---
title: Porting a plugin
description: Take a WinterCMS acme/blog plugin with a model, migrations, a route, a backend controller and an artisan command to a compiled SummerCMS plugin, step by step.
section: setup
order: 50
---
# Porting a plugin

This walkthrough ports a small WinterCMS plugin, `Acme.Blog`, to SummerCMS. The plugin has what most real plugins have: a registration class, a `Post` model, `version.yaml` updates, a `routes.php` API endpoint, a backend `Posts` controller with its YAML, and an artisan command. Each section shows the WinterCMS file first and the SummerCMS file that replaces it.

The name `acme/blog` is a neutral example. The SummerCMS code on this page is not a sketch: every Go and YAML block is a copy of a file under `docs/examples/blog` in the framework repository, a compiled plugin whose tests activate it, serve its route and run its migrations against PostgreSQL. Read [Coming from WinterCMS](coming-from-wintercms.md) first for the map of concepts.

## Plugin registration

In WinterCMS, `Plugin.php` describes the plugin and registers what it adds:

```php
<?php namespace Acme\Blog;

use System\Classes\PluginBase;

class Plugin extends PluginBase
{
    public function pluginDetails()
    {
        return [
            'name'        => 'Blog',
            'description' => 'A simple blog',
            'author'      => 'Acme',
        ];
    }

    public function boot()
    {
    }
}
```

In SummerCMS the plugin is a Go type in the plugin's root package, `plugin.go`. `summer make:plugin acme.blog` writes it with every capability a new plugin usually needs: embedded config, language and mail files, models, migrations, commands, jobs and admin controllers. The plugin registers itself from `init`, and the application imports the package so that `init` runs:

```go src=docs/examples/blog/plugin.go
package blog

import (
	"embed"
	"io/fs"

	"git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms/modules/backpack"
	"git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms/modules/bonfire"
	"git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms/modules/pact"
	"git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms/modules/party"
	"github.com/go-gormigrate/gormigrate/v2"
)

var (
	_ pact.HasConfig           = (*Plugin)(nil)
	_ pact.HasLang             = (*Plugin)(nil)
	_ pact.HasMailTemplates    = (*Plugin)(nil)
	_ pact.HasModels           = (*Plugin)(nil)
	_ pact.HasMigrations       = (*Plugin)(nil)
	_ pact.HasCommands         = (*Plugin)(nil)
	_ pact.HasJobs             = (*Plugin)(nil)
	_ pact.HasAdminControllers = (*Plugin)(nil)
)

//go:embed config
var configFS embed.FS

//go:embed lang
var langFS embed.FS

//go:embed views/mail
var mailFS embed.FS

// Plugin is the acme.blog plugin, the Go form of Plugin.php.
type Plugin struct {
	app *backpack.App
}

func (p *Plugin) ID() string         { return "acme.blog" }
func (p *Plugin) Requires() []string { return nil }

func (p *Plugin) Register(*backpack.App) error { return nil }

// Boot keeps the application, so route handlers and commands can reach its
// services, such as the database, when they run.
func (p *Plugin) Boot(app *backpack.App) error {
	p.app = app
	return nil
}

func (p *Plugin) ConfigFS() fs.FS { return configFS }
func (p *Plugin) LangFS() fs.FS   { return langFS }

func (p *Plugin) MailTemplatesFS() fs.FS         { return mailFS }
func (p *Plugin) MailTemplates() []string        { return nil }
func (p *Plugin) MailLayouts() map[string]string { return nil }

func (p *Plugin) Models() []any                       { return generatedModels() }
func (p *Plugin) Migrations() []*gormigrate.Migration { return generatedMigrations() }
func (p *Plugin) Commands() []bonfire.Command         { return generatedCommands() }
func (p *Plugin) Jobs() []pact.Job                    { return generatedJobs() }
func (p *Plugin) AdminControllers() []pact.AdminController {
	return generatedAdminControllers()
}

func init() {
	party.Register(&Plugin{})
}
```

`Boot` keeps the application, because the route handler below reaches the database through it. The capability methods return `generatedModels()`, `generatedMigrations()` and the other accessors from `registry.gen.go`, which the `make:` commands rewrite each time they add a model, a migration, a command, a job or an admin controller.

