One-Command Install

A plugin is a static build, so it can be hosted anywhere — see Deploying. This page is about the other option: shipping your plugin so an operator can install it onto the 5Stack cluster itself with one command, from your repository, without reading your README.

./plugin.sh https://github.com/5stackgg/5stack-example-plugin

Run from their 5stack-panel checkout. Also accepts an owner/repo shorthand, or a local directory while you're developing.

./plugin.sh list                  # what's installed
./plugin.sh remove hello          # take it back off the cluster

Why it doesn't ask questions

Everything an install needs, the operator already told the panel once. Asking again is how sites get a plugin on the wrong cluster, or a certificate for a domain that isn't theirs. So the installer reads:

Source	What it settles
.5stack-env.config → KUBECONFIG	which cluster
.5stack-env.config → REVERSE_PROXY	whether your plugin needs its own certificate
overlays/config/api-config.env → WEB_DOMAIN	their domain, so your host defaults to <prefix>.<their domain>
the cluster's Postgres secret	your DATABASE_URL, if you asked for one
the node label	which node a node-bound plugin already lives on

REVERSE_PROXY is the load-bearing one. It is the operator's own answer to "is TLS terminated in front of the cluster", which is exactly the question that decides which of your two installs to apply.

Every value can still be overridden: --domain, --node, --database-url, --kubeconfig, --tls / --no-tls. --dry-run prints the manifests and applies nothing. -y takes every default, for unattended installs.

Re-running upgrades in place. The plugin's code is replaced; its .env files — the operator's domain, their database password — are kept.

What you ship

1. An install block in your manifest

Same 5stack-plugin.json the panel already detects. Add an install object and your plugin becomes installable; leave it out and the installer will tell the operator to host your build themselves.

{
  "name": "Hello World",
  "slug": "hello",
  "remoteEntry": "/assets/remoteEntry.js",
  "scope": "hello",
  "module": "./App",
  "deployments": ["example-plugin"],

  "install": {
    "overlays": {
      "http": "k8s/overlays/http",
      "https": "k8s/overlays/https"
    },
    "certificate": "example-plugin-ssl",
    "domain": {
      "prefix": "hello",
      "var": "EXAMPLE_PLUGIN_DOMAIN",
      "file": "k8s/base/example-plugin.env"
    }
  }
}

Field	Required	Meaning
install.overlays.http	✓	Path to the kustomize overlay with no certificate.
install.overlays.https		The cert-manager overlay. Omit if your plugin has no TLS variant; the HTTP one is used either way.
install.certificate		Name of the Certificate the https overlay declares. Only used to tell the operator what to watch.
install.domain.var		Env var to write the chosen host into.
install.domain.file		The env file to write it to, repo-relative.
install.domain.prefix		Subdomain to default to. Defaults to your slug.
install.database.var / .file		Ask for a Postgres URL and write it here. Its presence is the opt-in.
install.node.label		Node label your workloads pin to. Its presence means "this plugin is node-bound" and the operator gets asked which node.
deployments		Top-level, already part of the manifest. What to wait on after applying.

Two of these are switches rather than settings: a plugin with no install.database is never asked about Postgres, and one with no install.node is never asked about nodes. Only claim what you actually need.

Node label naming

Use 5stack-<slug>. That's what the panel's ./custom.sh derives from a custom/<slug>/ directory, so a plugin installed either way lands on the same node.

2. A kustomize package in three parts

k8s/
  kustomization.yaml     # shim pointing at overlays/http, for ./custom.sh
  base/                  # everything, HTTP-only, with the env files
  overlays/http/         # base, unchanged — TLS terminated upstream
  overlays/https/        # base + Certificate + tls patch — cert-manager

Two overlays, not one with a flag. An operator behind Cloudflare and an operator terminating TLS at nginx need genuinely different manifests, and the difference is a whole resource — a Certificate — not a value. Two directories also means either install is a plain kustomize build of a real directory, readable and appliable by hand without the installer.

The rules the layout has to hold to:

The base is the HTTP install. No tls:, no certificate. The https overlay only ever adds. A base that needed TLS stripped back out would break the moment someone built it directly.

The host comes from one place. A configMapGenerator reads your env file, and kustomize replacements push that one value into the ingress rule (base), the tls SNI host and the certificate's SANs (https overlay). A certificate covering a different host than the ingress routes is a long debugging session; making it structurally impossible costs nothing.

# overlays/https/kustomization.yaml
replacements:
  - source:
      kind: ConfigMap
      name: example-plugin-config
      fieldPath: data.EXAMPLE_PLUGIN_DOMAIN
    targets:
      - select: { kind: Ingress, name: example-plugin }
        fieldPaths: [spec.tls.0.hosts.0]
      - select: { kind: Certificate, name: example-plugin-ssl }
        fieldPaths: [spec.dnsNames.0]

Your own Certificate, not an entry in the panel's. The panel rebuilds its shared 5stack-ssl cert from its own overlay on every ./update.sh, so anything a plugin added there is dropped on the next panel update.

# overlays/https/certificate.yaml
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Certificate
metadata:
  name: example-plugin-ssl
  namespace: 5stack
spec:
  secretName: example-plugin-ssl
  duration: 2160h
  renewBefore: 240h
  dnsNames:
    - ${EXAMPLE_PLUGIN_DOMAIN}
  issuerRef:
    name: 5stack-issuer
    kind: Issuer

5stack-issuer is the namespaced Issuer the panel install creates when the site terminates TLS itself. The installer checks it exists and warns if not.

Declare the Certificate, don't annotate the Ingress

Reference the secret from your ingress' tls: block and stop there. Adding a cert-manager.io/issuer annotation as well makes ingress-shim manage a second Certificate for the same secret, which then fights the one you declared.

Ship .env.example, not .env. The installer copies any *.env.example to *.env on first install and writes the operator's values into the copy. Gitignore the real ones.

3. Where it lands

Plugins are installed into the panel's custom/<slug>/, which is the same place ./custom.sh deploys from. Nothing is hidden: an operator can edit the package and re-apply it by hand, and ./plugin.sh custom/<slug> re-runs the install from what's on disk.

A worked example

5stackgg/5stack-example-plugin is the smallest complete case: a frontend-only plugin, so its manifest declares neither database nor node, and the installer skips both questions. Its k8s/ directory is meant to be copied.

lukepolo/5stack-inventory-plugin is the full case: a backend, a Postgres schema in the panel's own database, and host-path mounts that pin it to one node.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause
"no 5stack-plugin.json in that repo"	The manifest must be in public/, the repo root, or dist/.
"ships no install block"	The manifest has no install — the plugin isn't meant for cluster install.
"couldn't download"	Private repo, or a default branch that isn't main/master. Use --ref.
Certificate stuck Ready: False	DNS for the host isn't live yet, or port 80 isn't reachable for the HTTP-01 challenge.
Pods Pending after install	Node-bound plugin, and the labeled node can't fit it — or you moved the label.