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payload/docs/plugins/overview.mdx
2021-07-29 07:15:47 -04:00

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---
title: Plugins
label: Overview
order: 10
desc: Plugins provide a great way to modularize Payload functionalities into easy-to-use enhancements and extensions of your Payload apps.
keywords: plugins, config, configuration, extensions, custom, documentation, Content Management System, cms, headless, javascript, node, react, express
---
Payload comes with a built-in Plugins infrastructure that allows developers to build their own modular and easily reusable sets of functionality.
<Banner type="success">
Because we rely on a simple config-based structure, Payload plugins simply take in a user's existing config and return a modified config with new fields, hooks, collections, admin views, or anything else you can think of.
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Writing plugins is no more complex than writing regular JavaScript. If you know how [spread syntax](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Spread_syntax) works and are up to speed with Payload concepts, writing a plugin will be a breeze.
**Example use cases:**
- Automatically sync data from a specific collection to HubSpot or a similar CRM when data is added or changes
- Add password-protection functionality to certain documents
- Add a full ecommerce backend to any Payload app
- Add custom reporting views to Payload's admin panel
- Encrypt specific collections' data
- Add a full form builder implementation
- Integrate all `upload`-enabled collections with a third-party file host like S3 or Cloudinary
- Add custom routes or GraphQL queries / mutations with any type of custom functionality that you can think of
### How to install plugins
The base Payload config allows for a `plugins` property which takes an `array` of [`Plugin`s](https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/blob/master/src/config/types.ts#L21).
```js
import { buildConfig } from 'payload/config';
// note: these plugins are not real (yet?)
import addLastModified from 'payload-add-last-modified';
import passwordProtect from 'payload-password-protect';
const config = buildConfig({
serverURL: 'http://localhost:3000',
collections: [
{
slug: 'pages',
fields: [
{
name: 'title',
type: 'text',
required: true,
},
{
name: 'content',
type: 'richText',
required: true,
}
]
}
],
plugins: [
// Many plugins require options to be passed.
// In the following example, we call the function
// and pass it options accordingly
passwordProtect(['pages']),
// This plugin takes no options and just
// needs to be passed directly
addLastModified,
// ..
// To understand how to use the plugins you're interested in,
// consult their corresponding documentation
]
});
export default config;
```
#### When Plugins are initialized
Payload Plugins are executed _after_ the incoming config is validated, sanitized, and default options are merged in.
However, after all plugins are executed, the full config with all plugins will be re-sanitized.
## Simple example
Here is an example for how to automatically add a `lastModifiedBy` field to all Payload collections using a Plugin written in TypeScript.
```js
import { Config } from 'payload/config';
import { CollectionConfig } from 'payload/dist/collections/config/types';
const addLastModified = (incomingConfig: Config): Config => {
// Find all incoming auth-enabled collections
// so we can create a lastModifiedBy relationship field
// to all auth collections
const authEnabledCollections = incomingConfig.collections.find(
collection => Boolean(collection.auth)
);
// Spread the existing config
const config: Config = {
...incomingConfig,
collections: incomingConfig.collections.map((collection) => {
// Spread each item that we are modifying,
// and add our new field - complete with
// hooks and proper admin UI config
return {
...collection,
fields: [
...collection.fields,
{
name: 'lastModifiedBy',
type: 'relationship',
relationTo: authEnabledCollections.map(({ slug }) => slug),
hooks: {
beforeChange: [
({ req }) => ({
value: req?.user?.id,
relationTo: req?.user?.collection,
}),
]
},
admin: {
position: 'sidebar',
readOnly: true,
},
},
],
},
});
};
return config;
};
export default addLastModified;
```
#### More examples coming soon
This page will be updated with more examples in the future, and we will be maintaining a list of both official and community Payload plugins on our website very soon.
In the meantime, if you have built a plugin, or if you would like one to be built by the core Payload team, [open a Feature Request](https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/discussions) in our GitHub Discussions board. We would be happy to review your code and maybe feature you and your plugin on our website.