App metadata

The appinfo/info.xml contains metadata about the app. A detailed documentation can be found at the app store documentation.

The info.xml is validated using an XML Schema which can be accessed online.

A minimum valid info.xml would look like this:

appinfo/info.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<info xmlns:xsi= "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
      xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="https://apps.nextcloud.com/schema/apps/info.xsd">
    <id>news</id>
    <name>News</name>
    <summary>An RSS/Atom feed reader</summary>
    <description>An RSS/Atom feed reader</description>
    <version>8.8.2</version>
    <licence>agpl</licence>
    <author>Bernhard Posselt</author>
    <category>multimedia</category>
    <bugs>https://github.com/nextcloud/news/issues</bugs>
    <dependencies>
        <nextcloud min-version="10"/>
    </dependencies>
</info>

A full blown example would look like this (needs to be utf-8 encoded):

appinfo/info.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<info xmlns:xsi= "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
      xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="https://apps.nextcloud.com/schema/apps/info.xsd">
    <id>news</id>
    <name lang="de">Nachrichten</name>
    <name>News</name>
    <summary lang="en">An RSS/Atom feed reader</summary>
    <description lang="en"># Description\nAn RSS/Atom feed reader</description>
    <description lang="de"><![CDATA[# Beschreibung\nEine Nachrichten App, welche mit [RSS/Atom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS) umgehen kann]]></description>
    <version>8.8.2</version>
    <licence>agpl</licence>
    <author mail="mail@provider.com" homepage="http://example.com">Bernhard Posselt</author>
    <author>Alessandro Cosentino</author>
    <author>Jan-Christoph Borchardt</author>
    <documentation>
        <user>https://github.com/nextcloud/news/wiki#user-documentation</user>
        <admin>https://github.com/nextcloud/news#readme</admin>
        <developer>https://github.com/nextcloud/news/wiki#developer-documentation</developer>
    </documentation>
    <category>multimedia</category>
    <category>tools</category>
    <website>https://github.com/nextcloud/news</website>
    <discussion>https://your.forum.com</discussion>
    <bugs>https://github.com/nextcloud/news/issues</bugs>
    <repository>https://github.com/nextcloud/news</repository>
    <screenshot small-thumbnail="https://example.com/1-small.png">https://example.com/1.png</screenshot>
    <screenshot>https://example.com/2.jpg</screenshot>
    <dependencies>
        <php min-version="5.6" min-int-size="64"/>
        <database min-version="9.4">pgsql</database>
        <database>sqlite</database>
        <database min-version="5.5">mysql</database>
        <command>grep</command>
        <command>ls</command>
        <lib min-version="2.7.8">libxml</lib>
        <lib>curl</lib>
        <lib>SimpleXML</lib>
        <lib>iconv</lib>
        <nextcloud min-version="9" max-version="10"/>
    </dependencies>
    <background-jobs>
        <job>OCA\DAV\CardDAV\Sync\SyncJob</job>
    </background-jobs>
    <repair-steps>
        <pre-migration>
            <step>OCA\DAV\Migration\Classification</step>
        </pre-migration>
        <post-migration>
            <step>OCA\DAV\Migration\Classification</step>
        </post-migration>
        <live-migration>
            <step>OCA\DAV\Migration\GenerateBirthdays</step>
        </live-migration>
        <install>
            <step>OCA\DAV\Migration\GenerateBirthdays</step>
        </install>
        <uninstall>
            <step>OCA\DAV\Migration\GenerateBirthdays</step>
        </uninstall>
    </repair-steps>
    <two-factor-providers>
        <provider>OCA\AuthF\TwoFactor\Provider</provider>
    </two-factor-providers>
    <commands>
        <command>A\Php\Class</command>
    </commands>
    <settings>
        <admin>OCA\Theming\Settings\Admin</admin>
        <admin-section>OCA\Theming\Settings\Section</admin-section>
    </settings>
    <activity>
        <settings>
            <setting>OCA\Files\Activity\Settings\FavoriteAction</setting>
            <setting>OCA\Files\Activity\Settings\FileChanged</setting>
            <setting>OCA\Files\Activity\Settings\FileCreated</setting>
            <setting>OCA\Files\Activity\Settings\FileDeleted</setting>
            <setting>OCA\Files\Activity\Settings\FileFavorite</setting>
            <setting>OCA\Files\Activity\Settings\FileRestored</setting>
        </settings>

