Building Your First Shopware 6 Plugin

1. The Easy Way: Using the CLI Generator

Shopware provides a console command to scaffold plugins instantly. This prevents human error in directory structures and ensures all required files are created correctly.

Step 1: Open your terminal

Navigate to your Shopware root directory where bin/console is located.

Step 2: Run the creation command

php bin/console plugin:create MyFirstPlugin

What gets created

This creates the following structure in custom/plugins/MyFirstPlugin:

custom/plugins/MyFirstPlugin/
├── src/
│   └── MyFirstPlugin.php    # The main entry class
└── composer.json            # Metadata and autoloading

2. The Manual Setup (Understanding How It Works)

Understanding the manual setup helps you debug issues and customize plugins beyond the default scaffold. The critical file is composer.json - it tells Shopware "I exist."

The composer.json file

Create custom/plugins/MyFirstPlugin/composer.json:

{
  "name": "my-vendor/my-first-plugin",
  "description": "My first Shopware 6 plugin",
  "type": "shopware-platform-plugin",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "license": "MIT",
  "autoload": {
    "psr-4": {
      "MyVendor\\MyFirstPlugin\\": "src/"
    }
  },
  "extra": {
    "shopware-plugin-class": "MyVendor\\MyFirstPlugin\\MyFirstPlugin",
    "label": {
      "de-DE": "Mein erstes Plugin",
      "en-GB": "My First Plugin"
    }
  }
}

Understanding the configuration

• type: Must be shopware-platform-plugin for Shopware to recognize it
• autoload.psr-4: Maps your namespace to the src/ directory
• extra.label: Plugin name shown in the admin panel (supports multiple languages)

3. The Bootstrap Class

The bootstrap class is the entry point for your plugin. It extends the core Plugin class and allows you to run code during installation, updates, or uninstallation (e.g., creating database tables).

Create the main plugin file

Create custom/plugins/MyFirstPlugin/src/MyFirstPlugin.php:

<?php declare(strict_types=1);

namespace MyVendor\MyFirstPlugin;

use Shopware\Core\Framework\Plugin;
use Shopware\Core\Framework\Plugin\Context\InstallContext;

class MyFirstPlugin extends Plugin
{
    public function install(InstallContext $installContext): void
    {
        // Logic to execute during installation (e.g., create a table)
        parent::install($installContext);
    }
}

Available lifecycle methods

The Plugin class provides several lifecycle methods you can override:

• install(): Called when the plugin is first installed
• update(): Called when updating to a new version
• uninstall(): Called when removing the plugin
• activate() / deactivate(): Called when toggling the plugin state

4. Installing & Activating Your Plugin

Once your files are in place, you must register the plugin with Shopware using console commands.

Step 1: Refresh the plugin list

Tell Shopware to scan for new plugins:

php bin/console plugin:refresh

Step 2: Install and activate

Install and activate in one command:

php bin/console plugin:install --activate MyFirstPlugin

Step 3: Clear the cache

Always clear the cache after structure changes:

php bin/console cache:clear

5. Development Workflow: Hot Reloading

If you're developing storefronts (CSS/JS) or Administration modules, you don't want to manually compile assets every time you save. Use the "hot module replacement" watchers:

For Storefront (Frontend)

./bin/watch-storefront.sh

For Administration (Backend)

./bin/watch-administration.sh

These watchers automatically rebuild assets when you modify files, giving you near-instant feedback during development.

6. Production Performance Checklist

Shopware 6 is feature-rich but can be heavy if not optimized. Before you go live, check these critical items:

APP_ENV=prod

php bin/console cache:http:warm-up