Migration from pf4j-update

If you’re currently using pf4j-update, migrating to Plugwerk is straightforward.

Note

The Plugwerk Client SDK does not depend on pf4j-update and does not implement UpdateRepository. See ADR-0005 for the rationale (CVE exposure, classloader isolation conflict).

Step 1: Add the SDK

See Installation for dependency coordinates.

Step 2: Replace UpdateManager with Plugwerk Extensions

Replace your pf4j-update UpdateManager with the Plugwerk extension points:

Java

// Before (pf4j-update)
var repo = new DefaultUpdateRepository(
    "my-repo",
    new URL("https://example.com/plugins.json")
);
var updateManager = new UpdateManager(
    pluginManager, List.of(repo)
);
var updates = updateManager.getUpdates();

// After (Plugwerk)
var config = new PlugwerkConfig.Builder(
    "https://myplugwerk.host", "acme-corp"
)
    .apiKey("pwk_...")
    .build();

var marketplace = pluginManager
    .getExtensions(PlugwerkMarketplace.class)
    .getFirst();

// Check for updates
var installed = Map.of("my-plugin", "1.0.0");
var updates = marketplace.updateChecker()
    .checkForUpdates(installed);

// Install an update
var result = marketplace.installer()
    .install("my-plugin", "2.0.0");

Kotlin

// Before (pf4j-update)
val repo = DefaultUpdateRepository(
    "my-repo",
    URL("https://example.com/plugins.json")
)
val updateManager = UpdateManager(pluginManager, listOf(repo))
val updates = updateManager.updates

// After (Plugwerk)
val config = PlugwerkConfig.Builder(
    "https://myplugwerk.host", "acme-corp"
)
    .apiKey("pwk_...")
    .build()

val marketplace = pluginManager
    .getExtensions(PlugwerkMarketplace::class.java)
    .first()

// Check for updates
val installed = mapOf("my-plugin" to "1.0.0")
val updates = marketplace.updateChecker()
    .checkForUpdates(installed)

// Install an update
val result = marketplace.installer()
    .install("my-plugin", "2.0.0")

Step 3: Use the Full SDK (Optional)

Beyond update checking, the Plugwerk SDK offers catalog browsing and search. See the Configuration guide for details.

plugins.json Endpoint

Plugwerk serves a plugins.json endpoint that returns the catalog in a format inspired by pf4j-update. This can be useful for read-only tooling that consumes plugin feeds, but it is not intended as a drop-in for UpdateRepository.