        <filters>
            <filter>OCA\Files\Activity\Filter\FileChanges</filter>
            <filter>OCA\Files\Activity\Filter\Favorites</filter>
        </filters>

        <providers>
            <provider>OCA\Files\Activity\FavoriteProvider</provider>
            <provider>OCA\Files\Activity\Provider</provider>
        </providers>
    </activity>
    <navigations>
        <navigation role="admin">
            <id>files</id>
            <name>Files</name>
            <route>files.view.index</route>
            <order>0</order>
            <icon>app.svg</icon>
            <type>link</type>
        </navigation>
    </navigations>
    <collaboration>
        <plugins>
            <plugin type="collaborator-search" share-type="SHARE_TYPE_CIRCLE">OCA\Circles\Collaboration\v1\CollaboratorSearchPlugin</plugin>
        </plugins>
    </collaboration>
</info>

The following tags are validated and used in the following way:

id

  • required

  • must contain only lowercase ASCII characters and underscore

  • must match the first folder in the archive

  • will be used to identify the app

name

  • required

  • must occur at least once with lang=”en” or no lang attribute

  • can be translated by using multiple elements with different lang attribute values, language code needs to be set lang attribute

  • will be rendered on the app detail page

summary

  • optional

  • if not provided the description element’s text will be used

  • must occur at least once with lang=”en” or no lang attribute

  • can be translated by using multiple elements with different lang attribute values, language code needs to be set lang attribute

  • will be rendered on the app list page as short description

description

  • required

  • must occur at least once with lang=”en” or no lang attribute

  • can contain Markdown

  • can be translated by using multiple elements with different lang attribute values, language code needs to be set lang attribute

  • will be rendered on the app detail page

version
licence

  • required

  • must contain agpl, mpl* and/or apache as the only valid values. These refer to the AGPLv3, MPL 2.0 and Apache License 2.0

author

  • required

  • can occur multiple times with different authors

  • can contain a mail attribute which must be an email

  • can contain a homepage which must be a URL

  • will not (yet) be rendered on the App Store

  • will be provided through the REST API

documentation/user

  • optional

  • must contain a URL to the user documentation

  • will be rendered on the app detail page

documentation/admin

  • optional

  • must contain a URL to the admin documentation

  • will be rendered on the app detail page

documentation/developer

  • optional

  • must contain a URL to the developer documentation

  • will be rendered on the app detail page

category

  • optional

  • if not provided the category tools will be used

  • must contain one of the following values:

    • customization

    • files

    • games

    • integration

    • monitoring

    • multimedia

    • office

    • organization

    • security

    • social

    • tools

  • old categories are migrated:

    • auth will be converted to security

  • can occur more than once with different categories

website

  • optional

  • must contain a URL to the project’s homepage

  • will be rendered on the app detail page

discussion

  • optional

  • must contain a URL to the project’s discussion page/forum

  • will be rendered on the app detail page as the “ask question or discuss” button

  • if absent, it will default to our forum at https://help.nextcloud.com/

bugs

  • required

  • must contain a URL to the project’s bug tracker

  • will be rendered on the app detail page

repository

  • optional

  • must contain a URL to the project’s repository

  • can contain a type attribute, git, mercurial, subversion and bzr are allowed values, defaults to git

  • currently not used

screenshot

  • optional

  • must contain an HTTPS URL to an image

  • can contain a small-thumbnail attribute which must contain an https url to an image. This image will be used as small preview (e.g. on the app list overview). Keep it small so it renders fast

  • will be rendered on the app list and detail page in the given order

dependencies/php

  • optional

  • can contain a min-version attribute (maximum 3 digits separated by dots)

  • can contain a max-version attribute (maximum 3 digits separated by dots)

  • can contain a min-int-size attribute, 32 or 64 are allowed as valid values

  • will be rendered on the app releases page

dependencies/database

  • optional

  • must contain the database name as text, sqlite, pgsql and mysql are allowed as valid values

  • can occur multiple times with different databases

  • can contain a min-version attribute (maximum 3 digits separated by dots)

  • can contain a max-version attribute (maximum 3 digits separated by dots)

