Plugin Check Roadmap: Phase 2 Unveiled

The Plugins Team has published the roadmap for Phase 2 of the Plugin Check plugin. According to the statistics shared at this year’s State of the Word, 41% fewer issues were reported per approved plugin after launching the Plugin Check tool, enabling the team to approve 138% more plugins each week and significantly reducing the review queue length.

What is Plugin Check?

In the words of David Perez, "Plugin Check is a tool for testing whether your plugin meets the required standards for the WordPress.org plugin directory. With this plugin, you will be able to run most of the checks used for new submissions and check if your plugin meets the requirements."

Reducing Review Time

David Perez also shared that the Plugin Check plugin significantly reduced the time for reviews, bringing the average wait time down from 37 weeks to 9 weeks, even as plugin submissions have almost doubled.

Phase 1 and Current Status

In Phase 1, Plugin Check was released to the community as a plugin available through WordPress.org. It currently has 2000+ Active installations. In October this year, it became a requirement for new plugin submissions to the Plugin Directory and for relisting plugins that were removed due to security issues.

Phase 2 Roadmap

Phase 2 of Plugin Check will expand its coverage to include updates made by plugin authors to plugins already listed in the Directory. Planned improvements for the second phase include:

• Enhanced documentation
• More intuitive messaging
• A revamped UI
• Conditional rule application
• The addition of an experimental checks feature
• Easier output customization for better integration
• Retroactive directory integration

Goals and Objectives

The Plugin Check project also aims to help plugin authors keep up with the latest best practices by allowing them to quickly scan their plugins for performance improvements and best practice opportunities. The PCP team will also collaborate with other teams to support plugin authors.

Current Evaluation Criteria

Currently, Plugin Check evaluates plugins based on best practices across five categories: General, Plugin Repo, Security, Performance, and Accessibility. The Plugin Team encourages all plugin authors to integrate Plugin Check into their development workflows.

Contribution and Collaboration

Specific rollout timelines and processes for Phase 2 will be shared in a future Make Plugins post as its release approaches. Those interested in contributing to the plugin can do so on its GitHub repository.

Additional Resources

Details on the specific timeline and processes for Phase 2 will be shared in an upcoming ‘Make Plugins’ post as the release date approaches. Those interested in contributing to the project can do so through its GitHub repository.

Why Use Plugin Check?

Also check out Pascal Birchler’s post on Why you should start using Plugin Check.