The plugin's defaults live in `config/config.yaml`, the equivalent of the plugin's `config/config.php`. They are merged under the plugin ID, so this value is read as `acme.blog.per_page`:

```yaml src=docs/examples/blog/config/config.yaml
# Defaults for acme.blog, merged under the plugin ID: the application reads
# this value as acme.blog.per_page and can override it in its own config.
per_page: 15
```

## The Post model

The WinterCMS model extends Eloquent and lists its mass-assignable columns in `$fillable`:

```php
<?php namespace Acme\Blog\Models;

use Model;

class Post extends Model
{
    public $table = 'acme_blog_posts';

    protected $fillable = ['title', 'slug', 'body'];
}
```

`summer make:model acme.blog Post` writes `models/post.go` and a migration that creates the table. The model is a GORM struct; add its columns, keep the table name with `TableName`, and turn `$fillable` into a `Fillable` method:

```go src=docs/examples/blog/models/post.go#Post
// Post is a blog post, the Go form of the WinterCMS Acme\Blog\Models\Post
// model.
type Post struct {
	ID        uint      `gorm:"column:id;primaryKey"`
	Title     string    `gorm:"column:title"`
	Slug      string    `gorm:"column:slug"`
	Body      string    `gorm:"column:body"`
	CreatedAt time.Time `gorm:"column:created_at"`
	UpdatedAt time.Time `gorm:"column:updated_at"`
}
```

```go src=docs/examples/blog/models/post.go#Post.Fillable
// Fillable is the Go form of $fillable: the only columns lagoon.Fill may
// set from a request.
func (Post) Fillable() []string { return []string{"title", "slug", "body"} }
```

`Post::make($input)` becomes a function that fills a new post through `lagoon.Fill` with that allow-list. Keys outside it, such as `id`, are dropped, so a request can never set them:

```go src=docs/examples/blog/models/post.go#NewPost
// NewPost is the Go form of Post::make($input): it copies only the fillable
// keys of input onto a new post and drops the rest, such as id.
func NewPost(input map[string]any) (*Post, error) {
	post := &Post{}
	if err := lagoon.Fill(post, post.Fillable(), input, true); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return post, nil
}
```

See [Models](../database/models.md) for the other Eloquent conventions and [Casts and validation](../database/casts-and-validation.md) for validating the input before you fill it.

## Migrations

WinterCMS lists a plugin's updates in `updates/version.yaml`, each version naming the migration scripts it runs:

```yaml
1.0.1:
    - 'Create the posts table'
    - create_posts_table.php
```

```php
<?php namespace Acme\Blog\Updates;

use Schema;
use Winter\Storm\Database\Updates\Migration;

class CreatePostsTable extends Migration
{
    public function up()
    {
        Schema::create('acme_blog_posts', function ($table) {
            $table->increments('id');
            $table->string('title');
            $table->string('slug')->unique();
            $table->text('body');
            $table->timestamps();
        });
    }

    public function down()
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('acme_blog_posts');
    }
}
```

In SummerCMS each migration is a gormigrate entry in `updates/`, named after a UTC timestamp so the files sort in the order they run. There is no `version.yaml`: the plugin returns its migrations in order from `pact.HasMigrations`, and each plugin keeps its own history table. The migration `summer make:model` wrote creates the table with `id` and the timestamps; add the model's columns to it:

```go src=docs/examples/blog/updates/20260101000000_create_acme_blog_posts.go#CreatePosts
// CreatePosts returns the 20260101000000_create_acme_blog_posts gormigrate entry.
func CreatePosts() *gormigrate.Migration {
	return &gormigrate.Migration{
		ID: "20260101000000_create_acme_blog_posts",
		Migrate: func(tx *gorm.DB) error {
			return tx.Exec(`CREATE TABLE acme_blog_posts (
    id BIGSERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    title VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    slug VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
    body TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
    created_at TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT NOW(),
    updated_at TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT NOW()
)`).Error
		},
		Rollback: func(tx *gorm.DB) error {
			return tx.Exec("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS acme_blog_posts").Error
		},
	}
}
```

`summer migrate` runs every plugin's pending migrations in plugin order. See [Migrations](../database/migrations.md) for the history tables and the rollback commands.