  • will be rendered on the app releases page

dependencies/command

  • optional

  • must contain a linux command as text value

  • can occur multiple times with different commands

  • will be rendered on the app releases page

dependencies/lib

  • optional

  • will be rendered on the app releases page

  • must contain a required php extension

  • can occur multiple times with different php extensions

  • can contain a min-version attribute (maximum 3 digits separated by dots)

  • can contain a max-version attribute (maximum 3 digits separated by dots)

dependencies/nextcloud

  • required on Nextcloud 11 or higher

  • if absent white-listed owncloud versions will be taken from the owncloud element (see below)

  • must contain a min-version attribute (maximum 3 digits separated by dots)

  • can contain a max-version attribute (maximum 3 digits separated by dots)

Note

Dependencies dependencies/php, dependencies/database and dependencies/lib are checked at installation time (not on update time), hence applications need to stick to the dependencies supported by a major version of Nextcloud the moment an app releases support for that version, i.e. app needs to support the same PHP version-range the supported Nextcloud version supports.

background-jobs/job

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which is run as background jobs

  • will not be used, only validated

repair-steps/pre-migration/step

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which is run before executing database migrations

  • will not be used, only validated

repair-steps/post-migration/step

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which is run after executing database migrations

  • will not be used, only validated

repair-steps/live-migration/step

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which is run after executing post-migration jobs

  • will not be used, only validated

repair-steps/install/step

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which is run after installing the app

  • will not be used, only validated

repair-steps/uninstall/step

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which is run after uninstalling the app

  • will not be used, only validated

two-factor-providers/provider

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which is registered as two factor auth provider

  • will not be used, only validated

commands/command

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which is registered as occ command

  • will not be used, only validated

activity/settings/setting

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which implements OCPActivityISetting and is used to add additional settings ui elements to the activity app

activity/filters/filter

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which implements OCPActivityIFilter and is used to add additional filters to the activity app

activity/providers/provider

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which implements OCPActivityIProvider and is used to react to events from the activity app

settings/admin

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which implements OCPSettingsISettings and returns the form to render for the global settings area

settings/admin-section

  • optional

  • must contain a php class which implements OCPSettingsISection and returns data to render navigation entries in the global settings area

navigations

  • optional

  • must contain at least one navigation element

navigations/navigation

  • required

  • must contain a name and route element

  • denotes a navigation entry

  • role denotes the visibility, all means everyone can see it, admin means only an admin can see the navigation entry, defaults to all

navigations/navigation/id

  • optional

  • the app id

  • you can also create entries for other apps by setting an id other than your app one’s

navigations/navigation/name

  • required

  • will be displayed below the navigation entry icon

  • will be translated by the default translation tools

navigations/navigation/route

  • required

  • name of the route that will be used to generate the link

navigations/navigation/icon

  • optional

  • name of the icon which is looked up in the app’s img/ folder

  • defaults to app.svg

navigations/navigation/order

  • optional

  • used to sort the navigation entries

  • a higher order number means that the entry will be ordered further to the bottom

navigations/navigation/type

  • optional

  • can be either link or settings

  • link means that the entry is added to the default app menu

  • settings means that the entry is added to the right-side menu which also contains the personal, admin, users, help and logout entry

collaboration

  • optional

  • can contain plugins for collaboration search (e.g. supplying share dialog)

collaboration/plugins

  • optional

  • must contain at least one plugin

collaboration/plugins/plugin

  • required

  • the PHP class name of the plugin

  • must contain type attribute (currently only collaboration-search). The class must implement OCPCollaborationCollaboratorsISearchPlugin.

  • must contain share-type attribute, according to the specific OCPShare constants

The following character maximum lengths are enforced:

  • All description Strings are database text fields and therefore not limited in size

  • All other Strings have a maximum of 256 characters

The following elements are either deprecated or for internal use only and will fail the validation if present:

  • standalone

  • default_enable

  • shipped

  • public

  • remote

  • requiremin

  • requiremax

Changelog

Apps can provide a changelog. This should be written in the keep a changelog.

If the apps provide a CHANGELOG.md file in the project root, this file will be used to show changes for the released version in the app store and for administrators in the app settings.

Moreover, since Nextcloud 29, if the updatenotification app is enabled, apps can also provide a changelog for the users. The app will notify users about after the app update if either a CHANGELOG.language.md (where language is the language code of that user) or a fallback CHANGELOG.en.md is available.