# Building Your Plugin
Learn how to build your plugin for production.

Before submitting your plugin to Lottie Creator, you need to package it in the right format.

## What you need

A plugin submission is simply a **ZIP file** containing three files:

```
my-plugin.zip
├── manifest.json
├── plugin.js
└── ui.html
```

- That's it! If you're writing vanilla HTML and JavaScript, you can create these files directly and zip them up for submission.
- If you're using TypeScript, React, or other tools that require compilation, you'll need a build process that outputs these three files. You can configure any build tool (Webpack, Rollup, esbuild, Vite, etc.) to compile your source code into the required format.

## Using the React template

If you're using our [React plugin template](/en/creator-plugins/01_getting-started/create-your-first-plugin/with-react), the build process is already configured for you.

From your plugin directory:

```bash
cd my-plugin
npm run build
```

This creates optimized production files in the `dist/` directory.

## Testing the build

Zip your build files, then load your ZIP in Lottie Creator: open the **Plugins** panel from the left sidebar, click the **+** button, and on the **Develop** tab choose **Or upload a Plugin ZIP file**.

Here are a few things to look out for when testing your build:

- [ ] UI loads without errors
- [ ] All buttons and interactions work
- [ ] Scene operations create/modify elements correctly
- [ ] No console errors in browser DevTools