App Submission to the Marketplace
Now you have finished creating your Rocket.Chat app, and successfully tested it locally. Now, you are ready to submit your app to the marketplace for users to explore.
Prerequisites
There are two ways to begin the process of submitting your app, via the Apps-Engine CLI and via the Marketplace Publisher portal. For both these methods, you must have a Marketplace Publisher portal account and a Rocket.Chat Cloud account.
Create a Rocket.Chat cloud account
Go to https://cloud.rocket.chat/register to create your Rocket.Chat Cloud account.
Enter your name, email address, and password.
Make sure to accept the Rocket.Chat Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
Click Next. You are notified that an email has been sent with the confirmation link to sign in to your cloud console.
Next, go to your inbox and confirm your email address by clicking the link we sent.
Your cloud account has been created and is ready to use!
Create a Publisher account
Go to https://marketplace.rocket.chat/publisher/register to sign up for your Publisher account.
After signing up, your Publisher developer account is created, as shown below:
Now let's look at the steps to submit your app via the CLI and the Publisher portal.
Submit an app via CLI
Submission through the CLI sends the app in a draft state. The publisher must access the Publisher portal to submit the app.
In the command line, in your app's directory, enter
rc-apps submit. This packages your app and starts the process of submitting your app for review.
The following questions are displayed on the command line:
Have you logged into our Publisher Portal? (Y/n) : Enter Y.
On your browser, the Rocket.Chat cloud tab is opened. Click Authorize to allow Rocket.Chat Apps CLI to log in with your Rocket.Chat Cloud Account.
You can close the tab that opens after the authorization is complete.
Is this a new App? (Y/n) : Enter Y if your app is new and enter n if it is not a new app.
If you enter n, the question What changes were made in this version? is displayed. Enter the description of the changes to your app.
Is this App free or will it require payment? (Y/n) : Enter Y if your app is free. If your app is a paid app, you must add it via the Publisher portal.
Please select the categories which apply to this App? : Select the categories your app belongs to, such as Design, Communication, Analytics, and so on.
Are you ready to submit? (y/N) : Enter y to submit the app.
Once your app is submitted, go to the Marketplace Publisher portal. Select Apps from the left-hand menu and you can find your app in the Draft status.
To view your app details, click the Actions drop-down menu and select View Details. You can also edit the app details and upload an updated version of the app.
Enter the details about the Public Changelog and the Internal Changelog.
Now, Enter the app details and then follow the next steps from that section.
Submit an app via publisher portal
Package your app
Before submitting your app, you need to package it. Currently, the Rocket.Chat servers and Marketplace allow the submission of .zip files. In your app's directory, run the following command:
This command will package your app and create a zip file in the dist folder. Keep in mind that --no-compile is necessary because you need to submit the source code of the app to the Marketplace for us to evaluate the code, instead of the compiled code that is used to execute the app in the workspace.
Add your app
To add your app, go to Apps > New App.
Upload your app package
Drag and drop your app package or browse your app package .zip file and click Next.
Enter the app details
Add the required information for the app:
Set your app's name under App Name.
Select a category for your app in the Categories drop-down.
Select a Language for your app in the Languages drop-down.
Click Next.
Define the pricing plan
After entering your app information, the next step is to define the pricing plan and how the users can purchase your app.
Purchase Type - You can choose how you plan to distribute your app. The pricing model has three types,
One-time purchase,Subscription, andFree.Price - Enter the price (USD) that you want to set.
Click Next.
For a paid app, you must connect with a Stripe account before submission. You can find more information at https://stripe.com/docs/payouts.
One-time Purchase: Select One-time Purchase when you want your app to have a one-off payment. Your users are allowed to use it forever after that payment.
Price: Enter the price (USD) you want to set.
Your users are allowed to buy the app per workspace. They must purchase the app separately if they have two workspaces and want to use the app in both.
Subscription: Select the Subscription purchase type when you want your app to be subscription-based.
Click Add pricing plan. A New Pricing Plan pane appears.
Choose a monthly or yearly subscription.
Enter the price (USD) you want to set.
Set the number of days for the trial plan.
Click Save Plan.
Once done, click Next.
Free: Choose this pricing type when you want your app available to your users for free.
Upload screenshots
Screenshot: Upload some images of your app (1200x600 px, maximum of 5 images).
Short description: Provide your app's description.
Privacy Policy Summary: Provide your app users with a summary of the app's privacy and data handling policies.
Documentation URL: Provide a link to your app's documentation.
Submit your app for review
Your app is almost ready to submit for review.
Once you have added the required information, click Submit for Review. Our team will review your code and send you a status update via email.
After app submission
When you upload and submit your app, the app status flow in the portal is as follows:
Draft: After you upload your app, a new submission is created in the Draft status. You will receive a status update via email.
Compiling and Compiled: After the publisher fills in the required forms mentioned above, the status changes to Compiling and Compiled. You will receive a compiled status update via email. The status remains this way until an admin approves or reviews the app.
Approval: Once your app is approved, you will receive an approved status update via email, as shown below:
Reviewed: In some cases, the app might not be approved and instead receive a review. The publisher receives an email with the app status and the reasons why the app has been reviewed by the admins of the Marketplace.
Publish your app
Once approved, you can go to the portal and publish your app for users!
To successfully publish an app, you need to follow some guidelines. In the following sections, you can learn about the content and graphic guidelines. You can also see how to register a webhook endpoint link to get updates about your apps.
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