## Routes

A WinterCMS plugin declares its API endpoints in `routes.php`:

```php
<?php

use Acme\Blog\Models\Post;

Route::get('api/blog/posts', function () {
    return Post::orderBy('created_at', 'desc')->paginate(15);
});
```

The SummerCMS plugin implements `pact.HasRoutes` in `routes.go` and declares the route on a `pact.Router`. The handler reads the database the application published, counts and loads one page with bound parameters, and answers in the `{data, meta}` shape of Laravel's paginator through `lagoon.Paginate` and `wire.WriteJSON`:

```go src=docs/examples/blog/routes.go
package blog

import (
	"net/http"
	"strconv"
	"time"

	"git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms/docs/examples/blog/models"
	"git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms/modules/lagoon"
	"git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms/modules/pact"
	"git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms/modules/wire"
	"gorm.io/gorm"
)

var _ pact.HasRoutes = (*Plugin)(nil)

// Routes replaces routes.php.
func (p *Plugin) Routes(r pact.Router) error {
	r.Get("/api/blog/posts", p.listPosts)
	return nil
}

// postJSON is the response shape of one post. It is built field by field,
// so a column added to the model never leaks into the API.
type postJSON struct {
	ID        uint      `json:"id"`
	Title     string    `json:"title"`
	Slug      string    `json:"slug"`
	Body      string    `json:"body"`
	CreatedAt wire.Time `json:"created_at"`
}

// listPosts answers GET /api/blog/posts?page=N&per_page=M with one page of
// posts, newest first, in the {data, meta} shape of Laravel's paginator.
func (p *Plugin) listPosts(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	db, ok := p.app.Lookup[*gorm.DB]()
	if !ok {
		wire.WriteJSON(w, http.StatusServiceUnavailable, map[string]string{"message": "database unavailable"})
		return
	}
	page := queryInt(r, "page", 1, 1, 10000)
	perPage := queryInt(r, "per_page", p.app.Config.Int("acme.blog.per_page"), 1, 100)

	q := db.WithContext(r.Context()).Model(&models.Post{})
	var total int64
	if err := q.Count(&total).Error; err != nil {
		wire.WriteOpaque500(w)
		return
	}
	var posts []models.Post
	if err := q.Order("created_at DESC, id DESC").Offset((page - 1) * perPage).Limit(perPage).Find(&posts).Error; err != nil {
		wire.WriteOpaque500(w)
		return
	}
	rows := make([]postJSON, 0, len(posts))
	for _, post := range posts {
		rows = append(rows, postJSON{
			ID:        post.ID,
			Title:     post.Title,
			Slug:      post.Slug,
			Body:      post.Body,
			CreatedAt: wire.Time{Time: post.CreatedAt.UTC().Truncate(time.Second)},
		})
	}
	wire.WriteJSON(w, http.StatusOK, lagoon.Paginate(rows, page, perPage, total))
}

// queryInt reads an integer query parameter, falling back to def when it is
// missing or not a number, and clamps it to [lo, hi].
func queryInt(r *http.Request, name string, def, lo, hi int) int {
	n, err := strconv.Atoi(r.URL.Query().Get(name))
	if err != nil {
		n = def
	}
	return min(max(n, lo), hi)
}
```

The response is built from a separate `postJSON` type rather than the model, so a column added later does not appear in the API by accident. `page` and `per_page` are clamped, so a client cannot ask for the whole table at once. See [Routing](../services/routing.md) for groups, middleware and authentication, and [Queries and pagination](../database/queries-and-pagination.md) for sorting by a column the client names.