Title: Plugins
Author: WordPress VIP Documentation
Published: December 26, 2023
Last modified: December 31, 2025

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#  Plugins

WordPress VIP does not maintain a list of “approved” plugins. Plugins of the customer’s
choice can be installed to extend a site’s functionality.

It is the responsibility of the customer to thoroughly [research, scan, and test a plugin candidate](https://docs.wpvip.com/installing-plugins-best-practices/)
on a non-production environment prior to activating it on a production environment.

**Plugin files and directories can only be added, updated, or removed via code commits
to GitHub**; not from within the WordPress Admin dashboard.

 * 
   ### 󠀁[Add a plugin](https://docs.wpvip.com/plugins/installing-plugins/)󠁿
   
 * Themes and plugins can only be installed, updated, or deleted via the application’s
   wpcomvip GitHub repository; they cannot be installed, updated, or deleted in 
   the WordPress Admin dashboard.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Activate a plugin through code](https://docs.wpvip.com/plugins/activate-plugins-through-code/)󠁿
   
 * As an alternative to manual activation, it is recommended to code-activate plugins
   instead to gain greater control and consistency across all environments.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Load order of plugins](https://docs.wpvip.com/plugins/load-order/)󠁿
   
 * The WordPress load order hook that is used to activate a plugin determines which
   point within the load process that plugin will load.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Evaluate third-party plugins](https://docs.wpvip.com/plugins/third-party-plugins/)󠁿
   
 * Before installing a plugin candidate, evaluate a variety of the plugin’s qualities,
   including how completely the plugin candidate addresses requirements and/or the
   problem needing to be solved.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Version updates for third-party plugins](https://docs.wpvip.com/plugins/version-updates-and-maintenance/)󠁿
   
 * All third-party plugins that are added to a site on the WordPress VIP Platform
   should be kept up to date with their latest available version.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Plugin incompatibilities](https://docs.wpvip.com/plugins/incompatibilities/)󠁿
   
 * Some third-party plugins include operations or features that are incompatible
   with or duplicative to the infrastructure of the VIP Platform.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Plugin helper file](https://docs.wpvip.com/plugins/helper-file/)󠁿
   
 * Plugin authors can add alternative code to a plugin helper file in order to load
   code for their plugins that is compatible with the VIP Platform.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Automattic plugins](https://docs.wpvip.com/plugins/automattic-plugins/)󠁿
   
 * Automattic is the author of a large number and wide variety of plugins. Review
   the plugins authored by Automattic that are most often added to WordPress sites
   on the VIP Platform.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[WooCommerce](https://docs.wpvip.com/plugins/woocommerce/)󠁿
   
 * WooCommerce is a free ecommerce plugin authored by Automattic and compatible 
   with WordPress single sites and WordPress multisites on the VIP Platform.

Last updated: December 31, 2025