Building and Registering Custom Plugins for Site Store Pro

Overview

Site Store Pro supports two registration paths for custom plugins:

Type	Location	Discovery Method
Drop-in	`/plugins/my-plugin/`	Auto-discovered on every boot by scanning for `plugin.json`
Built-in	`app/Plugins/`	Registered during platform boot + seeded via `PluginSeeder`

Drop-in plugins are the recommended approach for third-party and custom integrations — no framework files need to be modified.

Drop-in Plugin Structure

plugins/
  my-custom-plugin/
    plugin.json          ← Required manifest
    MyCustomPlugin.php   ← PHP class

Both files must be present. The directory name can be anything, but it must be unique within /plugins/.

`plugin.json` Manifest

The manifest defines the plugin’s identity and its configurable settings:

{
  "class": "MyCustomPlugin",
  "name": "My Custom Plugin",
  "version": "1.0",
  "type": "display",
  "shortcode": "my-custom",
  "description": "A drop-in custom plugin",
  "author": "Your Name",
  "options": [
    {
      "field_name": "api_key",
      "field_label": "API Key",
      "field_type": "input",
      "field_required": "yes",
      "sort_order": 10,
      "field_default_value": ""
    }
  ]
}

Manifest Fields

Field	Required	Description
`class`	Yes	PHP class name (without namespace)
`name`	Yes	Human-readable plugin name shown in Admin
`version`	Yes	Semantic version string
`type`	Yes	`display`, `shipping`, or `email`
`shortcode`	Yes (display)	Slug used in `[plugin:slug]` shortcodes
`description`	No	Short description shown in Admin
`author`	No	Author name
`options`	No	Array of `plugin_options` rows (see below)

Options Array Fields

Each entry in options creates a row in plugin_options and generates a form field in the Admin Settings panel:

Field	Description
`field_name`	Setting key used in `getSetting('field_name')`
`field_label`	Label text shown in the Admin form
`field_type`	`input`, `textarea`, `select`, `toggle`, `color`, etc.
`field_required`	`"yes"` or `"no"`
`sort_order`	Integer controlling field ordering in Admin
`field_default_value`	Default value if none is saved

Display Plugin PHP Class

Implement DisplayPlugin and return an HTML string from render():

<?php
namespace App\Plugins\Display;

use App\Models\Plugin;
use App\Plugins\Contracts\DisplayPlugin;

class MyPlugin implements DisplayPlugin
{
    public function slug(): string { return 'my-plugin'; }
    public function name(): string { return 'My Custom Plugin'; }

    public function render(array $params, Plugin $plugin): string
    {
        $mySetting = $plugin->getSetting('my_setting', 'default_value');
        return view('plugins.display.my-plugin', compact('params', 'mySetting'))->render();
    }
}

slug() — must match the shortcode field in plugin.json
render() — receives the parsed shortcode parameters as $params and the plugin’s DB model as $plugin
Use $plugin->getSetting('key', 'default') to read settings saved by the merchant in Admin

Shipping Plugin PHP Class

Shipping plugins implement ShippingPlugin and return a flat array of rate options:

return [
    ['label' => 'Standard Rate', 'rate' => 12.50, 'days' => 3, 'code' => 'MY_CODE'],
    ['label' => 'Express Rate',  'rate' => 24.00, 'days' => 1, 'code' => 'MY_EXPRESS'],
];

Each rate entry must include:

Key	Type	Description
`label`	string	Display name shown at checkout
`rate`	float	Shipping cost in the store currency
`days`	int	Estimated transit days
`code`	string	Internal identifier written to the order record

The ShippingContext object passed to your getRates(ShippingContext $context) method contains origin/destination ZIP codes, country, package weight, and declared value.

Discovery Flow

When Site Store Pro boots, PluginManager::discoverExternalPlugins() runs automatically:

Scan /plugins/ directory

Every subdirectory of /plugins/ is checked for a plugin.json file.

Load the PHP class

The matching PHP class file is loaded via require_once.

Sync the database

syncExternalPlugin() upserts the plugins DB record and all plugin_options rows based on the manifest. Existing merchant-saved settings are preserved.

A class instance is registered with the PluginManager singleton, making it available for rendering and rate queries.

The plugin appears in the Admin Panel immediately on the next page load — no Artisan commands or server restarts are needed.

Built-in Plugin Registration

Drop-in plugins in /plugins/ are recommended for all custom work. If you are building a plugin that ships as part of your own platform fork (placed in app/Plugins/), use the following steps:

Step 1 — Create the PHP class

app/Plugins/Display/MyPlugin.php

The class must implement DisplayPlugin (or ShippingPlugin) as shown above.

Step 2 — Register the plugin class

$manager->register(\App\Plugins\Display\MyPlugin::class);

Step 3 — Seed the database record

Add to PluginSeeder.php:

$plugin = Plugin::updateOrCreate(
    ['filename' => 'my_plugin'],
    [
        'name'                => 'My Custom Plugin',
        'shortcode'           => 'my-plugin',
        'type'                => 'display',
        'author'              => 'Your Name',
        'version'             => '1.0',
        'install_type'        => 1,
        'activation_required' => 'no',
        'activation_status'   => 1,
        'description'         => 'Short description',
    ]
);

PluginOption::create([
    'plugin_id'           => $plugin->id,
    'field_name'          => 'my_setting',
    'field_label'         => 'My Setting Label',
    'field_type'          => 'input',
    'field_required'      => 'no',
    'sort_order'          => 10,
    'field_default_value' => 'default',
]);

Then run:

php artisan db:seed --class=PluginSeeder

Re-running the seeder is safe — all records use updateOrCreate. Existing merchant-saved settings are not affected.

Search Index Rebuild

If your plugin contributes content that should be searchable via the Live Search plugin, rebuild the search index after installation:

# Standard rebuild
php artisan search:rebuild-index

# Force full rebuild even if indexes are locked
php artisan search:rebuild-index --force

Plugin System

Plugin discovery, Admin Panel, shortcode syntax, and PluginManager API.

Display Plugins

Reference for built-in display plugins and their shortcode parameters.

Shipping Plugins

Built-in FedEx, UPS, and USPS shipping plugins for comparison.

Getting Started

Storefront

Admin: Products

Admin: Orders & Sales

Admin: CMS

Payments & Subscriptions

Plugins & Extensions

Support & Helpdesk

Configuration

Building and Registering Custom Plugins for Site Store Pro

Overview

Drop-in Plugin Structure

`plugin.json` Manifest

Manifest Fields

Options Array Fields

Display Plugin PHP Class

Shipping Plugin PHP Class

Discovery Flow

Built-in Plugin Registration

Step 1 — Create the PHP class

Step 2 — Register the plugin class

Step 3 — Seed the database record

Search Index Rebuild

Plugin System

Display Plugins

Shipping Plugins

​Overview

​Drop-in Plugin Structure

​plugin.json Manifest

​Manifest Fields

​Options Array Fields

​Display Plugin PHP Class

​Shipping Plugin PHP Class

​Discovery Flow

​Built-in Plugin Registration

​Step 1 — Create the PHP class

​Step 2 — Register the plugin class

​Step 3 — Seed the database record

​Search Index Rebuild

​Related

Plugin System

Display Plugins

Shipping Plugins

Overview

Drop-in Plugin Structure

`plugin.json` Manifest

Manifest Fields

Options Array Fields

Display Plugin PHP Class

Shipping Plugin PHP Class

Discovery Flow

Built-in Plugin Registration

Step 1 — Create the PHP class

Step 2 — Register the plugin class

Step 3 — Seed the database record

Search Index Rebuild

Related