# Is a theme component or plugin best for external API calls?

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-a-theme-component-or-plugin-best-for-external-api-calls/364145
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [April 30, 2025, 12:38pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-a-theme-component-or-plugin-best-for-external-api-calls/364145 "2025-04-30T12:38:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 2

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### Author: ![merefield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/merefield/32/176214_2.png) [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2025, 12:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-a-theme-component-or-plugin-best-for-external-api-calls/364145/2 "2025-04-30T12:46:50Z")

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This is the full monty:

> [@Verifiable Credentials Plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/verifiable-credentials-plugin/220208):
>
> Summary: Use [Verifiable Credentials](https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/) to grant access to groups and badges in Discourse. link GitHub: https://github.com/coopcreds/discourse-verifiable-credentials arrow_right Install: Follow the [plugin installation guide](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-a-plugin/19157). Demo You can try this plugin out your self by following the steps in the link below. You’ll be issued a test “Cooperative Credential” which you can then use to gain access to a group and be granted a badge on the cooperative credentials Discourse instance. Note that the…

But depends if your certification programme grants verifiable credentials …

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-a-theme-component-or-plugin-best-for-external-api-calls/364145)._