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name extension-dev-kit
description Author and port Blesta 6.0 extensions — modules (hosting/server and registrar), plugins, and payment gateways. Use when building a new Blesta extension from scratch or converting a 5.x extension to 6.0. Covers the PHP contract/method surface, config.json/manifest schema, data access, packaging, and the Bootstrap 5 / Paradigm UI conversion. Works as portable context for any AI tool; routes to per-type reference files on demand.

Blesta 6 Extension Development

This skill helps you create new Blesta 6.0 extensions and convert existing 5.x extensions. Blesta extensions come in three kinds:

  • Modules — provision and manage services on remote systems. Two flavours:
    • Hosting / server modules (e.g. cPanel) — extend Module, no type in config.json.
    • Registrar modules (e.g. NameSilo) — extend RegistrarModule, require "type": "registrar".
  • Plugins — extend the application: events, cron tasks, admin/client actions, widgets, card/dashboard content.
  • Payment gateways — process payments. Two flavours: merchant (card processors) and nonmerchant (off-site/redirect).

How to use this skill

  1. Identify the extension kind and (for modules) the flavour.
  2. Load the relevant reference file(s) below. Do not load all of them — pull only what the task needs.
  3. For any UI work (views, .pdt files), always also load reference/common/conversion-ui.md.

Routing

If you are… Load
Building a new module reference/modules/create.md
Porting a module from 5.x reference/modules/convert.md + reference/common/conversion-ui.md
Porting a module from WHMCS (provisioning or registrar) reference/modules/convert-from-whmcs.md + reference/common/whmcs-mapping.md + reference/modules/create.md
Building a new plugin reference/plugins/create.md
Porting a plugin from 5.x reference/plugins/convert.md + reference/common/conversion-ui.md
Porting a WHMCS addon module to a plugin reference/plugins/convert-from-whmcs.md + reference/common/whmcs-mapping.md + reference/plugins/create.md
Building a new gateway reference/gateways/create.md
Porting a gateway from 5.x reference/gateways/convert.md + reference/common/conversion-ui.md
Porting a gateway from WHMCS (third-party or merchant) reference/gateways/convert-from-whmcs.md + reference/common/whmcs-mapping.md + reference/gateways/create.md
Porting anything from WHMCS (shared conventions) reference/common/whmcs-mapping.md
Doing any UI / view work reference/common/conversion-ui.md

Ground rules (apply to every extension type)

  • PHP ≥ 8.2. Short array syntax [], null-coalescing ??, single quotes unless interpolating.
  • Never touch Blesta core assets — not the compiled application*.css / app.min.js, and not the core SCSS/JS sources either. Extensions are self-contained: ship your own CSS/JS inside the extension directory and reference it directly from your views (e.g. <link>/<script src="<?php echo $this->view_dir;?>...">). Extension CSS/JS does not go through the core Gulp build. (The Gulp/SCSS pipeline only applies if you are working on Blesta core itself — which extension authors are not.)
  • Ship en_us only for language in core-style extensions; other locales are added by the translation pipeline. Third-party extensions may ship whatever locales they maintain.
  • Admin vs client UI are different frameworks in 6.0. Admin views render in Paradigm (Bootstrap 5, Bootstrap Icons, vanilla JS — no jQuery) and must work in both light and dark mode — see reference/common/conversion-ui.md. The client portal (bootstrap theme) is still Bootstrap 4 + jQuery + FontAwesome in 6.0, so client-facing views target BS4 (a BS5 client theme is planned for 6.1). Don't apply the admin conversion to client views.
  • Validate with the Input component and set errors rather than throwing — the host app reads ->errors() to decide whether to proceed.
  • Log every remote API call and mask secrets before logging. Modules and gateways use the inherited $this->log(...). Plugins have no $this->log() — use the app logger ($this->getFromContainer('logger')) for diagnostics or a plugin-owned log table/model for an audit trail.

Status

  • ✅ reference/modules/create.md — authoring modules (hosting + registrar)
  • ✅ reference/modules/convert.md — porting modules from 5.x
  • ✅ reference/modules/convert-from-whmcs.md — porting a WHMCS provisioning/registrar module to Blesta
  • ✅ reference/common/conversion-ui.md — the Bootstrap 4→5 / jQuery→vanilla / FA→BI UI guide (shared)
  • ✅ reference/common/whmcs-mapping.md — shared WHMCS→Blesta conventions (license, re-source rule, field types, errors/logging, Smarty→pdt)
  • ✅ reference/gateways/create.md — authoring gateways (merchant + nonmerchant; classic & tokenized)
  • ✅ reference/gateways/convert.md — porting gateways from 5.x
  • ✅ reference/gateways/convert-from-whmcs.md — porting a WHMCS third-party/merchant gateway to Blesta
  • ✅ reference/plugins/create.md — authoring plugins (pages, actions/widgets, events, cron, ACL, cards, messages, service tabs)
  • ✅ reference/plugins/convert.md — porting plugins from 5.x
  • ✅ reference/plugins/convert-from-whmcs.md — porting a WHMCS addon module to a Blesta plugin