Marketplace will never be a success for non-featured Frappe Apps

Frappe Cloud
1

I’ve been struggling trying to add a “non-featured marketplace app” to an existing site. Instructions point out the need to create a private bench.

I created a private bench but I’m not able to move the site to the private bench due to error “There are no other bench groups that you own for this site to move to. You can clone this bench group to move the site”.

So I try to clone the site. The first several times, cloning failed. I let it rest for several weeks. After a “successful” clone to a new bench group, I’m still not able to add apps that are “non-featured”.

I can create a bench group from scratch and add the “non-featured” app.

It seems anyone who may want to use a non-featured app will need to start with a private bench. I’m unable to add a non-featured app to an existing site.

This is a total miss on Frappe’s end.

The Marketplace is a dead end for developers that are not deep in bed with Frappe or employed by Frappe.

Not only was getting my app added to the marketplace a tedious experience, trying to install it on an existing site seems impossible. I had to make several inquiries since the automated process seems broken. Human intervention was required to get my app accepted, but now it will never get installed by any users, because Frappe makes it too difficult for a user to install a “non-featured” app.

I can handle difficult (when there are instructions). Unfortunately, the instructions don’t work :frowning:

I ask, why go through the trouble of making a Marketplace?

Selfhosting is the only way to go today.

/end rant

2

There are fundamental technical reasons for this restriction. Shared benches are shared, and the Frappe cloud admins have a clear responsibility to prevent rogue apps from obliterating or leaking the data of other customers. It says right on the pricing page that a private bench is required to install marketplace or custom apps.

If you’re having trouble upgrading a site from a shared bench to a private one, that’s very frustrating and I’m sorry to hear that’s the case. I’ve never had trouble restoring sites on frappe cloud, but I don’t doubt that your process wasn’t as smooth.