What is the etiquette on extending a plug-in

I’m assuming for now that the plugin is open source. If so …

Send them an update

Most devs appreciate contributions from the community. Contact the original authors and offer your code as a patch to add your new feature.

Reference the plugin

Optionally, you can just hope that they keep developing the system and offer your smaller plugin as an extension. Just be sure to keep it up-to-date with a list of compatible WP versions and the 3rd party plugin versions.

Fork

Open source software is meant to be extended, adapted, and distributed. You have the right under most OS licenses to edit and redistribute the software so long as you follow a certain set of rules (i.e. maintaining original copyrights, releasing under a compatible license). I can’t speak to specifics without knowing which plugin you’re using, but in the majority of cases forking the plugin and releasing your own version is 100% acceptable.

Related Posts:

  1. What’s the difference between term_id and term_taxonomy_id
  2. How are bulk actions handled in custom list table classes?
  3. How do I programatically insert a new menu item?
  4. What is the difference between esc_html and wp_filter_nohtml_kses?
  5. Customizing the 3.5 “Add Media” popup (Backbone.js)
  6. Explanation of the “posts_join” and “posts_fields” filter hooks?
  7. Add a jQuery function to admin pages
  8. How to change post status in hook?
  9. Including file or library from other plugin
  10. Do uploaded plugins get updates if they came from the wordpress plugin directory?
  11. Why isn’t the Settings API designed to work for plugins using custom admin menus? [duplicate]
  12. Is there any reason only 1 (my) IP would be added to this table using $wpdn->insert?
  13. Plugin activation error due to unexpected output
  14. How to store data for posts/pages built with drag-n-drop builder?
  15. WP rest api v2 posts filter by ‘search’ & ‘category_name’ not working
  16. WordPress Admin Post Type Table Class Filter Hook
  17. Order of Operation for these three hooks
  18. How to disable “Transform to” option in Gutenberg custom blocks
  19. save_post hook not triggered in WP v3.6.1
  20. How to get the ID of the currently logged in user?
  21. Extend a class plugin
  22. Using a Shortcode to Replace Themes Stylesheet?
  23. Where should I put “run once” plugin pages?
  24. Initial help with official “create a block” tutorial
  25. Can wp_list_comments output into variable?
  26. Slow WP_query due to nested wp_query. Need Suggestions
  27. Plugin Development Output
  28. How to modify product page for Jigoshop
  29. Adding Second Plugin Author
  30. Is @wordpress/env locked to node v14 or can I also use node v16?
  31. Securing/Escaping Output of file content – reading via fread() in PHP
  32. Run code once when block is created
  33. Intermittent database errors when accessing WordPress database
  34. How to create a “View” page for entry in add_menu_page wordpress admin area (CRUD operation)
  35. what is the standard ulr for wordpress plugin development?
  36. Customize WooCommerce my account dashboard through plugin
  37. Precaching WordPress posts with a ServiceWorker
  38. Shortcode returning localized HTML part
  39. Create a custom capability to allow an ‘Editor’ to edit only ‘Subscriber’ users
  40. global $current_user not current user
  41. What is the proper way to get logged in user id in a plugin?
  42. Custom WordPress Plugin will install new and not update
  43. get_option() will not work without access to wp-config.php
  44. register_activation_hook on multisite
  45. Use ‘get’ form action within a WordPress plugin admin page
  46. Template directory in plugin
  47. WordPress Admin Login Custom Logo
  48. How can I add a simple custom field to my plugin?
  49. Ajax is not working in a loop
  50. Woocommerce order empty items array
  51. Bind a function with its own argument to show something dynamically after every content
  52. Inserted double quote when prepending to the_content
  53. unable to wp_enqueue_script(‘suggest’);
  54. Plugin development – loading Javascript and Flash
  55. Drawing the line between theme & plugin on large scale bespoke projects
  56. Update variable value via add_filter
  57. Do I need to create an endpoint?
  58. Plugin custom post template; without overriding all posts
  59. Run uninstall.php if a checkbox is checked from settings page
  60. How to check whether checkbox is checked in WordPress customizer
  61. Gravity Forms Anchor only on Front Page?
  62. How to find list of all functions bind to a particular hook from my plugin?
  63. Multiple page plugin settings
  64. sanitizing/escaping plugin options
  65. how to get the top 10 popular blogs
  66. How to output CSS to the beginning of the stylesheet in a WordPress Plugin
  67. Set page to draft on plugin deactivation
  68. Can one plugin activate another plugin via script?
  69. script seem not load with use wp_enqueue_script
  70. Insert and read media from the WordPress library and call in the plugin
  71. Do I lose translations when I change my Text domain for my plugin on wp.org?
  72. Override woocommerce loop-start.php from theme using plugin?
  73. Get value of custom checkbox from Gutenberg sidebar in plugin
  74. Enable a role named ‘backend_user’ to access my plugin pages
  75. jQuery dependent script ignores $in_footer bool and doesn’t work in header
  76. Hiding class namespace from plugin’s extensions
  77. How to trigger WooCommerce user profile edit change?
  78. Relational / Associate tables using native WordPress functionality
  79. Stop unauthorised file access
  80. Changed media upload path for plugin, but generates error & shows wrong url
  81. How to pass a more variable with page/subpage in Wordprees URL?
  82. Pull commentdata for pre_comment_on_post from comment_post_ID
  83. Dynamic sidebar areas not working on the Theme Customizer
  84. Woo-commerce: Adding additional page sections using a child theme
  85. Plugin dev: How to multiply instances of a plugin in the same metabox?
  86. How to get html tag ids from template?
  87. Getting Plugin to read all script files
  88. Page reload occurs before request finishes
  89. PHP Fatal error when using plugin_basename
  90. How to Rewrite WordPress URL for a Plugin
  91. How to Prove Ownership of plugin [closed]
  92. Declaration of mandoe_menu_walker::start_el(&$output, $item, $depth, $args) must be compatible with Walker::start_el(…)
  93. Reading the inside of
  94. WordPress, GIT, Renamed Plugin Dir + files – Working Code now Broken [closed]
  95. get_term_by() returning null on plugin
  96. get the queried_object of an url
  97. Advanced Custom Fields conflicting with custom plugin when saving custom field
  98. Set link dialog to open in blank by default
  99. plugabble wp_authenticate function not works from wp-login.php
  100. How to get recent one post from each category on home page?

Leave a Comment