Block Directory Plugin Checker
Opens a plugin .zip in your browser and checks it against the Block Directory rules: one block, valid block.json, no admin screens, no external dependencies.
This tool needs JavaScript: the zip is opened and read in your browser, and nothing is uploaded.
Reading the archive…
No plugin yet. This runs the Block Directory rules, which are narrower than the plugin directory ones.
The Block Directory is the list the block inserter searches while somebody is writing a post. Its rules are narrower than the plugin directory’s, and most rejections are about those extra rules rather than about the code: one block, nothing outside the editor, no accounts, no external services, no advertising.
Drop the plugin zip in and read the list. It is opened in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
How to use
Choose the zip, or drop it on the box. The archive is read in this tab and discarded when you leave.
Example
acme-block · 14 files · 24.1 KB
0 required · 1 worth fixing · 1 worth knowing
WORTH FIXING
2 top-level blocks
the guidelines ask for one, unless a parent/child or container/content dependency makes more
necessary. Bundles are rejected
WORTH KNOWING
build/block.json is apiVersion 2
version 3 is current; 1 and 2 still work and lose the iframed editorPitfalls
One block, not a bundle. The guidelines are explicit: a block plugin is a single purpose block, not a collection. Several blocks are allowed only where a parent/child or container/content dependency makes them necessary, and “they go together nicely” is not that.
No interface outside the editor. No admin menu, no settings page, no dashboard widget. A plugin that needs a settings screen belongs in the plugin directory instead, and that is a perfectly good place to be.
It has to work by itself. No external service, no login, no API key, no payment. A block that renders data from your SaaS is not a Block Directory plugin.
block.json is the registration. The directory reads it, so name and title are required, and
the guidelines want at least one of script or editorScript and at least one of style or
editorStyle.
Namespaces are not decoration. core and wordpress belong to WordPress. Your namespace should be
the plugin slug or your own name, and it is what the block is called forever after.
Keep the PHP minimal. The guidelines say server-side code should be kept to a minimum. There is no number attached, which means a reviewer decides; the size of your PHP is the thing they will look at.
Stable tag in readme.txt decides what is served. A tag that does not match the version you think
you released is the commonest release accident in the directory.
Text Domain must match the folder. Translations from WordPress.org load by slug, so a mismatch means no translations and nothing to explain why.
Compatibility
Everything happens in your browser: the zip is opened with a reader written for this, using the
platform’s own DecompressionStream for deflated entries. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored.
The rules come from the Block Directory guidelines on developer.wordpress.org: the single-block rule with
its parent/child exception, the block.json fields, the namespace rules, independence from external
services, the editor-only scope, and the ban on advertising. Where a rule is a judgement — whether PHP is
“minimal”, whether a notice is promotional — this reports what it found and says a reviewer decides.
The plugin directory’s own basics are checked too, since a block plugin has to pass those as well: the plugin header fields, a GPL licence, readme.txt with a stable tag and a tested-up-to, development files left in the zip, and whether everything sits inside one folder.
Limits: 40MB for the archive, 1MB for a single file read as text, 400 text files.