How to add required parameters for paid plugins
Every plugin sold via JetBrains Marketplace must define the following parameters in the plugin descriptor (plugin.xml), which can be found in the <product-descriptor>
:
code
— a plugin Product Code (type:varchar
, 15 characters max). It is registered in the JetBrains Sales System and serves as a unique ID for all plugin-related sales operations. It also connects the JetBrains Marketplace releases of the plugin to the Sales System.Your Product Code must:
Start with the letter P.
Be no shorter than 4 characters.
Be no longer than 15 characters.
NOT contain any numbers or special symbols.
Contain only CAPITAL LETTERS.
For example, the Product Code for a plugin called “Make Me Coffee” should be PMAKEMECOFFEE.
warning
Please note that it is rather difficult to change a Product Code after it’s been created, as doing so requires merging a lot of financial information and transactions, and additionally maintaining legacy product code in our systems for reference and backward compatibility.
End-users will see the Product Code on the invoices, on the check-out page, and in their JetBrains Accounts.
release-date
— date of the major version release, written in theYYYYMMDD
format (type:integer
).This is one of the most crucial parameters, as the subscription model depends on it. Perpetual fallback licenses and licensing term calculations rely on the
release-date
andrelease-version
.release-version
— a major version in a special number format (type:integer
).The number should contain at least 2 digits, as it will be split into 2 numbers, the second of which will contain only one digit. Take, for example,
release-version=20241
. The first number would be2024
and the second one1
.This is different from the version of the plugin, as this is a version number of the major release (i.e. the release that happened on
release-date
).note
Please make sure the
release-version
and theversion
parameters match. They should have similar integers at the beginning, likerelease-version=20241
andversion=2024.1.1
.Let’s take a look at an example:
The initial release of a new plugin will be the first major release. That is why the parameters will look something like this in the plugin.xml file:
<product-descriptor code="PMAKEMECOFFEE" release-date="20240818" release-version="20241"/> <version>2024.1.1</version>
note
If you’re building the plugin with Gradle, the plugin version is defined in the plugins section of a project's build.gradle file. For more detailed information, please refer here.
According to the
release-date
parameter, this plugin can be purchased starting fromAugust 18, 2024
. Its major version release is2024.1
, and that number should not be changed in your further minor updates. As for theversion
parameter, it matches therelease-version
initially. When you increase theversion
parameter for minor updates, it still should match therelease-version
(only last digits are increased).Here is an example of a minor update:
<product-descriptor code="PMAKEMECOFFEE" release-date="20240818" release-version="20241"/> <version>2024.1.2</version>
As you can see, only the
version
parameter has been changed. Subsequent minor updates (e.g.2024.1.1
,2024.1.2
,2024.1.x
) should have the samerelease-date
andrelease-version
. This will allow your users who have a perpetual fallback license to get the latest minor update of the major version they have access to.tip
A plugin version with an altered
release-version
andrelease-date
is considered a new stable version of the plugin, and in this case the current active trial licenses are reset.optional
— not a required parameter (type:boolean
). This should be set totrue
if you would like to add the free functionality to your plugin. Please see this article for more information about free functionality. The default value of this parameter isfalse
.
Thanks for your feedback!