Are Third-Party Packs Reliable? How to Tell?

1

Hey everyone,

I’m trying to figure out how to evaluate whether third-party packs are legit and reliable before building company workflows around them. I feel pretty comfortable with official Coda packs, but when it comes to community-made packs, I’m not sure what I should be looking for.

For example, I’m looking at a Google Forms pack that costs $3/month. The maker has created multiple packs, so they seem legit, but the pack hasn’t been updated since 2022. When I click on their profile, there’s no information beyond a list of their other packs.

Here’s what I’m struggling with:

  • No rating or review system - I can’t see what other users think

  • No visibility into the review process - Are packs vetted or monitored? The link on the Coda Pack SDK page to the distribution pages are 404.

  • No way to assess reliability - Is a pack that hasn’t been updated in 2+ years stable or abandoned?

I’m concerned about building something my company will depend on, only to have it break with no support. Are there best practices for evaluating packs? Red flags to watch for? Can I look it up in the community somehow without aimlessly searing “Google Form Pack?”

Would love to hear how others approach this, especially for business workflows.

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2

Hi,
Yes, a rating/comment system could be good!

Being a pack creator myself, I can say:

  • By default, pack is limited to a one domain name which can be viewed in the security pack.
  • It is possible that there are multiple domains but controlled/checked by Coda.
  • In the security tab of the pack there is everything: domain, authentication type, scope…
  • Some packs are not updated, simply if the service with which it works does not change (API, route, functionality, …).
  • If there is a problem, you have the creator’s email.
    • But yes, it is possible that some packs are no longer maintained. The rating system would help.
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