This is like a Feature - Dev topic, not sure which one it should be in. Is there a way to modify site settings in a plugin? I’m 99% sure there isn’t, but I’d just like to confirm that. If there isn’t, can I put forward a suggestion to not make it immutable? Or perhaps, having some API or a way to…

Although that is perfectly possible from a technical point of view, I think the approach would be over complicated, especially since “at the start” is hard to define/detect, and you want to avoid that the plugin keeps adding B back after the site admin removed it. Also, when a new private category i…

[image] NateDhaliwal: Is there a way to modify site settings in a plugin? I’m 99% sure there isn’t, but I’d just like to confirm that. Do you just want to change the value of site settings? Just do SiteSetting.whatever='new value. Or do you want to change something about them? [image] Nat…

[image] NateDhaliwal: A possible use case I’m looking at is to the include a list of protected categories to a setting such that it’s easier for the admin to include/exclude them. Let’s start here and work outside in. Can you first describe the use case from the point of view of the communit…

@mcwumbly @pfaffman Thanks for telling me about [image] pfaffman: SiteSetting.whatever='new value I wrongly assumed that since settings are ummutable in TCs, they are also as such in plugins in Ruby. I’ll give that a shot. It would be nice to make them editable in TCs. My use case (which I …

[image] NateDhaliwal: I wrongly assumed that since settings are ummutable in TCs, they are also as such in plugins in Ruby. I’ll give that a shot. If you’re logged in as an admin then a theme component could change siteSettings via the API. [image] NateDhaliwal: but would not like to inc…

[image] NateDhaliwal: My use case (which I am using a plugin for now) is that I take all topics and posts in all categories by default and do some stuff with them, but would not like to include protected categories (like a excluded_categories setting). I would still love to know more. Are yo…

@mcwumbly @pfaffman Okay, let me try to explain this as much as possible. I am developing a plugin that takes topics and posts and publishes them to GitHub as Markdown files (like an archive). However, I would not like to include private categories (I think now that’s the correct term?) in this, s…

Bear with me. I still want to understand better from the perspective of the community team what problem you’re trying to solve. [image] NateDhaliwal: I am developing a plugin that takes topics and posts and publishes them to GitHub as Markdown files (like an archive). What kind of community…

It’s not really about the community. I’m taking a shot at this (with a backfill job as well) in my own way. This saves each topic and post as a Markdown file in a repo.

[image] NateDhaliwal: However, I would not like to include private categories (I think now that’s the correct term?) in this, since they are ‘private’. I still don’t know what private means to you. Does it mean that you want only categories that are visible to everyone, or to anonymous users?…

I mean categories like #staff, and others that are limited by groups. I think it’s possible with a plugin, but I guess TC settings can’t be mutable then? I mean, that’s probably irrelevant to my original query now I guess.

Static pages sync: Allowing specific private categories to be synced

Development

mcwumbly (Dave McClure) November 29, 2025, 1:49pm 19

I’ve also updated the title to better describe what this topic is really about.

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Static pages sync: Allowing specific private categories to be synced

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