Publish Plugins Automatically

Background

Updating plugins that others are actively using can be tedious. Traditionally, you would need to modify code, bump versions, push changes, create branches, package files, and submit PRs manually - a repetitive process that slows down development.

Thus, we have created Plugin Auto-PR, a GitHub Actions workflow that automates the entire process. Now you can package, push, and create PRs with a single action, focusing on building great plugins.

Concepts

GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions automates your development tasks in GitHub.

How it works: When triggered (e.g., by a code push), it runs your workflow in a cloud-based virtual machine, handling everything from build to deployment automatically.

Limits:

Public repositories: Unlimited
Private repositories: 2000 minutes per month

Plugin Auto-PR

How it works:

Workflow triggers when you push code to the main branch of your plugin source repository
Workflow reads plugin information from the manifest.yaml file
Automatically packages the plugin as a .difypkg file
Pushes the packaged file to your forked dify-plugins repository
Creates a new branch and commits changes
Automatically creates a PR to merge into the upstream repository

Prerequisites

Repository

You already have your own plugin source code repository (e.g., your-name/plugin-source)
You already have your own forked plugin repository (e.g., your-name/dify-plugins)
Your forked repository already has the plugin directory structure:

dify-plugins/
└── your-author-name
    └── plugin-name

Permission

This workflow requires appropriate permissions to function:

You need to create a GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) with sufficient permissions
The PAT must have permission to push code to your forked repository
The PAT must have permission to create PRs to the upstream repository

Parameters and Configuration

Setup Requirements

To get started with auto-publishing, you will need two key components:

manifest.yaml file: This file drives the automation process:

name: Your plugin’s name (affects package and branch names)
version: Semantic version number (increment with each release)
author: Your GitHub username (determines repository paths)

PLUGIN_ACTION Secret: You need to add this secret to your plugin source repository:

Value: Must be a Personal Access Token (PAT) with sufficient permissions
Permission: Ability to push branches to your forked repository and create PRs to the upstream repository

Automatically-Generated Parameters

Once set up, the workflow automatically handles these parameters:

GitHub username: Read from the author field in manifest.yaml
Author folder name: Consistent with the author field
Plugin name: Read from the name field in manifest.yaml
Branch name: bump-{plugin-name}-plugin-{version}
Package filename: {plugin-name}-{version}.difypkg
PR title and content: Automatically generated based on plugin name and version

Step-by-Step Guide

Prepare Repositories

Ensure you have forked the official dify-plugins repository and have your own plugin source repository.

Configure Secret

Navigate to your plugin source repository, click Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions > New repository secret, and create a GitHub Secret:

Name: PLUGIN_ACTION
Value: GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) with write permissions to the target repository (your-name/dify-plugins)

Create Workflow File

Create a .github/workflows/ directory in your repository, create a file named plugin-publish.yml in this directory, and copy the following content into the file:

# .github/workflows/auto-pr.yml
name: Auto Create PR on Main Push

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]  # Trigger on push to main

jobs:
  create_pr: # Renamed job for clarity
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Print working directory # Kept for debugging
        run: |
          pwd
          ls -la

      - name: Download CLI tool
        run: |
          # Create bin directory in runner temp
          mkdir -p $RUNNER_TEMP/bin
          cd $RUNNER_TEMP/bin

          # Download CLI tool
          wget https://github.com/langgenius/dify-plugin-daemon/releases/download/0.0.6/dify-plugin-linux-amd64
          chmod +x dify-plugin-linux-amd64

          # Show download location and file
          echo "CLI tool location:"
          pwd
          ls -la dify-plugin-linux-amd64

      - name: Get basic info from manifest # Changed step name and content
        id: get_basic_info
        run: |
          PLUGIN_NAME=$(grep "^name:" manifest.yaml | cut -d' ' -f2)
          echo "Plugin name: $PLUGIN_NAME"
          echo "plugin_name=$PLUGIN_NAME" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

          VERSION=$(grep "^version:" manifest.yaml | cut -d' ' -f2)
          echo "Plugin version: $VERSION"
          echo "version=$VERSION" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

