# Packages Manager

**URL:** <https://forum.getkirby.com/t/packages-manager/3402>\
**Category:** Plugins\
**Tags:** discontinued\
**Created:** [February 23, 2016, 2:23pm UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/packages-manager/3402 "2016-02-23T14:23:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 30

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**Author:** ![fvsch](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.getkirby.com/fvsch/32/15908_2.png) [@fvsch](https://forum.getkirby.com/u/fvsch)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/packages-manager/3402/30 "2016-11-17T17:43:48Z")

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Hi. For the record I made [https://github.com/fvsch/kirby-composerkit](https://github.com/fvsch/kirby-composerkit) which kinda looks like an alternative to your first 3 steps. Though it’s a bit opinionated (it keeps Kirby core and the Panel’s PHP code in `vendor`).

I’m not sure there’s a point in extending the Kirby CLI with complexity to parse `composer.json`, resolve version requirements like Composer does, and install a series of plugins. If you’re going to use Composer, I’d go with a solution that relies on Composer only, not a combination of that + more steps using the Kirby CLI.

You can define any public git repo as a Composer package, though it’s a bit verbose, as defined in [How to use Composer to install Kirby, Toolkit, Panel](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-use-composer-to-install-kirby-toolkit-panel/2850/9) (note that this technique is not needed anymore for Kirby itself). For instance:

```json
{
  "repositories": [
    {
      "type": "package",
      "package": {
        "name": "distantnative/multiselect",
        "version": "master",
        "source": {
          "type": "git",
          "url": "https://github.com/distantnative/multiselect.git",
          "reference": "master"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

```

But if a plugin is only published on GitHub and not also available on Packagist, I would worry a little bit about its availability over time, and instead I’d install the plugin (manually or with the Kirby CLI) _and_ I’d commit the installed files (rather than ignore them). I don’t want to create a project that can be installed now but not in 18 months when a developer changed their GitHub handle or deleted or renamed a repository.

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