YAPT

Yet Another Plugin Tool

Server, manager and publisher

QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

Disclaimer - Spoiler

To each his own!

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QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

Historic situation

Our needs

  • Internal plugins repository for public and in dev plugins
  • Clients plugins repository for in dev plugins
  • Deploying QGIS Server plugins on our Lizmap hosting infrastructure

Do not overload plugins.qgis.org

Implementation

  • File server
  • XML files listing available plugins
  • qgis-plugin-manager
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

qgis-plugin-manager

CLI tool to manage QGIS plugins

$ qgis-plugin-manager --help
usage: qgis-plugin-manager [-h] [-v] {version,init,list,install,remove,upgrade,remotes,update,cache,versions,search,check} ...

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose         Activate verbose (debug) mode (default: False)

commands:
  qgis-plugin-manager command

  {version,init,list,install,remove,upgrade,remotes,update,cache,versions,search,check}
    version             Show version informations and exit
    init                Create the `sources.list` with plugins.qgis.org as remote
    list                List all plugins in the directory
    install             Install a plugin
    remove              Remove a plugin by its name
    upgrade             Upgrade all plugins installed
    remotes             List all remote server
    update              Update all index files
    cache               Look for available plugin in the cache - Deprecated
    versions            Look for available plugin latest versions
    search              Search for plugins
    check               Check compatibility of installed plugins with QGIS version
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

Evolution of our needs

Multiple In-dev plugins versions: -pre

For exemple:

  • master with QGIS4 support
  • stable Without QGIS4 support

Or:

  • master with code refactoring
  • stable with bugfixings only

Pushed to plugins repository for manual or automatic tests

Install specific version of a plugin even if it is not the last one

QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

QGIS plugins server - The YAPT Server

QGIS Plugin Repository Server: It maintains a catalog of packages populated by archive uploads via HTTP.

curl -X POST -F "file=@monplugin.1.0.0.zip" http://localhost:8070/plugins/
curl "http://localhost:8070/plugins.xml?qgis=3.40"

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QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

QGIS plugins server - The YAPT Server

Features

  • Automatic extraction of metadata (metadata.txt) from the uploaded archive;
  • Catalog updates without the risk of concurrent access;
  • Plugin filtering by QGIS version, tag, and status (experimental, deprecated, server plugin);
  • Catalog available in XML (QGIS Desktop) and JSON;
  • HTTP cache management (ETag / Last-Modified);
  • Optional TLS and client certificate authentication (mTLS).

It is not

  • A web site like qgis.plugin.org
  • A security validator (no virus scan, no code analysis)
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

QGIS plugins server - The YAPT Server

API HTTP - GET

# XML Catalog for QGIS 3.40, including experimental versions
curl "http://localhost:8070/plugins.xml?qgis=3.40&pre=true"
# Only server plugins, in JSON
curl "http://localhost:8070/plugins.json?qgis=3.40&server=true"
# All versions of a plugin
curl "http://localhost:8070/plugins/lizmap-server/plugins.json?qgis=3.40&all=true&pre=true"

API HTTP - POST

curl -i -X POST \
    -H "X-Upload-Agent: gitlab-ci" \
    -F "file=@lizmap-server.2.16.0.zip" \
    -F "checksum=@lizmap-server.2.16.0.zip.sha256" \
    "https://plugins.example.org/plugins/"

API HTTP - DELETE

curl -X DELETE "https://plugins.example.org/plugins/lizmap-server/?version=%3D2.16.0"
{"removed":[["lizmap-server","2.16.0"]]}
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

QGIS plugins server - The YAPT Server

API HTTP - GET -Routes

Methods Route Description
GET, HEAD /plugins.xml Catalog XML (QGIS Desktop)
GET, HEAD /plugins.json Catalog JSON
GET, HEAD /plugins/ Catalog JSON (alias)
GET, HEAD /plugins/<slug>/plugins.xml Catalog XML for only one plugin
GET, HEAD /plugins/<slug>/plugins.json Catalog JSON for only opne plugin
GET, HEAD /plugins/<slug>/ Catalog JSON for only one plugin
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

