Blesta 6 Extension Development Kit

A reference kit for building and converting Blesta 6.0 extensions — modules, plugins, and payment gateways — optimized for AI-assisted development.

Two ways to use it

1. Portable context (any AI tool). The files under reference/ are plain markdown. Drop the relevant one into Cursor / Copilot / ChatGPT / Claude.ai / the API as context and ask it to build or convert an extension. Load the file for the type you're working on, plus:

   • any WHMCS port also needs reference/common/whmcs-mapping.md (the shared conventions);
   • any admin UI / view work also needs reference/common/conversion-ui.md.

   Otherwise the per-type files stand alone.

2. Claude Code skill. This folder is also a skill: SKILL.md is the router that pulls in the right reference on demand. To install, copy or symlink this folder into your Claude Code skills directory (e.g. ~/.claude/skills/extension-dev-kit), then invoke it from Claude Code.

Layout

extension-dev-kit/
├── SKILL.md                         # skill router (also a human index)
├── README.md                        # this file
└── reference/
    ├── common/
    │   ├── conversion-ui.md         # Bootstrap 4→5 / jQuery→vanilla / FA→BI / Paradigm UI (shared)
    │   └── whmcs-mapping.md         # shared WHMCS→Blesta conventions (license, re-source rule, field types, errors/logging, Smarty→pdt)
    ├── modules/
    │   ├── create.md                # author a new module (hosting + registrar)
    │   ├── convert.md               # port a module from 5.x
    │   └── convert-from-whmcs.md    # port a WHMCS provisioning/registrar module to Blesta
    ├── gateways/
    │   ├── create.md                # author a new gateway (merchant + nonmerchant; classic & tokenized)
    │   ├── convert.md               # port a gateway from 5.x
    │   └── convert-from-whmcs.md    # port a WHMCS third-party/merchant gateway to Blesta
    └── plugins/
        ├── create.md                # author a new plugin (pages, actions/widgets, events, cron, ACL, cards, messages, tabs)
        ├── convert.md               # port a plugin from 5.x
        └── convert-from-whmcs.md    # port a WHMCS addon module to a Blesta plugin

Scope today

• ✅ Modules — full method-surface reference for hosting/server (extends Module) and registrar (extends RegistrarModule) modules, plus a 5.x→6.0 porting guide and a WHMCS→Blesta porting guide (provisioning + registrar).
• ✅ Payment gateways — base Gateway + MerchantGateway/NonmerchantGateway contracts, all capability interfaces, the modern tokenized (PCI-reducing) pattern, a 5.x→6.0 porting guide, and a WHMCS→Blesta porting guide (third-party + merchant).
• ✅ Plugins — the full handler contract plus directly-routable controllers/models, navigation & widget actions, the event system, cron tasks, ACL permissions, dashboard/profile cards, messenger templates, and service tabs, with a 5.x→6.0 porting guide and a WHMCS addon→Blesta plugin porting guide.
• ✅ UI conversion — the shared Bootstrap 5 / Paradigm guide used by every extension type.

Sourcing & accuracy

The references are distilled from the Blesta 6.0.0-b2 abstract base classes and shipped extensions:

• Modules — components/modules/module.php, registrar_module.php; examples cpanel (hosting) and namesilo (registrar).
• Gateways — components/gateways/lib/gateway.php, merchant_gateway.php, nonmerchant_gateway.php, and the capability interfaces; examples authorize_net (classic merchant), stripe_payments (tokenized merchant), paypal_payments_standard (nonmerchant).
• Plugins — components/plugins/lib/plugin.php (the Plugin base class), app/models/plugin_manager.php (the install/upgrade/registration engine), the Actions/Navigation/CronTasks/Permissions models, core/Util/Events/ (the event system), config/routes.php, and app/controllers/admin_company_plugins.php (the "Manage" dispatcher); examples support_manager (full-featured), order, feed_reader (minimal), client_cards, webhooks.

When in doubt, the base classes are the source of truth — see the "Canonical reference files" table at the end of each create.md.