Introduction

This is not a suggestion for the octobercms but for the websites project management.

I have been using octobercms for 4 to 5 years now and recently I have started developing plugins and themes for a company. These plugins and themes are private and are connected to a project that will be distributed along multiple websites. During the development I have stumbled upon some stuff which I think could be optimised in terms of workflow.

The current workflow

As explained before the plugins and theme are private and they are on a private git repository. The steps I have to follow from start to finish to get a plugin connected to a project is the following.

• create project on the octobercms website.
• create private Git project.
• add octoberapp as a contributor.
• wait until the invite is accepted.
• connect plugin from git on the octobercms website (author page).
• add all the required fields (logo, category, description etc.) and set the plugin to hidden.
• submit project for revision.
• wait for approval.
• after approval unhide the plugin so it shows up on the marketplace.
• bind plugin to the project.
• hide the plugin again.

My issue's

The problems I have with the current workflow where I think things could be optimized:

• There are 2 points in the workflow where I have to wait for action from octobercms.
• I have to make a plugin visible to bind it to a project.
• Plugins can only be added to a project trough the marketplace.

My suggestions

• make a OAuth application with a hook for Git so we can give octoberapp access to all our repositories.
• When adding a plugin to the author panel give us the option to add either a private or public plugin and only require revision for public plugins.
• Add an option to add plugins to a project from the author panel and not just the marketplace.

Conclusion

I understand the current quality control structure that the staff of October wants to uphold but for plugins and themes that are private and stay private could we have a somewhat more speedy workflow without all these checks? And if we want to publish a private plugin, only then send it in for revision before it appears on the marketplace?

Hi, just one question: Isn't it possible to just unzip your developed plugin into the plugins folder and logout/login to the dashboard? Then your plugin should get installed automatically. Or you could also execute 'php artisan october:up' on the console to get the database migrations done. Or am I missing something why it is necessary to go through the marketplace? (I set up a page without adding it as a project on the marketplace). Greetings joejoe

Well, the downside of this is that you need to update your plugin manually. Or perhaps you can add a webhook or a cronjob on your site that monitors git changes and then automatically gets them and updates the plugin.