QGIS plugins server - The YAPT Server

API HTTP - GET - Request parameters:

Parameter Value Default Description
qgis version — Required. Target QGIS version (3.40, 3.40.2, …)
pre true/false false Includes experimentals versions
deprecated true/false false Includes deprecated plugins
server true/false false Only server plugins
all true/false false Returns all versions, JSON only
tags texte — Approximate search based on the plugin's name and tags
  • Boolean values must be specified explicitly: ?pre=true. ?pre or ?pre=1 returns 400.
  • Without all=true, the catalog contains no more than two versions per plugin, like qgis.plugins.org.
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

QGIS plugins server - The YAPT Server

API HTTP - POST

POST /plugins/[?pre=true|false]

multipart/form-data body:

Field Required Description
file yes The plugin's .zip archive
sig no Archive signature
checksum no Checksum file
checksum_sig no Checksum signature
  • Optional header X-Upload-Agent: stored in the field uploadedBy
  • Parameter pre overides the experimental field of metadata.txt
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

QGIS plugins server - The YAPT Server

API HTTP - DELETE

DELETE /plugins/<slug>/?version=<requirement>


  • version is a constraint in SemVer format
    (=0.1.0, <1.0.0, >=1.0, <2.0, …).
  • ⚠️ Warning: version=0.1 is interpreted as ^0.1 and therefore deletes all 0.1.x versions; use =0.1.0 for an exact match.
  • The corresponding archives are deleted from disk and the catalog is rewritten. The response lists the versions that were actually deleted.
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

QGIS plugins server - The YAPT Server

Not Ready Yet

Tested on ~20 plugins only
No database providers to store plugins metadata

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QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT - Now that we're here, why not keep going?





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QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-pkg

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https://github.com/3liz/yapt-package

QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-pkg - The YAPT packager

# Basic package creation
yapt-pkg package

# Create archive with prerelease version
yapt-pkg package --pre

# Create archive in specific directory
yapt-pkg package -o ./dist

# Generate package XML for QGIS
yapt-pkg package --xml "https://example.com/downloads/"

# Publish to QGIS plugin repository
yapt-pkg package --publish --osgeo-username "user" --osgeo-password "pass"

# Publish with environment variables
OSGEO_USERNAME=user OSGEO_PASSWORD=pass yapt-pkg package --publish

# Dry run (test connection)
yapt-pkg package --publish --dry-run
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-pkg - The YAPT packager

# Get changelog for current version (from pyproject.toml)
yapt-pkg changelog

# Get changelog for specific version
yapt-pkg changelog --version "1.0.0"

Configuring metadata can be done in pyproject.toml not only in metadata.txt.

Manage localisation with qt-transifex https://github.com/3liz/qt-transifex

QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-manager

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https://github.com/3liz/yapt-manager

QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-manager - QGIS Plugin Manager

yapt-mngr --help
A QGIS plugin manager

Usage: yapt-mngr [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

Commands:
  source   Manage sources
  list     List installed plugins
  find     Find plugins
  install  Install plugin(s)
  upgrade  Upgrade installed plugins with remote sources
  search   Search for plugins
  remove   Remove installed plugins
  help     Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Global options:
  -C, --config <CONFIG>              The configuration directory path (default to current dir) [env: YAPT_CONF_DIR=]
      --cache-dir <CACHE_DIR>        The cache directory (default to config dir) [env: YAPT_CACHE_DIR=]
      --no-sync                      Do no synchronize sources [env: YAPT_NO_SYNC=]
      --qgis-version <QGIS_VERSION>  The QGIS version [env: QGIS_VERSION=]
  -d, --install-dir <INSTALL_DIR>    Plugin installation directory [env: QGIS_PLUGINPATH=/var/qjazz/plugins]
      --no-progress                  Hide all progress outputs [env: YAPT_NO_PROGRESS=]
  -v, --verbose...                   Increase log verbosity
  -h, --help                         Display concise help
  -V, --version                      Display the program version
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-manager - QGIS Plugin Manager

