Publishing Your Plugin

Once your plugin is complete and tested, you can publish it to the official Vandrite Plugin Registry for other users to discover and install.

Overview

The vandrite-plugins repository serves as the central registry for all community plugins. To get your plugin listed, you'll need to submit a Pull Request with your plugin information.

Prerequisites

Before publishing, ensure your plugin:

1. Is hosted in its own public GitHub repository
2. Has a proper manifest.json file
3. Has at least one release with a downloadable .zip file
4. Includes a README with documentation

Step 1: Create a Release

1. Build your plugin:

   npm run build

2. Create a release ZIP containing:

   • manifest.json
   • main.js (compiled)
   • Any other required assets

3. Generate a SHA256 checksum:

   # On Linux/Mac
   shasum -a 256 your-plugin.zip
   
   # On Windows (PowerShell)
   Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 your-plugin.zip

4. Create a GitHub release and upload the ZIP file

Automating Releases

You can automate the bundling process by creating a script.

1. Install archiver:

   npm install --save-dev archiver

2. Create a file scripts/release.js:

   const fs = require("fs");
   const path = require("path");
   const archiver = require("archiver");
   
   const manifest = require("../manifest.json");
   const version = manifest.version;
   const pluginId = manifest.id;
   
   const releaseDir = path.join(__dirname, "..", "releases");
   const zipName = `${pluginId}-${version}.zip`;
   const zipPath = path.join(releaseDir, zipName);
   
   if (!fs.existsSync(releaseDir)) {
     fs.mkdirSync(releaseDir, { recursive: true });
   }
   
   const output = fs.createWriteStream(zipPath);
   const archive = archiver("zip", { zlib: { level: 9 } });
   
   output.on("close", () => {
     console.log(`✅ Created ${zipName} (${archive.pointer()} bytes)`);
     console.log(`📦 Ready to upload to GitHub releases!`);
   });
   
   archive.on("error", (err) => {
     throw err;
   });
   
   archive.pipe(output);
   
   archive.file("manifest.json", { name: "manifest.json" });
   archive.file("main.js", { name: "main.js" });
   archive.file("README.md", { name: "README.md" });
   
   archive.finalize();

3. Add a script to your package.json:

   "scripts": {
     "release": "node scripts/release.js"
   }

4. Run npm run release to generate your zip file.

Step 2: Add to Registry

Fork the vandrite-plugins repository and add your plugin entry to manifest.json:

{
  "guid": "unique-uuid-v4",
  "id": "your-plugin-id",
  "name": "Your Plugin Name",
  "slug": "your-plugin-id",
  "overview": "Short description (max 100 chars)",
  "description": "Full description with features and usage",
  "author": "Your Name",
  "authorUrl": "https://github.com/yourusername",
  "category": "Productivity",
  "tags": ["tag1", "tag2"],
  "imageUrl": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/.../icon.png",
  "repository": "https://github.com/yourusername/your-plugin",
  "featured": false,
  "verified": false,
  "versions": [
    {
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "changelog": "Initial release",
      "minAppVersion": "0.1.0",
      "downloadUrl": "https://github.com/.../releases/download/v1.0.0/plugin.zip",
      "checksum": "sha256:abc123def456..."
    }
  ]
}

Registry Entry Fields

Categories

Choose the most appropriate category for your plugin:

• Productivity - Task management, time tracking, etc.
• Writing - Writing tools, templates, etc.
• Organization - File management, tagging, etc.
• Appearance - Themes, custom CSS, icons
• Integration - External services, APIs
• Developer - Developer tools, debugging

Step 3: Submit Pull Request

1. Commit your changes to manifest.json
2. Open a Pull Request to the main repository
3. Wait for review from the Vandrite team

Verification

Plugins can be marked as verified: true after manual review from the Vandrite team. Verified plugins:

• Have been tested for quality and security
• Display a verified badge in the plugin browser
• Appear higher in search results

Updating Your Plugin

When releasing updates:

1. Build and release a new version
2. Add a new entry to the versions array in the registry
3. Submit a PR with the update

"versions": [
  {
    "version": "1.1.0",
    "changelog": "Added new feature X",
    "minAppVersion": "0.1.0",
    "downloadUrl": "https://github.com/.../releases/download/v1.1.0/plugin.zip",
    "checksum": "sha256:..."
  },
  {
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "changelog": "Initial release",
    "minAppVersion": "0.1.0",
    "downloadUrl": "https://github.com/.../releases/download/v1.0.0/plugin.zip",
    "checksum": "sha256:..."
  }
]

Resources