# Discourse App Store?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994
**Category:** Site feedback
**Created:** [August 18, 2014, 12:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994 "2014-08-18T12:06:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AstonJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/AstonJ)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 12:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/1 "2014-08-18T12:06:40Z")
Continuing the discussion from [Discourse for iOS](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-for-ios/12957/36):
> [@AstonJ](#):
>
> **Discourse App Store?**
>
> What does the Discourse team think of an app (plugin) store? So plug-in makers can release apps (either free or paid like the Apple app store) and the profits are split? This way the DC team can checks apps to make sure they are secure and idiomatic, app (and skin) developers get to make some money, and everyone else can be reasonably confident the apps/plugins are safe and relatively efficient.
Not sure if this has been posted anywhere yet, but what does everyone think of a DC App Store? Could be quite lucrative for DC and app/plugin developers..
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### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/2 "2014-08-18T16:11:53Z")
Do you maybe mean something like the [Add-Ons site for Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/) (doesn’t support paid addons) or maybe something more like the [Chrome Webstore](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/) (does have paid extensions)?
AFAIK such a platform doesn’t pre-exist, so it’d have to be built. And it’s not a very trivial project. (Unless people want to help contribute to the one we’re building for OpenMRS. :-))
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### Author:  [@BhaelOchon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BhaelOchon)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/3 "2014-08-18T16:14:57Z")
There has been some discussion amongst the community around what this might look like, although nothing from any of the principals:
> [@What is your favorite plugin directory and why?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-plugin-directory-and-why/11681):
>
> We’ve got people from all walks of web life in here, so I’m curious to hear some good (and bad) examples of plugin directories. There will be at least one plugin directory built for Discourse plugins, so maybe we can help the developers out with a bit of the prep-work by detailing our likes and dislikes for this type of service. Here’s a short list of plugin directories you might have an opinion about: [symphonyextensions.com](http://symphonyextensions.com/)[npmjs.org](https://npmjs.org/)[jekyll-plugins.com](http://www.jekyll-plugins.com/)[wordpress.org/plugins](http://wordpress.org/plugins/)[plugins.jquery.co…](http://plugins.jquery.com/)
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### Author:  [@AstonJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/AstonJ)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/4 "2014-08-18T16:23:00Z")
Sam posted this in the other thread:
> [@sam](#):
>
> Eventually, first we need to focus on expanding and improving our plugin infrastructure
But basically I would like to see something like the Apple App Store - where developers submit apps/plugins, which are checked to make sure they are secure and in-line with other app rules and regs.
I think this way everyone benefits - devs can make money, DC gets a cut, and everyone else gets secure, efficient apps and plugins.
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### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/5 "2014-08-18T16:26:05Z")
I’m not sure the Apple model is a good one for a free & open source software project, but I think I get the idea. The other thread above is a good start at discussing potential features/requirements.
+1 generally for highly discoverable/browsable Discourse plugins.
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### Author:  [@haiku](https://meta.discourse.org/u/haiku)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/6 "2014-08-18T18:21:16Z")
> [@AstonJ](#):
>
> But basically I would like to see something like the Apple App Store - where developers submit apps/plugins, which are checked to make sure they are secure and in-line with other app rules and regs.
I mentioned in the other thread that I like the idea of curated stores, but I think users should have the ability to run their own directories with their own criteria using the same software (would be good for companies like [Communiteq](https://www.communiteq.com) (formerly DiscourseHosting)). In this vision, Discourse admins would select whichever directories they fancy, and plugin updates would stream in from whichever directory they were installed from.
I’m basically describing apt-get, aren’t I? 😛
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### Author:  [@uwe\_keim](https://meta.discourse.org/u/uwe_keim)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/7 "2021-06-02T13:45:38Z")
Is there any progress on this idea?
