WordPress Plugin Dependencies: Fix a Plugin That Needs Another Plugin First

Contents7 sections

You installed a plugin, but WordPress will not let you switch it on. The Activate link is grey, or you see a message saying other plugins are required. This is not a fault. The plugin is an add-on for another plugin, and WordPress is making sure the two arrive in the right order.

This guide explains what WordPress plugin dependencies are, what each notice means and how to fix it in a few clicks.

Why WordPress blocks the plugin

Since WordPress 6.5, a plugin can list the plugins it needs in a line of its code called the Requires Plugins header. WordPress reads that line. If a needed plugin is missing or switched off, WordPress stops you activating the add-on. Without this check, the add-on could break your site the moment it started.

Activating means switching a plugin on. A plugin can be installed (its files are on your site) but inactive (switched off). The needed plugin must be both installed and active.

What each notice means

You may see the message in a few different places. Here is the exact wording WordPress uses, with our example.

On the Installed Plugins screen

Under the add-on’s name you will see a line like this, and the Activate link will be grey:

Requires: WooCommerce
This plugin cannot be activated because required plugins are missing or inactive.

The first line names the plugin you need. A yellow notice at the top of the screen may also say Some required plugins are missing or inactive.

After uploading a plugin ZIP file

If you uploaded the add-on as a ZIP file and clicked Activate Plugin, you will see:

Error: WooCommerce Stripe Gateway requires 1 plugin to be installed and activated: WooCommerce. Manage plugins.

The number tells you how many plugins are still needed. Each one is named after the colon. Sometimes WordPress shows a short lower-case name, called a slug, such as woocommerce, instead of the full name.

When adding a plugin from the directory

Under Plugins › Add Plugin, an add-on shows a box headed Additional plugins are required, listing what it needs. Its Install Now button stays grey until the needed plugins are installed, and Activate stays grey until they are active.

On the plugin that others need

The needed plugin shows who depends on it. Its Deactivate link is grey while those add-ons are active, and its Delete link is grey while they are installed:

Required by: WooCommerce Stripe Gateway
Note: This plugin cannot be deactivated or deleted until the plugins that require it are deactivated or deleted.

On a plugin that is already active

This plugin is active but may not function correctly because required plugins are missing or inactive.

This usually means the needed plugin was switched off or removed some other way, for example from your hosting file manager. Follow the fix below to bring it back.

How to fix it, step by step

Example situation. You want card payments, so you installed WooCommerce Stripe Gateway. Its row says Requires: WooCommerce. Here is what to do.

1. Go to Plugins › Installed Plugins and read the Requires: line under the plugin that will not activate. Write down each name.
2. Check whether the needed plugin is already in your list. If it is there but switched off, click Activate under it and skip to step 6.
3. If it is not in the list, go to Plugins › Add Plugin.
4. Type the needed plugin’s name in the Search Plugins box. Check the author name on the card so you install the right one.
5. Click Install Now, wait a moment, then click Activate.
6. Go back to Plugins › Installed Plugins. The add-on’s Activate link now works. Click it.
7. The notice disappears. If the add-on needs more than one plugin, repeat steps 3 to 5 for each.

Before and after. Before: “Requires: WooCommerce” with a red notice and a grey Activate link. After: WooCommerce is active, the notice has gone, and WooCommerce Stripe Gateway activates normally.

If the needed plugin is not in the directory

Some needed plugins are paid or come from the plugin maker’s own website. In that case WordPress cannot fetch them for you, and the name may appear without a link.

1. Download the needed plugin as a ZIP file from the company that sells it. Your purchase receipt or account page usually has the download.
2. Go to Plugins › Add Plugin and click Upload Plugin at the top.
3. Click the file button (your browser calls it Choose File or Browse), select the ZIP file, then click Install Now.
4. Click Activate Plugin, then go back and activate the add-on.

If the needed plugin is active but WordPress still says it is missing

Intermediate. WordPress recognises a needed plugin by the name of its folder on your server. If the folder has a different name, such as woocommerce-11 instead of woocommerce, WordPress does not count it. This can happen when a plugin is uploaded from a ZIP file that was renamed.

1. Make a backup of your site.
2. Deactivate the add-on if it is active. Then deactivate and delete the copy of the needed plugin that is not being recognised. Some plugins remove their settings or data when deleted, so check its documentation first.
3. Install a fresh copy from Plugins › Add Plugin, or from an unrenamed ZIP file from its maker.
4. Activate the needed plugin, then the add-on.

If you are not comfortable doing this, ask your host or the plugin’s author for help.

If the notice says the requirements are invalid

These plugins cannot be activated because their requirements are invalid.

This means two plugins each say they need the other, so neither can go first. You cannot fix this from the dashboard. Contact the authors of the plugins named in the notice, as WordPress suggests.

Switching plugins off in the right order

The rule works in reverse too. To switch off a needed plugin, first deactivate every add-on listed in its Required by: line. To delete it, delete those add-ons first. Then its Deactivate and Delete links work again.

Older plugins with their own messages

Plugins written before WordPress 6.5 often check for their partner plugin themselves and show their own notice, usually in a box at the top of the dashboard. The wording varies, but it normally names the plugin you need. The fix is the same: install and activate the named plugin, then the add-on.

For developers: declaring a dependency

Optional, advanced. If you write plugins, add the Requires Plugins line to the comment block at the top of your main plugin file. List the needed plugins by their directory slugs, separated by commas.

 * Plugin Name: My Shop Add-on
 * Requires Plugins: woocommerce

Plugins hosted in the WordPress plugin directory can only list dependencies that are also hosted there.

Still stuck?

If you are setting up a store and wondering which plugins you need at all, our guide WordPress or Joomla for a Small Store? is a calm place to start. More fixes are in Solutions. If a Locker Forge product shows one of these notices, Contact support and paste the exact message.