A key part of creating any plugin is testing—once tested, we can then decide if we want to release it for general use on GitHub and Node's package manager directory. It's not obligatory, but if we have created something that could be useful to others, then it is only fair that we make it available!

There are a few steps involved in the process—they can be split into three groups: testing the plugin, adding the final details (in GitHub), and submitting it for inclusion on the PostCSS plugin directory. We'll be using the postcss-transition-shortcut plugin that we've just created, as a basis for releasing it for general use.

We've already covered the requirements for testing our plugin, so let's explore the remaining steps needed to make our plugin available for general use by developers. The first step is to publish our plugin to a suitable repository on GitHub. This process falls outside of the scope of this book, but in a nutshell, the process for making the plugin available is as follows:

Once the plugin has been prepared, tested and published, all that remains is to fork PostCSS, add your plugin to the Plugins section in README.md, and send a pull request. We can then monitor the site's Twitter feed for updates about our plugin.