yapt-mngr source --help
Manage sources

Usage: yapt-mngr source [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

Commands:
  add     Add remote source
  remove  Remove remote source
  rename  Rename source
  list    List sources
  update  Fetch sources [alias: sync]
  check   Check for update
  help    Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-manager - QGIS Plugin Manager

yapt-mngr list --help
List installed plugins

Usage: yapt-mngr list [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -o, --outdated         List outdated plugins
      --source <SOURCE>  Use only the specified source when searching for latest version
      --pre              Include pre-release, development and experimental versions [env: QGIS_PLUGIN_INCLUDE_PRERELEASE=]

yapt-mngr list
  3liz.org.... ✓ Up to date
  NAME             VERSION QGIS* SOURCE   LATEST FOLDER
atlasprint         3.4.4   3.28  3liz.org 3.4.4  /srv/qgis-server-plugins/atlasprint
Lizmap server      2.15.4  3.34  3liz.org 2.15.5 /srv/qgis-server-plugins/lizmap_server
wfsOutputExtension 1.8.3   3.28  3liz.org 1.8.3  /srv/qgis-server-plugins/wfsOutputExtension
(*) Minimum QGIS versions supported

yapt-mngr list --outdated
  3liz.org.... ✓ Up to date
  NAME             VERSION QGIS* SOURCE   LATEST FOLDER
Lizmap server      2.15.4  3.34  3liz.org 2.15.5 /srv/qgis-server-plugins/lizmap_server
(*) Minimum QGIS versions supported
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-manager - QGIS Plugin Manager

yapt-mngr find --help
Find plugins

Usage: yapt-mngr find [OPTIONS] <NAME>...

Arguments:
  <NAME>...  List of plugins with optional version specifiers

Options:
      --pre              Include pre-release, development and experimental versions [env: QGIS_PLUGIN_INCLUDE_PRERELEASE=]
      --deprecated       Include deprecated versions
      --source <SOURCE>  Use only the specified source

Find lizmap plugin with version 5.x.x from 3liz.org QGIS plugins server.

yapt-mngr find lizmap=5
  3liz.org.... ✓ Up to date
  lizmap:
NAME   VERSION QGIS SOURCE
Lizmap 5.0.3   3.34 3liz.org
Lizmap 5.0.2   3.34 3liz.org
Lizmap 5.0.1   3.34 3liz.org
Lizmap 5.0.0   3.34 3liz.org
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-manager - QGIS Plugin Manager

yapt-mngr search --help
Search for plugins

Usage: yapt-mngr search [OPTIONS] <NAME>

Arguments:
  <NAME>

Options:
      --by-name          Only search by plugin name
      --server           Consider only server plugins
      --all              Return all versions of plugins
      --pre              Include pre-release, development and experimental versions [env: QGIS_PLUGIN_INCLUDE_PRERELEASE=]
      --deprecated       Include deprecated versions
      --source <SOURCE>  Use only the specified source

yapt-mngr search lizmap,server
  3liz.org.... ✓ Up to date
  S  Server  X  Experimental  T  Trusted  D  Deprecated
NAME               VERSION QGIS* STATUS SOURCE
Lizmap             5.0.3   3.34  ----   qgis-plugins.3liz.org
Lizmap server      2.15.5  3.34  S---   qgis-plugins.3liz.org
wfsOutputExtension 1.8.3   3.28  S---   qgis-plugins.3liz.org
(*) Minimum QGIS versions supported
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-manager - QGIS Plugin Manager

yapt-mngr install --help
Install plugin(s)

Usage: yapt-mngr install [OPTIONS] <NAME>...

