Custom certificate activity (mod_customcert)

This activity allows dynamic generation of PDF certificates with full customisation in your browser.

Try in Moodle Playground

Click the badge below to open this plugin instantly in Moodle Playground — a full Moodle site running in the browser, with no local install. The demo includes a course with a preloaded certificate activity so you can edit the template, issue and download a PDF immediately.

Demo credentials: log in as student / test to issue and download a PDF certificate that shows your name, or as admin / test to edit the template.

Branch coupling: the badge URL and the plugin archive URL inside blueprint.json both point to refs/heads/main. When backporting to a stable branch (e.g. MOODLE_405_STABLE) update those two URLs to the matching plugin branch name. Also set preferredVersions.moodle to the Moodle version compatible with that branch — the Moodle version and the plugin branch name are separate values.

Requirements

• A supported Moodle version (use the plugin release/branch that matches your Moodle version).
• PDF support is provided via Moodle’s built-in PDF library; no extra system packages are normally required.

Installation

Install either via Git or by downloading a zip. After installing, log in as an administrator and visit Site administration → Notifications to complete the installation.

Option A: Install with Git (recommended)

1. Go to your Moodle mod/ directory:

   cd /path/to/moodle/mod

2. Clone the plugin into a folder called customcert:

   git clone https://github.com/mdjnelson/moodle-mod_customcert.git customcert
   cd customcert

3. Check out the branch that matches your Moodle version.

   The plugin branches follow the Moodle convention MOODLE_XX_STABLE (for example: MOODLE_401_STABLE).

   git checkout MOODLE_XX_STABLE

4. To update later:

   git pull

Tip: If you’re not sure which branch you need, list available branches:

git branch -r

Option B: Download the zip

1. Visit the Moodle plugins directory and download the version that matches your Moodle release:
   • https://moodle.org/plugins/mod_customcert
2. Extract the zip.
3. Copy the extracted customcert folder into your Moodle mod/ directory so the path becomes:
   • moodle/mod/customcert
4. Log in as an administrator and visit Site administration → Notifications.

Upgrading

If installed via Git

cd /path/to/moodle/mod/customcert
git pull

If you also upgrade Moodle and need a different branch, switch branches first, then pull:

git checkout MOODLE_XX_STABLE
git pull

If installed via zip

Download the new zip version that matches your Moodle version, replace the mod/customcert folder, then visit Site administration → Notifications.

More information

• Documentation / wiki: https://docs.moodle.org/en/Custom_certificate_module

License

Licensed under the GNU GPL License.