Are you wondering how to install WordPress plugins and themes from GitHub?
GitHub is a project hosting service used by many open-source projects and developers. As a WordPress user, sometimes you may come across plugins or themes hosted on GitHub.
Since GitHub is not specific to WordPress development, it may be difficult for a new user to figure out how to download and install a plugin or theme from GitHub.
In this article, we will show you how to install WordPress plugins or themes from GitHub.

What Is GitHub?
As we mentioned earlier, GitHub is a code hosting service. It is free to use for open-source projects, and currently, it is the most popular project hosting service among open-source developers.
It uses the Git revision control system, hence the name GitHub. Not only that, but it provides easy tools for collaboration and social networking features, such as following users, giving repositories stars, subscribing to repositories and projects, and more.
GitHub can be used on any project that wants to use the Git revision control features. It can be used for open-source learning resources, documentation projects, manuals, guidebooks, and more. GitHub’s tools allow users to add other users to their projects and work with them in teams.
That being said, let’s look at how to install WordPress plugins and themes from GitHub.
How to Install WordPress Plugins and Themes From GitHub
Before you install a WordPress theme or plugin from GitHub, make sure that you are able to receive updates for it. We will cover that part later in this article.
Installing plugins and themes from GitHub is super easy. It is just like installing a WordPress plugin manually.
First, you need to go to the plugin/theme’s repository on GitHub.
On the main page of the repository, click on the ‘Code’ button and then select ‘Download ZIP’.

Now, head over to your WordPress admin area and go to the Plugins » Add New page.
You will need to manually upload the plugin from your computer. To do that, click on the ‘Upload Plugin’ button.

This will show you the option to upload the plugin’s zip file.
You need to click on the ‘Choose file’ button and then select the ZIP file from your computer.
Next, you need to click on the ‘Install Now’ button. WordPress will now upload the zip archive from your computer to your website, unzip it, and install the plugin for you.
Once it is done, you will see a success message. You can then click on ‘Activate’ to activate the plugin on your WordPress website.
How to Get Updates for WordPress Plugins Installed From GitHub
By default, WordPress looks for a newer version of the plugin based on a plugin’s read me file and plugin header, which contains the information about the latest stable version to use.
However, by default, WordPress does not show automatic updates for plugins downloaded from GitHub. To enable users to automatically receive updates directly from GitHub repositories, theme and plugin developers need to make a little extra effort.
To achieve this, some plugins and themes from GitHub may already have included the code that will enable you to receive automatic updates.
In some cases, the theme/plugin developer may ask you to install the GitHub Updater plugin. This will enable you to get updates for GitHub plugins and themes.
In either case, you will have to contact the plugin/theme developer on GitHub and ask them about the updates situation to be sure that you will get updates when they release a new version.
Bonus: How to Automatically Deploy WordPress Theme Changes Using GitHub
If you are a developer working on a custom theme, it is also possible to automatically deploy your changes to GitHub.
This can save you a lot of time and also ensures that you have different versions of your theme saved in case you need to roll back changes in the future.
For details on how to do this, you can see our guide on how to automatically deploy WordPress theme changes using GitHub and Deploy.
We hope this guide helped you install WordPress plugins or themes from GitHub. You may also want to see our guide on how to code a website and our expert picks for the best WordPress plugins for business websites.
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