Introduction to Plugins

A FluxBilling plugin is an integration you build entirely in the admin panel — no programming required. Instead of writing code, you describe how the platform should talk to an outside service by combining a connection to that service's API, one or more visual flows that define what happens step by step, and a configuration form that whoever installs your plugin fills in. This guide shows you how to build, test, package and share your own plugins. By the end of this article you'll know what a plugin is, which types you can create, and how one runs.

If you are not building anything — you want to install a ready-made payment gateway or infrastructure integration, give it its credentials and switch it on — start at Plugin Catalogue for the ready-made items your panel can install for you, and Managing Plugins for running the ones you already have.

How to reach it

Open Settings from the top header, then choose Plugins under the Integrations group in the settings sidebar. Everything in this guide happens on that screen: the New Plugin wizard, the plugin editor with its tabs, the flow builder, and the import and export controls.

The list opens with four counters — Total Plugins, Active, Draft and Infrastructure — and a search box plus filters for All Types and All Status (Active, Draft, Disabled, Error). Two buttons sit in the header: Import and New Plugin.

What you build with

A plugin is assembled from a small set of parts, each with its own tab in the plugin editor and its own article in this guide.

• Connections — a connection points at the external API your plugin calls. You set the base URL and how to authenticate. See Connections & Authentication.
• Flows — drag-and-drop diagrams. You wire nodes together (an HTTP request, a condition, a data transform, and so on) into a graph the platform runs from start to finish. See Building Flows.
• Config — the configuration schema defines the settings entered when the plugin is set up (an API key, an account ID, a region). See Configuration Settings.
• Webhooks — inbound endpoints the outside service calls, each with its own signature verification and the flow it runs. See Capabilities & Flow Contracts.
• Forms, Styling and Assets — optional panels, custom styling, and uploaded images your plugin's screens can reference.

Notification plugins swap the Forms and Webhooks tabs for Notifications and Subscriptions (see Notification Plugins). Analytics plugins have no flows at all and show only Overview and Configuration.

Plugin types you can create

When you start a new plugin you pick a type. The type tells the platform where your plugin plugs in and which flows it looks for. You build all of them the same way, but each targets a different job.

Plugin types offered in the New Plugin wizard

Type	What it's for
Infrastructure Provider	Provisioning and managing customer services on an external control panel — creating, suspending, terminating, rebooting and reporting status for things like virtual servers, game servers or hosting accounts.
Payment Gateway	Taking payments, capturing and refunding them, storing payment methods, and receiving payment webhooks.
Notification	Sending event-driven messages to an outside channel when something happens in the platform (a new order, a paid invoice, a new ticket).
Automation	Custom workflow logic and business rules that don't fit the other categories — event handlers, scheduled tasks and webhook receivers.
Authentication	Letting customers sign in through an external identity provider.
AI Provider	Connecting an AI service for text completions, embeddings, token counts or image generation.
Domain Registrar	Registering, renewing and managing domains. This card creates an Infrastructure Provider whose service type is set to domains, with registrar-specific starter flows.
Email Transport	Delivering platform email through a provider's API instead of a mail server, with optional bounce and delivery-status lookups.
2FA Delivery	Delivering login two-factor codes over your own channel — SMS, a messaging app, a voice call. The platform generates and checks the code; your plugin only transmits it.
Analytics	Forwarding billing events to an analytics platform. These are configuration-only and have no flows.
Custom	A free-form starting point when none of the above fit.

You don't need to memorise these — the wizard presents them as cards with descriptions and examples. See Creating a Plugin.

How a plugin runs

You never run a plugin by hand. The platform triggers your flows in response to events and actions:

• When a customer orders a service backed by an Infrastructure Provider plugin, the platform runs your provisioning flow. When that service is suspended, unsuspended or terminated, it runs the matching flow.
• When a customer checks out with a Payment Gateway plugin, the platform runs your payment-creation flow; when the processor posts back, it runs your webhook flow.
• When a platform event fires, a Notification plugin runs its notification flow for that event.
• A flow whose type is Scheduled runs on the interval or schedule you set on it.
• A flow whose type is Custom Action runs when someone presses the button you defined for it.

Each flow receives input from the platform, walks through your nodes — calling the external API through your connection, transforming the response, branching on conditions — and returns a result the platform understands. Configuration values are available throughout the flow as {{config.key}}, which you'll see used across the next articles.

The plugin lifecycle

A plugin always starts as a Draft, whether the wizard created it or you imported it. In Draft it does nothing in production, so you can build and test safely. When you're satisfied, use Enable on the plugin's card menu; only then does the platform route real events and actions to it. Disable puts it back out of service without deleting anything. Those controls, and the rest of the day-to-day operation of an installed plugin, are covered in Managing Plugins.

Tip: build and test thoroughly while the plugin is still a Draft. Enabling it makes it live for real orders and real payments.

Next steps

Ready to build? Go to Creating a Plugin to walk through the New Plugin wizard step by step.

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Related: Creating a Plugin · Managing Plugins · Plugin Catalogue · Connections & Authentication · Building Flows · Capabilities & Flow Contracts