Arguments:
  <NAME>...  Plugins to install

Options:
      --pre              Include pre-release, development and experimental versions [env: QGIS_PLUGIN_INCLUDE_PRERELEASE=]
      --deprecated       Include deprecated versions
      --source <SOURCE>  Use only the specified source
      --reinstall        Force (re)installing
      --fix-permissions  Set files permissions to 0644
  -U, --upgrade          Upgrade plugin to latest version, if `--pre` is specified, the update will update to the latest experimental version if any
      --dry-run          Only show what would be installed
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-manager - QGIS Plugin Manager

yapt-mngr upgrade --help
Upgrade installed plugins with remote sources

Usage: yapt-mngr upgrade [OPTIONS]

Options:
      --pre              Include pre-release, development and experimental versions [env: QGIS_PLUGIN_INCLUDE_PRERELEASE=]
      --deprecated       Include deprecated versions
      --source <SOURCE>  Use only the specified source
      --reinstall        Force (re)installing
      --fix-permissions  Set files permissions to 0644
      --dry-run          Only show what would be installed
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

YAPT-manager - QGIS Plugin Manager

yapt-mngr remove --help
Remove installed plugins

Usage: yapt-mngr remove [OPTIONS] <NAME>...

Arguments:
  <NAME>...  Plugins to remove
QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

Conclusion

  • A set of tools written in Rust to manage QGIS plugins
  • Nothing new - Yet Another Plugin Tool



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QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

Thank you



Questions ?

QGIS UC 2026 - Yet Another Plugin Tool

Tous les goûts sont danss la nature ! Even if QGIS loves Python, we love CRAB and Rust.

At 3Liz, for our internal needs, for our clients, and for deploying QGIS Server plugins on our Lizmap hosting infrastructure, we used a file server, XML files listing the available plugins, and qgis-plugin-manager. We also don't want to overload plugins.qgis.org

qgis-plugin-manager is a command-line tool for managing installed QGIS plugins. Designed primarily for managing QGIS Server extensions, it also works with QGIS Desktop extensions. It is witten in Python and available with PIP.

Our needs have evolved over the years. We need to be able to manage multiple versions of a plugin in development. We also need to install specific versions of a plugin even if it is not the last one. We have some trouble with the simple XML file and we want to replace it with a more robust solution. We need a QGIS Plugins server.

So we build in Rust a QGIS Plugins Server to replace the simple XML file and files server. It is a simple HTTP files server dedicated to QGIS Plugins.

The YAPT Server firstly extracts the metadata from the uploaded plugin archive, to update the plugins catalog without the risk of concurrent access. The catalog is available in XML (QGIS Desktop) and alos in JSON. The YAPT server is not a web site like qgis.plugin.org. It does not analyze the code of the plugin. It does not scan for viruses. It does not provide a web interface to users. It is mainly a REST API to upload plugins and to get the catalog of plugins.

Here are the 3 HTTP methods (words) available with YAPT server.

YAPT defeinde these defferents routes to get the plugins catalog. It provides a way to get the catalog for all the uploaded plugins or the catalog only for one plugin.

The qgis GET parameter is required and works as like the one provided by plugins.qgis.org. The other parameters are optional, helps filtering the catalog, exccept for the all parameter which is designed to work with JSON output to provided all published versions.

To upload a new plugin package, you just have to send POST request with multipart/form-data body, that contains the plugin zip file, the signature file and the checksum. The experimental field can be overriding at the request level with the pre parameter.

Last request to remove one or more versions of a plugin can be performed with DELETE request.

The YAPT server is not ready yet We used it for our needs. We used it for plugins around Lizmap to deploy them on our hosting servcies and plugins for custormers to deliver expriremental for manual tests before deploying them on plugins.qgis.org

Now, we have our own QGIS Plugins server written in Rust with extra features, why not continuing to develop more tools in Rust to help packaging and managing QGIS plugins ?

So we build YAPT package, a command line tool to package QGIS plugins.

Like **qgis-plugin-ci**: CLI tool for packaging QGIS plugins Not like **qgis-plugin-ci**: it is not written in Python but in Rust and it does not provide a tool to push and pull from transifex.

We also build a YAPT manager to take advatage of YAPT Server to manage QGIS plugins : JSON Catalog and parameters.