WordPress Plugins: Publish and Monetize

Self-update from GitHub

YahnisElsts/plugin-update-checker is library to custom update for plugins and themes that are not hosted on wp.org, but are self-hosted or hosted on GitHub.

For self-hosted plugins use YahnisElsts/wp-update-server custom update API server library and a server implementation in a form of a plugin froger-me/wp-plugin-update-server with licensing and “proxy” functionality.

Jānis Elsts - aka W-Shadow.com

Other Libraries

FacetWP/github-updater-lite se meni baš sviđa pošto je baš mali i efikasan

The most straightforward way to obtain updates from a custom URL is by using rudrastyh/misha-update-checker i rudrastyh/misha-theme-updater. Further information can be found in the following article about Self-Hosted Plugin Update for WordPress. This article is using it also Using Github To Self-Host Updates For WordPress Plugins

radishconcepts/WordPress-GitHub-Plugin-Updater is class for GitHub hosted plugins to check for updates, with last commit in 2020

jeremyclark13/automatic-theme-plugin-update is abandoned and has long stopped updating itself

wp.org Deploy Workflow

publishing plugin on wp.org, deploying plugin to wordpress.org

The company 10up introduced their GitHub Actions for WordPress Plugins in the past. These actions can be found on the 10up/actions-wordpress repository and form the basis for most of the procedures described later on.

The usage of these 10up actions is thoroughly explained in the article Deploy Plugin Using Github Actions, and once again, perhaps even more detailed, in the article about plugin release tools.

These are not the only GitHub actions available for WordPress, as there are many, some of which are excellent and can further enhance the process. Check out GitHub WordPress Actions for more options.

In the past, before GitHub even existed, there were shell scripts for the same purpose, such as pdclark/deploy-plugin-to-wordpress-dot-org, and a more recent one GaryJones/wordpress-plugin-svn-deploy. However, I believe it is pointless to deal with them.

License Management Systems

selling premium plugins, update server license management systems

The best solution, by far, is the YahnisElsts/wp-update-server, but there are also other options available.

It seems that a complete solution has already been implemented here: Create and sell license key in WooCommerce

A more comprehensive and sophisticated system is Snipe-IT, a free open-source IT asset management tool available on the snipe/snipe-it repository.

Managed with Composer

This is a different procedure for managing the entire WP using Composer. Learn how to install Plugins and Themes from GitHub with Composer by reading the article.