          # If the author's name is not your github username, you can change the author here
          AUTHOR=$(grep "^author:" manifest.yaml | cut -d' ' -f2)
          echo "Plugin author: $AUTHOR"
          echo "author=$AUTHOR" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

      - name: Package Plugin
        id: package
        run: |
          # Use the downloaded CLI tool to package
          cd $GITHUB_WORKSPACE
          # Use variables for package name
          PACKAGE_NAME="${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.plugin_name }}-${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.version }}.difypkg"
          # Use CLI from runner temp
          $RUNNER_TEMP/bin/dify-plugin-linux-amd64 plugin package . -o "$PACKAGE_NAME"

          # Show packaging result
          echo "Package result:"
          ls -la "$PACKAGE_NAME"
          echo "package_name=$PACKAGE_NAME" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

          # Show full file path and directory structure (kept for debugging)
          echo "\\nFull file path:"
          pwd
          echo "\\nDirectory structure:"
          tree || ls -R

      - name: Checkout target repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          # Use author variable for repository
          repository: ${{steps.get_basic_info.outputs.author}}/dify-plugins
          path: dify-plugins
          token: ${{ secrets.PLUGIN_ACTION }}
          fetch-depth: 1 # Fetch only the last commit to speed up checkout
          persist-credentials: true # Persist credentials for subsequent git operations

      - name: Prepare and create PR
        run: |
          # Debug info (kept)
          echo "Debug: Current directory $(pwd)"
          # Use variable for package name
          PACKAGE_NAME="${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.plugin_name }}-${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.version }}.difypkg"
          echo "Debug: Package name: $PACKAGE_NAME"
          ls -la

          # Move the packaged file to the target directory using variables
          mkdir -p dify-plugins/${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.author }}/${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.plugin_name }}
          mv "$PACKAGE_NAME" dify-plugins/${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.author }}/${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.plugin_name }}/

          # Enter the target repository directory
          cd dify-plugins

          # Configure git
          git config user.name "GitHub Actions"
          git config user.email "[email protected]"

          # Ensure we are on the latest main branch
          git fetch origin main
          git checkout main
          git pull origin main

          # Create and switch to a new branch using variables and new naming convention
          BRANCH_NAME="bump-${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.plugin_name }}-plugin-${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.version }}"
          git checkout -b "$BRANCH_NAME"

          # Add and commit changes (using git add .)
          git add .
          git status # for debugging
          # Use variables in commit message
          git commit -m "bump ${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.plugin_name }} plugin to version ${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.version }}"

          # Push to remote (use force just in case the branch existed before from a failed run)
          git push -u origin "$BRANCH_NAME" --force

          # Confirm branch has been pushed and wait for sync (GitHub API might need a moment)
          git branch -a
          echo "Waiting for branch to sync..."
          sleep 10  # Wait 10 seconds for branch sync

      - name: Create PR via GitHub API
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PLUGIN_ACTION }} # Use the provided token for authentication
        run: |
          gh pr create \
            --repo langgenius/dify-plugins \
            --head "${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.author }}:${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.plugin_name }}-${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.version }}" \
            --base main \
            --title "bump ${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.plugin_name }} plugin to version ${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.version }}" \
            --body "bump ${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.plugin_name }} plugin package to version ${{ steps.get_basic_info.outputs.version }}

            Changes:
            - Updated plugin package file" || echo "PR already exists or creation skipped." # Handle cases where PR already exists

      - name: Print environment info # Kept for debugging
        run: |
          echo "GITHUB_WORKSPACE: $GITHUB_WORKSPACE"
          echo "Current directory contents:"
          ls -R

Update manifest.yaml

Ensure those following fields are correctly set:

version: 0.0.x  # Version number
author: your-github-username  # GitHub username/Author name
name: your-plugin-name  # Plugin name

Usage Guide

First-time Setup

When setting up the auto-publish workflow for the first time, complete these steps:

Ensure you have forked the official dify-plugins repository
Ensure your plugin source repository structure is correct
Set up the PLUGIN_ACTION Secret in your plugin source repository
Create the workflow file .github/workflows/plugin-publish.yml
Ensure the name and author fields in the manifest.yaml file are correctly configured