🗺️ Payload Tools

May 13, 2026 · View on GitHub

This roadmap covers all in-scope plugins in this monorepo (everything except the 🎨 Custom Fields group: color-picker, icon-select). It is the canonical place for community contributors to discover work items and pick something up.

💬 Want to help? Every bullet in this roadmap is mirrored as a public GitHub issue with the RoadMap label. Filter them here: label:RoadMap. Come say hi on the Payload Discord #plugins channel.

Legend

LabelMeaning
P0Must-have / explicitly requested. Targeted for the next release cycle.
P1High-value enhancement. Scheduled but not blocking.
P2Nice-to-have / long-tail polish. Community contributions especially welcome.

Table of Contents

Quick Filter

See packages/quickfilter/README.md.

Guiding principles

  1. Always align with Payload's built-in advanced filter. Filter state must round-trip with Payload's where query so QuickFilter selections show up in Payload's advanced filter panel and vice-versa. Single source of truth = Payload's list controller.
  2. Match Payload's UI styling, drop the per-project Tailwind requirement. Re-skin QuickFilter components with Payload's CSS variables / SCSS modules. If Payload 3.x style internals aren't exportable enough, ship a scoped CSS bundle as interim and target Payload 4.0 for the deep rewrite.

P0

  • Alignment with Payload's built-in advanced filter — read & write Payload's where query directly; reuse Payload's operator set and field→operator mapping; honor admin.disableListFilter, access.read, filterOptions; add a round-trip integration test in test-app/.
  • Tailwind removal / Payload-native styling — replace Tailwind utilities under src/filters/components/* with Payload CSS variables + scoped class names; remove the tailwind.config.js setup step from the README; fall back to Payload 4.0 if Payload 3.x style exports are insufficient.
  • defaultOpen option — plugin-level + per-collection override in collection.custom.filterList.options so the panel opens expanded on first paint.
  • Relationship filter — dropdown backed by the related collection (REST/GraphQL), async search, useAsTitle rendering, where/filterOptions passthrough; emits Payload's { relationTo, value } shape.
  • Nested / group / array / blocks fields — extend the dotted-path resolver to walk group.subField, array.0.subField, and block-typed children using Payload's advanced-filter path notation.

P1

  • Saved filter presets — persist named combinations to user preferences; share-via-URL.
  • URL-as-source-of-truth — hydrate filter state from query string (where) on mount; push changes back so deep-links survive refresh.
  • Number / range filter (slider + min/max) and text contains filter for text/textarea/email, mapped to Payload's greater_than_equal / less_than_equal / like.
  • Conditional visibility — showWhen: (state) => boolean.
  • Clear-all + per-row clear buttons; visual badge with active filter count.

P2

  • Mobile / narrow viewport layout — auto-collapse rows to a sheet.
  • Public useQuickFilter() hook for rendering filters outside the default toolbar slot.
  • Post-Payload-4.0 visual refresh once the new admin design system is GA.

Right Panel

See packages/right-panel/README.md.

P0

  • Bottom panel mode — position: 'right' | 'bottom' | 'left' (collection-level override). Reuse the existing drawer container.
  • Enable on more views — explicit support for listView and versionsView, not only edit view.

P1

  • Pinned / resizable / collapsible panel with size persisted to user preferences.
  • Multi-tab panel — stack several related collections as tabs in one drawer.
  • Custom panel content slot — admin.custom.rightPanel.component accepting a React component (useful for embedding Changes, Comments, or Authors Info).
  • Deep-link — encode the open record id in the URL hash.

P2

  • Keyboard shortcuts (⌘\ toggle, Esc close).
  • Mobile fallback (full-screen sheet).

Custom Version View

See packages/custom-version-view/README.md.

P0

  • Configurable list columns — listFields: string[] (plugin-level default) + collection.custom.versionListFields (per-collection override). Resolve dotted paths the same way QuickFilter will.
  • Per-column renderers — { name, label, width, Cell } objects so users can drop in custom React cells (status pill, avatar, etc.).

P1

  • Filtering & search on the versions list (status, author, date range) — natural pairing with QuickFilter.
  • Compare any two versions (currently only "vs published"); restore-with-diff confirmation.
  • Group by day / author toggle.
  • Pagination + virtualization for collections with thousands of versions.

P2

  • Export a single version as JSON.
  • Color-coded change indicator (added / removed / changed counts) per row, reusing the changes-button diff pipeline.

Changes Button

See packages/changes-button/README.md.

