Tailored Shopware plugins for specific business needs, clean integration, and long-term maintainability.
Shopware Plugin Development
Standard plugins are useful until a process becomes too specific. I develop custom Shopware plugins when business logic, integrations, backend workflows or storefront behavior need to fit your actual system instead of forcing the process around an off-the-shelf extension.
The focus is clean PHP/Symfony implementation, maintainability and a realistic understanding of how the plugin will behave in an existing Shopware setup.
Typical Plugin Work
- custom checkout or cart logic
- backend modules and administration workflows
- integrations with ERP, PIM, marketplaces or internal systems
- extensions of existing plugins when the original behavior is not enough
- B2B-specific rules, pricing logic or approval flows
- technical refactoring of grown plugin code
How I Approach Plugin Development
- Understand the process: What should happen, where does Shopware standard stop and which edge cases matter?
- Check the current system: Existing plugins, theme changes, events, services and data structures are reviewed before implementation.
- Build in clean layers: The plugin should be understandable, testable and update-friendly.
- Hand over clearly: Changes, assumptions and follow-up risks are documented so the project does not depend on hidden knowledge.
SEO and Performance Are Part of the Technical Review
Plugin work can affect performance, crawlability and storefront markup. If a plugin touches category pages, product pages, checkout or CMS output, I check whether it creates avoidable overhead or unwanted SEO side effects.
For broader technical cleanup, see Shopware optimization. If the plugin work is part of a platform change, Shopware migration may be the better starting point.
How I work
Three principles that apply in every project
Understand before building
First the short technical assessment: what is the actual problem, where is the lever, what makes economic sense? Then the implementation.
Build instead of forwarding
You talk to the developer who does the work – no handover chain, no black box, clear status updates and early warning about risks.
Hand over instead of holding on
Code in your repository, tests, documentation and a deployment process your team understands. No vendor lock-in – your system does not depend on me afterwards.
Background
Experience at a glance
- Today
- Senior freelancer in ongoing Shopware projects of several agencies and merchants – at home in foreign repos, processes and deadlines.
- Since 2021
- Self-employed as Stefan Pilz Ltd. – remote for merchants and agencies: Shopware 5 and 6, Symfony, migrations, maintenance.
- 2015 – 2021
- E-commerce backends: inventory, PIM and Amazon/eBay integrations for around 3.5 million products, then the Drillisch mobile-carrier web stores.
- Since 2012
- Full-time web developer – first at an agency: websites and stores with Joomla, xt-Commerce and Shopware.
- 2002
- Completed vocational training as a software developer (C/C++). First own PHP websites from 2004.
See current and completed projects Career and stack in the CV
Good fit
Works well when...
- you have an existing Shopware system with a concrete technical issue.
- you need direct PHP/Symfony support without agency overhead.
- you expect clear analysis, clean implementation and traceable handover.