# Plugin vs. theme component **URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-vs-theme-component/240908 **Category:** Development **Created:** [October 4, 2022, 4:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-vs-theme-component/240908 "2022-10-04T16:41:33Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 6
### 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: [October 4, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-vs-theme-component/240908/6 "2022-10-04T21:59:34Z")
I took this to its logical conclusion with [Topic List Previews (TLP)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-list-previews-theme-component/209973). This used to be a plugin, until some of its functionality was adopted by Core (thumbnails) at which point I was able to put most of its functionality into a Theme Component to give it a bigger audience and an easier install. I’ve added and kept some advanced features that require changes to the back end in a complimentary plugin. Another good example here is [Guest Gate Theme Component](https://meta.discourse.org/t/guest-gate-theme-component/225107). This started life as a plugin, but turns out you don’t need it to be, so was reborn as a new Theme Component (plugins predate Theme Components). There are probably still one or two plugins that could be converted into a Theme Component (I can think of one of the top of my head) … and there are likely to be more candidates as more functionality is added to the core API … --- _[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-vs-theme-component/240908)._