P0

  • AI-generated change summary at the top of the drawer:
    • Pluggable summarize adapter (openai, anthropic, custom); plugin sends the structured diff + field metadata, receives a markdown summary + bullet list of risky changes.
    • Server-side via a new Payload endpoint registered by the plugin (API keys stay on the server).
    • Cached per (docId, fromVersion, toVersion).
    • Toggle per collection via admin.custom.changesButton.aiSummary.

P1

  • Inline approval workflow — "Request review" button creating a change-request record (or hooking into authorization roles).
  • Comment-on-diff — reuse the comments plugin's Lexical mark on changed fields.
  • Filter the diff (only changed / added / removed; by tab/group).
  • Copy summary / export diff as Markdown or PDF.

P2

  • Once upstream Payload PRs #16498 / #16499 land, drop src/vendor/diff and the (payload)/layout.tsx edit; update install docs to one-liner.
  • Granular i18n for AI summaries (locale passed to adapter).

Comments

See packages/comments/README.md.

P0

  • Mentions (@user) resolving from the Users collection + Payload notification / email.
  • Resolve / reopen state on threads (not just delete), with a "Show resolved" filter.
  • Document-level comments (not tied to a Lexical mark) for text / number / select fields.

P1

  • Reactions (👍 ❤️ 👀) on a comment.
  • Email / webhook digest of unresolved threads per document.
  • Permission integration with the authorization plugin (comment-read / comment-write).
  • Markdown + attachments in comment body.

P2

  • Real-time presence indicators ("Alice is viewing") via SSE/WebSocket.
  • Export thread to PDF for audit.

Authorization

See packages/authorization/README.md.

P0

  • Deny-list mode for field permissions (today only allow-list). Many teams want "all fields except internalNotes".
  • Row-level / where-based permissions — permission entries carry a where clause merged into Payload's access functions.
  • Role inheritance — extends: ['editor'].

P1

  • Per-locale permissions for localized collections.
  • Time-boxed permissions (validFrom / validUntil).
  • Audit log of role/permission changes — surfaces nicely alongside authors-info.
  • Admin UI matrix view — collections × roles × permissions, batch-edit.

P2

  • Import/export roles as JSON for environment promotion.
  • CLI helper: pnpm shefing-auth check <user> <collection>.

Authors Info

See packages/authors-info/README.md.

P0

  • Activity timeline tab reusing custom-version-view data (created → edited → published → reverted).
  • Configurable display fields — choose which author attributes show in the tab and list columns.
  • Surface in list views — opt-in column adapter for Updated By / Published By in any collection list.

P1

  • Editor presence ("currently being edited by …") with stale-lock cleanup.
  • Email author on publish hook (configurable template).

P2

  • CSV / JSON export of activity for compliance.

Reset List View

See packages/reset-list-view/README.md.

P0

  • Granular reset menu — split into Reset columns, Reset filters, Reset sort, Reset page size, Reset all.
  • Per-user default preset — admin can save a view and force it as the default for everyone.

P1

  • Named saved views per user with a quick switcher — pairs with QuickFilter saved presets.
  • Auto-reset on logout option for shared workstations.

P2

  • Admin button to bulk-reset preferences for all users (e.g., after a schema change).

Cross-Collection Config

See packages/cross-collection/README.md.

P0

  • Type-safe override keys — TS union for the supported admin.components.views.* paths.
  • Conditional overrides — apply only when (collection, user, locale) => boolean returns true.
  • Merge instead of replace mode for nested admin components.

P1

  • Override admin.components.beforeList / afterList / beforeFields / afterFields across many collections.
  • Per-collection allow-list (inverse of excludedCollections).

Field-type Component Override

See packages/field-type-components-override/README.md.

P0

  • Predicate matcher — match: (field, ctx) => boolean supporting name/regex/admin.condition matching.
  • Override ordering & merge — deterministic precedence; deep-merge admin.components instead of replace.
  • Scope to collections / globals — includedCollections / excludedCollections.

P1

  • Built-in override presets bundle (date pickers, slugify-on-blur, masked inputs) as opt-in helpers.
  • Dev-time logger printing which override hit which field on boot.

P2

  • Storybook-style playground page (/admin/_internal/field-overrides) listing every override + live preview.

Cover Image

See packages/cover-image/README.md.

P0

  • Cross-platform support — detect ffmpeg from process.env.FFMPEG_PATH first, fall back to ffmpeg-static; document macOS/Windows/Docker setup.
  • Multiple frames / sprite sheet — frames: number | number[] for hover previews & chapter thumbnails.
  • Async / background generation via a Payload job/queue.

