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[Directory](/) 2. / 3. acato-plugins/wp-muplugin-loader ActiveComposer-plugin acato-plugins/wp-muplugin-loader ================================ A drop-in MU Plugin loader for WordPress 1.7.1(3y ago)015.3k↓32%1MITPHPPHP ^7.2 || ^8.0 Since Oct 5Pushed 3y agoCompare [ Source](https://github.com/acato-plugins/wp-muplugin-loader)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/acato-plugins/wp-muplugin-loader)[ RSS](/packages/acato-plugins-wp-muplugin-loader/feed)WikiDiscussions master Synced 1mo ago READMEChangelogDependencies (5)Versions (20)Used By (0) WP Must-Use Plugin Loader ========================= [](#wp-must-use-plugin-loader) Attribution ----------- [](#attribution) - This package was forked from [WP Must-Use Plugin Loader](https://github.com/boxuk/wp-muplugin-loader) which in turn was forked from [WP Must-Use Plugin Loader](https://github.com/lkwdwrd/wp-muplugin-loader). The fork from the first mentioned package was done to add support of `force-mu` from dependency packages. We are happy to contribute this back to the package, but since our usage is an edge-case we haven't made a pull request. Overview -------- [](#overview) Managing plugins using the [Composer Installers](https://github.com/composer/installers) library works remarkably well. However, its handling of MU plugins leaves something to be desired. WordPress MU (must use) Plugins are files that are placed in the `wp-content/mu-plugins/` folder. These files are loaded automatically. The problem is when a plugin is actually inside a folder. WordPress will only load .php files and doesn't drop into any directories. When the Composer Installers plugin runs, it always puts the repo into a nice contained folder. This means the Composer Installers MU plugins never actually run! There are manual ways around this that work fine, but I want to get away from any manual steps when running the install. No extra files, just run `composer install` or `composer update` and have it work. That is what the WP Must-Use Plugin Loader does. Usage Instructions ------------------ [](#usage-instructions) In your project's `composer.json` file, require this package. ``` "require": { "composer/installers": "~1.2.0", "johnpbloch/wordpress": "*", "acato-plugins/wp-muplugin-loader": "~1.0", } ``` Make sure in the `extras` of your `composer.json` you have your mu-plugins path defined. ``` "extra": { "installer-paths": { "app/wp-content/themes/{$name}": [ "type:wordpress-theme" ], "app/wp-content/plugins/{$name}": [ "type:wordpress-plugin" ], "app/wp-content/mu-plugins/{$name}": [ "type:wordpress-muplugin" ] }, "wordpress-install-dir": "app/wp" } ``` And that's it. When Composer dumps it's autoload file, a file called `mu-require.php` will be placed into your mu-plugins folder. When WordPress loads this file as an MU plugin, it will find all of the plugins in folders in your MU plugins directory and include those as well. ### Changing the name of the generated file [](#changing-the-name-of-the-generated-file) If you need to have control over what the name of the generated file is, you can set it with the following within the extra section of your `composer.json`: ``` "extra": { ... "mu-require-file": "custom-mu-require-filename.php" } ``` Similarly, if you wish to turn off generation of this file altogether you can do so by setting this to false: ``` "extra": { ... "mu-require-file": false } ``` Forcing MU Plugins ------------------ [](#forcing-mu-plugins) Usually when you are using MU plugins, you have some 'normal' WordPress plugins that you want to always be active. They are not always MU-Plugins, though, so it makes no sense to put the `"type": "wordpress-muplugin"` in the `composer.json` file. WP Must-Use Plugin Loader allows you to override the type from `wordpress-plugin` to `wordpress-muplugin` as needed. To do this, define a `"force-mu"` key in `"extra"` of your `composer.json` file. This key should hold an array of slugs for plugins to force into Must-Use status. This is compatible with [WPackagist](https://wpackagist.org/). When adding plugins from WPackagist use the plugin's normal slug, not the wp-packagist version. ``` "require": { "johnpbloch/wordpress": "*", "acato-plugins/wp-muplugin-loader": "~1.0", "wpackagist-plugin/rest-api": "*" }, "extra": { "force-mu": [ "rest-api" ], "installer-paths": { "app/wp-content/themes/{$name}": [ "type:wordpress-theme" ], "app/wp-content/plugins/{$name}": [ "type:wordpress-plugin" ], "app/wp-content/mu-plugins/{$name}": [ "type:wordpress-muplugin" ] }, "wordpress-install-dir": "app/wp" } ``` When the `rest-api` plugin is installed, instead of going in the normal plugins folder, it will be pushed over to the mu-plugins folder and loaded automatically with other Must-Use Plugins. ### Forcing MU Plugins from dependency packages [](#forcing-mu-plugins-from-dependency-packages) Just like forcing MU plugins from your main `composer.json` you can also force them from the `composer.json` of a dependency. All `force-mu` keys will be merged into one set of MU plugins. Forcing Unix Directory Separators --------------------------------- [](#forcing-unix-directory-separators) If you work on Windows but use a Linux VM to run your development server, you may need to force unix directory separators to make sure the server can find the mu loader script. If so, there's another configuration in the `extra` block you can set: ``` "extra": { "force-unix-separator": true } ``` Modifying the src directory of the mu plugins --------------------------------------------- [](#modifying-the-src-directory-of-the-mu-plugins) You may wish to change the src directory you want the mu plugins to be loaded from. For example, on WordPress VIP projects you may wish to load mu plugins from client-mu-plugins using this loader. To do this you can set a constant to tell the mu plugin loader where your mu plugins are kept: ``` define('MU_PLUGIN_LOADER_SRC_DIR', WPCOM_VIP_CLIENT_MU_PLUGIN_DIR . '/'); ``` ### Health Score 38 — LowBetter than 85% of packages Maintenance20 Infrequent updates — may be unmaintained Popularity27 Limited adoption so far Community15 Small or concentrated contributor base Maturity77 Established project with proven stability Bus Factor1 Top contributor holds 50.7% of commits — single point of failure How is this calculated?**Maintenance (25%)** — Last commit recency, latest release date, and issue-to-star ratio. Uses a 2-year decay window. **Popularity (30%)** — Total and monthly downloads, GitHub stars, and forks. Logarithmic scaling prevents top-heavy scores. **Community (15%)** — Contributors, dependents, forks, watchers, and maintainers. Measures real ecosystem engagement. **Maturity (30%)** — Project age, version count, PHP version support, and release stability. ### Release Activity Cadence Every ~142 days Recently: every ~157 days Total 18 Last Release 1099d ago PHP version history (4 changes)1.1.1PHP ^7.2 1.4.0PHP ^7.3 1.5.0PHP ^7.3 || ^8.0 1.7.0PHP ^7.2 || ^8.0 ### Community Maintainers ![](https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/29a7a5e8edb1a0cd4de5b52557f5eff0d42c27187542cc7b2c331e84e56315c3?d=identicon)[acato](/maintainers/acato) --- Top Contributors [![lkwdwrd](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1895738?v=4)](https://github.com/lkwdwrd "lkwdwrd (35 commits)")[![dependabot[bot]](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/in/29110?v=4)](https://github.com/dependabot[bot] "dependabot[bot] (10 commits)")[![johnpbloch](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/446833?v=4)](https://github.com/johnpbloch "johnpbloch (7 commits)")[![richardkorthuis](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/73702842?v=4)](https://github.com/richardkorthuis "richardkorthuis (5 commits)")[![Clorith](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/468735?v=4)](https://github.com/Clorith "Clorith (5 commits)")[![rmpel](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1086776?v=4)](https://github.com/rmpel "rmpel (3 commits)")[![leoloso](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1981996?v=4)](https://github.com/leoloso "leoloso (1 commits)")[![andy-morgan](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/2247922?v=4)](https://github.com/andy-morgan "andy-morgan (1 commits)")[![acato-plugins](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/73841581?v=4)](https://github.com/acato-plugins "acato-plugins (1 commits)")[![nlemoine](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/2526939?v=4)](https://github.com/nlemoine "nlemoine (1 commits)") --- Tags wordpressloadermuplugin ### Code Quality TestsPHPUnit ### Embed Badge ![Health badge](/badges/acato-plugins-wp-muplugin-loader/health.svg) ``` [![Health](https://phpackages.com/badges/acato-plugins-wp-muplugin-loader/health.svg)](https://phpackages.com/packages/acato-plugins-wp-muplugin-loader) ``` ### Alternatives [lkwdwrd/wp-muplugin-loader A drop-in MU Plugin loader for WordPress 5847.1k](/packages/lkwdwrd-wp-muplugin-loader)[roots/wordpress-core-installer A Composer custom installer to handle installing WordPress as a dependency 4115.6M19](/packages/roots-wordpress-core-installer)[bueltge/multisite-global-media Multisite Global Media is a WordPress plugin which shares media across the Multisite network. 22431.2k](/packages/bueltge-multisite-global-media)[bueltge/must-use-loader Load Must-Use Plugins inside subdirectories with caching. For delete the cache: if you view the Must Use plugin list in the network administration. 6115.7k2](/packages/bueltge-must-use-loader) PHPackages © 2026 [Directory](/)[Categories](/categories)[Trending](/trending)[Changelog](/changelog)[Analyze](/analyze)