Okay, so if I already have a well-developed plugin in development mode, how do I move that plugin to production without relying on third-party services? Is there even a way to do that?

Yes, it’s explained in this doc [image] Install plugins on a self-hosted site Self-Hosting warning This guide assumes that you have a self-hosted standard installation. We only support the standard method of install here, so these instructions assume you have …

Host it on GitHub or GitLab, clone as usual.

[image] Willy: and my question is about not relying on third parties. Discourse itself depends on quite a few external services like Github, Docker Hub, Rubygems, the NPM registry and LetsEncrypt. Just making your plugin deployment independent of Github does not make a lot of sense if you as…

Oh you’re right, missed that part. :woman_shrugging:

It makes sense because I have developed many small plugins that do small things and therefore won’t need updates, managing GitHub to put those small plugins up is overkill, it’s too much work.

Putting a plugin up on Github is less than one minute of work. Create repository and copy/paste the shell script it outputs upon creation that does git init, git add and git push. That is the reason why you’re the first one to ask this. Having your plugins under version control is a good idea as we…

I’m not the first to ask (others have asked before) but the discussion keeps getting more complicated, and in the end, you guys never actually answer anything. There’s no justification for this approach that doesn’t allow for flexibility. At least try WordPress or another service once, and you’ll s…

[image] Willy: you guys Just to be clear: I do not work for Discourse.org . I’m just a user here, just like you. [image] Willy: There’s no justification for this approach that doesn’t allow for flexibility. At least try WordPress or another service once, and you’ll see that installing plu…

Using proper source control will save you loads of heartache and issues down the line. It keeps your plugin safe for the future and helps keep an audit trail of updates. It provides a modular way of separating concerns, reducing complexity. It allows you to manage your instances independently, mak…

How to install plugins without using a third-party host?

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Willy (Willy) June 24, 2026, 11:26am 3

Are you serious? That whole tutorial relies on GitHub, and my question is about not relying on third parties.

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How to install plugins without using a third-party host?

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