P1

  • Auto-poster + GIF preview outputs.
  • Image processing options (target size, quality, blur, watermark overlay).
  • Regenerate action available on each video document.

P2

  • Pluggable extractor (extractor: 'ffmpeg' | 'cloudinary' | custom).
  • Deprecation guide once Payload's native video cover covers all use-cases.

Cross-Cutting Themes

Shared improvements that benefit every plugin:

  • Attribute-Based Authorization (ABAC) — pluggable attribute providers (geo, tenant, clearance, …) that compile to Payload where clauses and merge with the existing authorization plugin's RBAC. One small extension point (AttributeProvider), no parallel permission engine. Tracking issue: #203.
    • v0.2 — Multi-value attribute support (next iteration): extend tenantAttribute (and the engine) to handle users that belong to multiple values of an attribute simultaneously (e.g. user.tenants = ['tenant-a', 'tenant-b']). The toWhere output becomes { tenant: { in: [...ids] } } and match checks array membership. Closes the main gap vs. Payload's official plugin-multi-tenant which supports a tenants[] array per user with per-tenant roles. Also covers multi-region, multi-clearance, and any other set-valued attribute.
  • Unified options shape — extend every plugin's excludedCollections / excludedGlobals with includedCollections and predicate: (collection) => boolean for parity.
  • Per-collection opt-in via admin.custom.<pluginKey> documented in one place.
  • Centralized i18n — lift per-plugin labels.ts (en/ar/es/fr/he/zh) into a shared @shefing/i18n package.
  • Shared design tokens — extract Tailwind/CSS variables used across plugins into a shared @shefing/ui package; reduce style drift and remove the per-plugin Tailwind config requirement.
  • Telemetry / debug flag — process.env.SHEFING_DEBUG=1 toggles structured boot logs in every plugin.
  • Test harness — only changes-button and custom-version-view ship tests today; reuse test-app/ + vitest.config.mts to add smoke tests for every plugin.
  • Docs alignment — every plugin's README exposes the same sections (Install / Setup / Options / Collection Configuration / Roadmap).

Delivery Waves

Wave 1 — User-requested P0

  • QuickFilter: align with Payload's built-in advanced filter, Tailwind-removal / Payload-styles, defaultOpen, relationship filter, nested fields.
  • Right Panel: bottom position, enable on list/versions views.
  • Custom Version View: configurable list columns + custom cell renderers.
  • Changes Button: AI summary adapter.

Wave 2 — High-value P0

  • ABAC: multi-value attribute support (tenants[] array, { in: [...] } WHERE, array match) — closes gap vs. official plugin-multi-tenant.
  • Authorization: deny-list & row-level (where) permissions, role inheritance.
  • Comments: mentions, resolve state, document-level comments.
  • Reset List View: granular reset menu + admin-saved default view.
  • Cross-Collection / Field Override: predicate matching + deterministic ordering.
  • Cover Image: cross-platform ffmpeg + async generation.

Wave 3 — P1 enhancements

  • QuickFilter saved presets + URL sync; Right Panel multi-tab + custom content slot.
  • Authors Info activity timeline; Custom Version View filtering & compare-any-two.
  • Shared i18n / UI packages, debug flag, broader test coverage.

Wave 4 — P2 / nice-to-have

  • Mobile layouts, keyboard shortcuts, exports (CSV / PDF), Storybook-style playgrounds.
  • Drop changes-button vendor diff once upstream Payload PRs #16498 + #16499 ship.

How to contribute

We track every roadmap bullet as a public GitHub issue so anyone can pick one up.

  1. Browse the open list: label:RoadMap. Filter further by plugin:<name> or priority:P0|P1|P2.
  2. Claim an item by commenting on the issue (e.g. "I'd like to work on this"). A maintainer will assign it to you to avoid duplicate work.
  3. Open a PR referencing the issue (Closes #<n>). Match the existing code style of the plugin and add/update tests under test-app/ where applicable.
  4. Discuss design questions on the issue or in the Payload Discord #plugins channel before doing large rewrites.

Each RoadMap issue follows a short template:

Problem — what's missing / painful today. Proposed solution — the shape of the API or UI change. Acceptance criteria — how we'll know it's done. How to claim — comment on the issue to be assigned.

Thanks for helping make Payload's plugin ecosystem better! 💜