Plugin Development

The third-party plugin developer program isn't open yet.

This page documents the plugin SDK and manifest format that power VeloCMS's own first-party integrations. Submitting or publishing a plugin as an outside developer isn't something you can do today — that opens once VeloCMS has established its position in the market. See Marketplace Policies for what's live now.

A VeloCMS plugin is a TypeScript module that exports a manifest object and handler functions. VeloCMS calls your handlers at lifecycle hook points — after a post is published, when a member signs up, when a daily schedule fires — and passes them a typed payload plus a context object for logging and settings access.

Plugins run in an isolated V8 environment (V2 general availability) or in-process with capability-declared access (V1, current). In both cases, the manifest's capabilities array is your permission contract with the platform and with the tenants who install your plugin.

In this section

Manifest reference

All manifest fields, validation rules, and ID format requirements.

Hook reference

Every lifecycle hook with payload types, firing conditions, and handler examples.

Capabilities reference

All capabilities, risk levels, and what API surface each grants.

Settings UI integration

Build admin settings panels using the admin.tsx entry point. Encrypted storage for API keys.

Testing locally

Unit test hooks with @velocms/plugin-sdk/test-helpers. No running VeloCMS instance needed.