Going Open Source with Commercial Plugins

When I first added Composer support to Kirby Tools in April 2024, the approach was straightforward: a private Satis repository at repo.kirby.tools that required authentication for every install. You'd log into the Hub, grab a license code, configure the repository in your composer.json, and authenticate. It worked, but it was cumbersome – especially for teams where multiple developers needed access.

Two months later, I rethought the whole thing.

From Private Repo to Packagist

The private Composer registry was the safe choice. Commercial plugins behind authentication – makes sense on paper. In practice, it created friction at every step: initial setup, CI pipelines, onboarding new team members. Every composer install on a fresh machine meant configuring credentials first.

The fix was simpler than expected. All plugins are now available on Packagist and can be installed without authentication. A standard composer require is all it takes. License keys are still required in production environments, but the installation itself is open.

In-Panel License Activation

With the move to Packagist, the license activation needed to change too. Instead of managing credentials in auth.json at the project root, each plugin now handles activation directly in the Kirby Panel. Buy a plugin, install it via Composer, open the Panel – and you'll see an activation form right in the plugin's section.

For existing users, the migration is automatic: open a Panel page that contains a plugin section, and the license key moves from auth.json to its new location in /site/config/.kirby-tools-licenses. One less thing to think about.

Opening the Source

This was the bigger decision. Kirby itself has always been open source with a commercial license – you can read every line of code, but you need a license to use it in production. It's a model that works well and one the community respects.

I wanted to follow the same approach. All plugin source code is now available on the Kirby Tools GitHub organization. You can browse the code, open issues, and submit pull requests. The commercial license still applies – viewing the source doesn't mean free use – but transparency is better for everyone. Developers can evaluate what they're buying, debug issues in their own projects, and contribute fixes back.

What Stayed the Same

License keys haven't changed. If you bought a plugin before this update, your key still works. The Hub still manages everything. The only difference is how plugins reach your project – and that part got simpler.