About

Everything you need to know about the Payload Plugin Directory

What is this?

The Payload Plugin Directory is a community-driven catalog that automatically discovers and indexes plugins for Payload CMS. Whether you're looking for authentication, SEO, media handling, or any other functionality, you can browse, search, and compare plugins all in one place.

How does it work?

1

Discovery

GitHub repositories with the payload-plugin topic are discovered automatically via the GitHub API.

2

Processing

Each repository's metadata — description, stars, forks, version compatibility, npm downloads, license, and more — is fetched and processed.

3

Refresh

The directory syncs with GitHub and npm automatically several times a day, so new plugins and updates appear without any manual intervention.

4

No submission needed

There's no sign-up or manual submission process. Just add the payload-plugin topic to your GitHub repo and it will be picked up automatically.

Build Your Own Plugin

Creating a Payload plugin is straightforward. Here's how to get started:

1

Scaffold the project

Run npx create-payload-app (or pnpx create-payload-app) and select the “plugin” template when prompted.

2

Develop your plugin

Follow the official plugin guide to build and test your plugin.

3

Get listed

Add the payload-plugin topic to your GitHub repository. The directory will discover and list it automatically within 24 hours.

Use with your agent

The directory is also a public, read-only MCP server at https://payloaddirectory.dev/api/mcp. No sign-up or API key is needed. Your coding agent can find, inspect, and compare plugins while it works on your Payload project.

The endpoint is for MCP clients such as Claude Code, Claude Desktop and other CLI or agent clients. It is not meant for browsers: it does not allow cross-origin requests, so a web page cannot call it.

  • searchPlugins — full-text search, optionally filtered by Payload major version or category
  • getPlugin — everything about one plugin, including its README
  • listCategories — the category tree with plugin counts
  • comparePlugins — 2–5 plugins side by side

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http payload-directory https://payloaddirectory.dev/api/mcp

Cursor, VS Code and other clients with HTTP support

The top-level key name varies by client; check your client's MCP docs.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "payload-directory": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://payloaddirectory.dev/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Clients that only run local (stdio) servers, such as Claude Desktop

npx -y mcp-remote https://payloaddirectory.dev/api/mcp

Requests are rate-limited. Plugin descriptions and READMEs are written by plugin authors, so the server tells agents to treat them as untrusted content.

Open Source

This project is fully open source. Contributions, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome on GitHub.