Plugin structure

How a brand plugin is laid out, and why distribution files decide the layout

Brand plugins are the wp-plugin-* repositories whose sole purpose is serving a single brand, such as wp-plugin-bluehost.

Distribution files drive the layout

We have the plugins set up with .distignore and .distinclude files which expect certain file organizations. We want our distribution files to be as small as possible but also contain any required files. Following a standard folder structure across our modules will ensure that we have files in proper places for this.

To understand these rules, please refer to these files in the plugin. They are followed for all build steps locally and via GitHub workflows. For example, any tokens must be ignored in the distributed files and build files for security reasons, so in the .distignore file we ignore all hidden dot files with the line ./*.

Main plugin file

The main plugin file name must mirror the directory name, and application scaffolding belongs in bootstrap.php rather than the main file. Both are covered in WordPress PHP.

Modules inside plugins

Modules are installed as Composer dependencies of a brand plugin and follow their own layout. See module structure.

Related

• Naming files and directories

  Directory and filename conventions, and where they bend to a framework's expectations

• Module structure

  The directory layout every module shares, and what ends up in the distributed zip

• WordPress PHP

  PHPCS setup, namespacing, bootstrapping and the defensive habits we expect in PHP