Publish and Install

So far, we've run the widget pack locally using dashboard-cli dev. Once your widgets work as intended, publish the widget pack to the marketplace so everyone can install it.

API Key

Publishing to the marketplace requires an API key. You create and manage your API keys yourself in MoBro:

1. Open the settings and turn on Developer options in the General section.
2. Log in with your MoBro account.
3. Open the Developers page in the User section of the settings and select Create API key.
4. Optionally enter a description to tell your keys apart (e.g. GitHub Actions for my widget pack) and choose when the key expires: never, after 30, 90 or 365 days, or on a custom date.
5. Copy the key.

caution

The key is only shown once, right after it was created. If you lose it, delete it and create a new one.

Instead of passing the API key to every command using --api-key, you can define it in a .env file in the root directory of the project:

.env

MODBROS_MARKETPLACE_API_KEY=your_api_key

caution

Keep the API key secret. Add the .env file to your .gitignore so it isn't committed.

Managing API Keys

Every API key belongs to an author. Your personal author is set up together with your first key. If you're a member of an organization, the Developers page lists it as a separate author with its own keys.

On the Developers page you can also:

• Edit a key to change its description or expiration.
• Disable a key. It stops working immediately, and can be enabled again at any time.
• Delete a key you no longer need. It stops working immediately, and this can't be undone.
• Check the statistics of your published items, such as the total downloads, downloads this week and average rating.

note

Each author can hold a limited number of API keys at once and publish a limited number of items per type. Both limits are shown on the Developers page. Unpublished items count towards the limit as well. If you need more, reach out to us in the developer channel on our Discord.

Before Publishing

• Test the widget pack in MoBro using dashboard-cli dev.
• Set the version. The version is taken from the version in the package.json. Increase it for every release.
• Complete the widget pack configuration. Fill in the displayName, author, description, tags, repositoryUrl and homepageUrl fields in the mobro-widget-pack-config.json.
• Add a logo and a store page for new widget packs: a logo.svg or logo.png file and a storepage.md file (Markdown) in the root directory of the project.

Publishing

Run the following command in the root directory of the project:

dashboard-cli publish --api-key your_api_key

The CLI validates the configuration files and asks for confirmation. It then bundles the src/ directory, the mobro-widget-pack-config.json and the package.json into a .zip file in the dist/ directory, and uploads it as a new version to the marketplace.

If the widget pack doesn't exist in the marketplace yet (based on its name), the CLI asks whether to create it. After uploading the version, the CLI then sets the logo and store page from the logo.svg or logo.png and storepage.md files, and publishes the widget pack.

Once published, open the marketplace in MoBro, search for your widget pack and install it.

note

Only the src/ directory, the mobro-widget-pack-config.json and the package.json are published. MoBro compiles the widget pack on the PC of every user who installs it.

Publishing a New Version

To publish a new version, increase the version in the package.json and run the publish command again.

Each version can only be published once. To replace the content of an already published version, use the --update option:

dashboard-cli publish --api-key your_api_key --update

SDK Version

The minimum version of @modbros/dashboard-sdk in the dependencies of the package.json is stored as the minimum SDK version of the release (e.g. 1.4.0 for ^1.4.2). MoBro installations providing an older SDK can't install the release.

Only raise the SDK version when you need its features, so the release stays compatible with older MoBro installations.

Updating the Listing

The following commands update the listing of a widget pack that is already published. The widget pack is identified by the name in the mobro-widget-pack-config.json.

Command	Description
dashboard-cli update-info --api-key xxx	Updates the displayName, author, description, tags, repositoryUrl and homepageUrl from the mobro-widget-pack-config.json.
dashboard-cli update-logo --api-key xxx	Updates the logo from the logo.svg or logo.png file.
dashboard-cli update-storepage --api-key xxx	Updates the store page from the storepage.md file.

All commands of the CLI are described in In-depth: CLI.