vendure/docs/content/plugins/plugin-architecture/_index.md

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Plugin Architecture

{{< figure src="plugin_architecture.png" >}}

A plugin in Vendure is a specialized Nestjs Module which is decorated with the VendurePlugin class decorator. This diagram illustrates the how a plugin can integrate with and extend Vendure.

1. A Plugin may define logic to be run by the Vendure Worker. This is suitable for long-running or resource-intensive tasks and is done by providing controllers via the workers metadata property.
2. A Plugin can modify any aspect of server configuration via the configuration metadata property.
3. A Plugin can extend the GraphQL APIs via the shopApiExtensions metadata property and the adminApiExtensions metadata property.
4. A Plugin can interact with Vendure by importing the PluginCommonModule, by which it may inject any of the core Vendure services (which are responsible for all interaction with the database as well as business logic). Additionally a plugin may define new database entities via the entities metadata property and otherwise define any other providers and controllers just like any Nestjs module.
5. A Plugin can run arbitrary code, which allows it to make use of external services. For example, a plugin could interface with a cloud storage provider, a payment gateway, or a video encoding service.