don't lose the existing collections. Then you can add any additional collections, just as you would in a regular Payload Config.

This same logic is applied to other array and object like properties such as admin, globals and hooks:

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config.globals = [
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...(config.globals || []),
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// Add additional globals here
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]
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config.hooks = {
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...(config.hooks || {}),
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// Add additional hooks here
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}

Extending functions

Function properties cannot use spread syntax. The way to extend them is to execute the existing function if it exists and then run your additional functionality.

Here is an example extending the onInit property:

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config.onInit = async payload => {
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if (incomingConfig.onInit) await incomingConfig.onInit(payload)
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// Add additional onInit code by using the onInitExtension function
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onInitExtension(pluginOptions, payload)
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}

Types

If your plugin has options, you should define and provide types for these options in a separate file which gets exported from the main index.ts.

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export interface PluginTypes {
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/**
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* Enable or disable plugin
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* @default false
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*/
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enabled?: boolean
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}

If possible, include JSDoc comments to describe the options and their types. This allows a developer to see details about the options in their editor.

Best practices

In addition to the setup covered above, here are other best practices to follow:

Providing an enable / disable option

For a better user experience, provide a way to disable the plugin without uninstalling it.

Include tests in your GitHub CI workflow

If you've configured tests for your package, integrate them into your workflow to run the tests each time you commit to the plugin repository. Learn more about how to configure tests into your GitHub CI workflow.

Publish your finished plugin to npm

The best way to share and allow others to use your plugin once it is complete is to publish an npm package. This process is straightforward and well documented, find out more about creating and publishing a npm package here.

Add payload-plugin topic tag

Apply the tag payload-plugin to your GitHub repository. This will boost the visibility of your plugin and ensure it gets listed with existing Payload plugins.

Use Semantic Versioning (SemVer)

With the Semantic Versioning (SemVer) system you release version numbers that reflect the nature of changes (major, minor, patch). Ensure all major versions reference their Payload compatibility.

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