(I would already be very satisfied to have a small themes/plug-in directory integrated into the Discourse admin GUI, something similar to what WordPress has)
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### Author:  [@DrewH](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DrewH)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2021, 2:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/8 "2021-06-02T14:09:06Z")
ProCourse Installer provided some of the functionality you mentioned, however at this point plugins imported via ProCourse do not persist between rebuilds. If someone were to fix this plugin the app-store idea may be more feasible.
> [@ProCourse Installer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/procourse-installer-installing-removing-plugins-via-the-ui/115476):
>
> This plugin is designed to make it extremely easy to install new plugins without logging into the server. It adds a screen under /admin/plugins/procourse-installer that looks like this: From there, you can enter the URL (with or without .git) of the plugin git repo and click Install Plugin. Wait a few minutes (about 5 minutes) for the installation to complete and you’re good to go. To see all the plugins you’ve installed through the installer or to remove a plugin, just go to Install…
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/9 "2021-06-04T20:55:44Z")
What we have now is Admin → Customize → Themes
`https://discourse.example.com/admin/customize/themes`
… which has a popular tab:
And [Theme Creator, create and show themes without installing Discourse!](https://meta.discourse.org/t/theme-creator-create-and-show-themes-without-installing-discourse/84942)
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### Author:  [@oshyan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/oshyan)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/10 "2021-06-05T19:22:38Z")
I agree with the need for and benefit of this. The existing “popular” tab in the installer is something, but not enough in my view. I posted a similar topic recently, focusing more on themes, but I’d love to see better surfacing and listing of both themes _and_ theme components+plugins, or even a “marketplace”/store.
> [@Improvements to theme browsing and previewing](https://meta.discourse.org/t/improvements-to-theme-browsing-and-previewing/188928):
>
> Hi Discourse team! I would like to humbly request some improvements to the theme browsing and preview experience. I searched a bit and didn’t find another topic on this, so apologies if I missed it and this is a duplicate. I also recognize that this could be considered multiple “feature requests”, but I’m including them all here because they’re all related and are different ways of improving things, not all of which I imagine will be implemented, if any. I’m hoping you prefer this to me posting …
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### Author:  [@justin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/justin)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 4:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/11 "2021-06-09T16:21:31Z")
I’ve always thought there’s an opportunity for 3rd party monetization on customizations for Discourse. I don’t think selling plugins is feasible long-term (complex to maintain, bugs can cause show-stopping issues, hard to sell in an open-source community).
However, there could be opportunity for selling themes/components and creating a browseable place for them to live. I’d feel more comfortable pushing our userbase toward front-end customizations vs. plugins simply due to the many issues plugins can have. Our theme system has matured quite a bit in the last few years since I started working on customizing Discourse, so much so that many customizations don’t even require a plugin anymore.
Nothing’s on our roadmap in this area at this point in time, though.
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Vega](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Justin_Vega)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2021, 4:10pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/12 "2021-07-02T16:10:04Z")
Such a system would be more comparable to the new Microsoft Store. It’s already gaining traction due to its new business model. 😀
> **[Building a new, open Microsoft Store on Windows 11](https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2021/06/24/building-a-new-open-microsoft-store-on-windows-11/)**
>
> Today, we introduced Windows 11. What makes Windows, well, Windows is the variety of apps available - from core to casual games, from sophisticated productivity suites to so
> **[Microsoft Edge extensions show up in the new Microsoft Store for Windows 11](https://www.windowscentral.com/edge-extensions-windows-11-store)**
>
> Users will soon be able to get new and existing Edge browser extensions through the store instead of Microsoft's website.
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### Author:  [@oshyan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/oshyan)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2021, 10:30pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-app-store/18994/13 "2021-07-02T22:30:33Z")
> [@justin](#):
>
> Our theme system has matured quite a bit in the last few years since I started working on customizing Discourse, so much so that many customizations don’t even require a plugin anymore.
Yeah, I’ve been really impressed with what is possible with Theme Components and how easy they are to work with. Not to mention how easy CSS customization often is. I’m really just after a better way to find them and understand their features without installing every one to test, heh.