netbox-community · pheus · Feb 13, 2026
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 # NetBox Plugin Development Tutorial
 
-This guide seeks to demonstrate the process of developing a custom plugin for NetBox v3.2 or later. By following each of the prescribed steps, the reader will create from scratch a simple plugin for managing access lists in NetBox, utilizing all major components of the NetBox plugin framework.
+This guide seeks to demonstrate the process of developing a custom plugin for NetBox v4.5 or later.
+By following each of the prescribed steps, the reader will create from scratch a simple plugin for managing access lists in NetBox, using all major components of the NetBox plugin framework.
 
-A completed copy of the demo plugin created in this tutorial is available in the [`netbox-plugin-demo`](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox-plugin-demo) repository for reference. For your convenience, the completed code corresponding to each step in the tutorial exists as a named branch in the demo repo. For example, if you want to start fresh on step 5, simply check out the `step04-forms` branch.
+A completed copy of the demo plugin created in this tutorial is available in the [`netbox-plugin-demo`](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox-plugin-demo) repository for reference.
+For your convenience, the completed code corresponding to each step in the tutorial exists as a named branch in the demo repo.
+For example, if you want to start fresh on step 5, check out the `step04-forms` branch.
 
 ### Prerequisites
 
@@ -15,17 +18,19 @@ Before attempting to create a plugin, please assess your personal ability. Plugi
 
 ### Contents
 
-* [Step 1: Initial Setup](/tutorial/step01-initial-setup.md) :arrow_left: Start here!
+* [Step 0: Initial Setup](/tutorial/step00-initial-setup.md) :arrow_left: Start here!
+* [Step 1: Plugin Configuration](/tutorial/step01-plugin-configuration.md)
 * [Step 2: Models](/tutorial/step02-models.md)
 * [Step 3: Tables](/tutorial/step03-tables.md)
 * [Step 4: Forms](/tutorial/step04-forms.md)
 * [Step 5: Views](/tutorial/step05-views.md)
-* [Step 6: Templates](/tutorial/step06-templates.md)
-* [Step 7: Navigation](/tutorial/step07-navigation.md)
-* [Step 8: Filter Sets](/tutorial/step08-filter-sets.md)
-* [Step 9: REST API](/tutorial/step09-rest-api.md)
-* [Step 10: GraphQL API](/tutorial/step10-graphql-api.md)
-* [Step 11: Search](/tutorial/step11-search.md)
+* [Step 6: URLs](/tutorial/step06-urls.md)
+* [Step 7: Templates](/tutorial/step07-templates.md)
+* [Step 8: Navigation](/tutorial/step08-navigation.md)
+* [Step 9: Filter Sets](/tutorial/step09-filter-sets.md)
+* [Step 10: REST API](/tutorial/step10-rest-api.md)
+* [Step 11: GraphQL API](/tutorial/step11-graphql-api.md)
+* [Step 12: Search](/tutorial/step12-search.md)
 
 ### Reference
 

diff --git a/images/step01-django-admin-plugins.png b/images/step01-django-admin-plugins.png
diff --git a/images/step01-netbox-plugin-list.png b/images/step01-netbox-plugin-list.png
diff --git a/images/step05-accesslist-form.png b/images/step05-accesslist-form.png
diff --git a/images/step05-accesslist-list.png b/images/step05-accesslist-list.png
diff --git a/images/step06-accesslist-form.png b/images/step06-accesslist-form.png
diff --git a/images/step06-accesslist-list.png b/images/step06-accesslist-list.png
diff --git a/images/step06-accesslist1.png b/images/step06-accesslist1.png
diff --git a/images/step06-accesslist2.png b/images/step06-accesslist2.png
diff --git a/images/step06-accesslistrule.png b/images/step06-accesslistrule.png
diff --git a/images/step07-accesslist1.png b/images/step07-accesslist1.png
diff --git a/images/step07-accesslist2.png b/images/step07-accesslist2.png
diff --git a/images/step07-accesslist3.png b/images/step07-accesslist3.png
diff --git a/images/step07-accesslistrule.png b/images/step07-accesslistrule.png
diff --git a/images/step07-menu-items1.png b/images/step07-menu-items1.png
diff --git a/images/step07-menu-items2.png b/images/step07-menu-items2.png
diff --git a/images/step08-filter-form.png b/images/step08-filter-form.png
diff --git a/images/step08-menu-items1.png b/images/step08-menu-items1.png
diff --git a/images/step08-menu-items2.png b/images/step08-menu-items2.png
diff --git a/images/step09-filter-form.png b/images/step09-filter-form.png
diff --git a/images/step09-rest-api1.png b/images/step09-rest-api1.png
diff --git a/images/step09-rest-api2.png b/images/step09-rest-api2.png
diff --git a/images/step10-graphiql.png b/images/step10-graphiql.png
diff --git a/images/step10-rest-api1.png b/images/step10-rest-api1.png
diff --git a/images/step10-rest-api2.png b/images/step10-rest-api2.png
diff --git a/images/step11-graphiql.png b/images/step11-graphiql.png
diff --git a/images/step11-search-results.png b/images/step11-search-results.png
diff --git a/images/step12-search-results.png b/images/step12-search-results.png
diff --git a/tutorial/step00-initial-setup.md b/tutorial/step00-initial-setup.md
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+# Step 0: Initial Setup
+
+Before we start writing our plugin, we need a working local NetBox development environment. In this step we'll:
+
+- Install (or verify) a local NetBox dev setup
+- Enable development-friendly settings
+- Optionally clone the demo plugin repository so you can follow along (or jump between tutorial steps)
+
+:warning: **Warning:** This tutorial requires **NetBox v4.5 or later**. Attempting to use an earlier NetBox release will not work.
+
+## Install the NetBox Development Environment
+
+Plugin development requires a local installation of NetBox.
+
+If you don't already have NetBox installed, follow the official [installation instructions](https://netbox.readthedocs.io/en/stable/installation/). For development, installing from the Git repository is recommended because it makes it easy to switch between NetBox versions/tags.
+
+:green_circle: **Tip:** If you're setting this up *only* for local development, you can usually stop once you can successfully start the development server (e.g. `manage.py runserver`). You can always come back later and complete any optional production hardening steps.
+
+Before you start developing, make sure NetBox is running in development mode with debugging enabled. From your NetBox installation root, edit `netbox/netbox/configuration.py` and set:
+
+```python
+DEBUG = True
+DEVELOPER = True
+```
+
+These settings ensure that:
+
+- static assets can be served by the development server
+- you'll get full tracebacks in the browser when an error occurs
+
+:blue_square: **Note:** If NetBox is already running, restart the development server after changing these settings.
+
+:warning: **Warning:** Never enable `DEBUG = True` in a production environment.
+
+## Prepare the Plugin Development Environment
+
+A NetBox plugin is a standard Python package that contains a NetBox-specific Django application. Your plugin project should be structured according to the [Python Packaging User Guide](https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/tutorials/packaging-projects/).
+
+There are two ways to follow this tutorial:
+
+1. **Create the directory structure manually** (you can optionally use the demo repository as a reference).
+2. **Use the cookiecutter template** ([cookiecutter-netbox-plugin](https://github.com/netbox-community/cookiecutter-netbox-plugin)) to generate a new plugin project.
+
+In this tutorial, we'll use the **manual approach**, building up a project that will eventually look similar to this:
+
+```text
+.
+├── netbox_access_lists
+│   ├── api
+│   │   ├── __init__.py
+│   │   ├── serializers.py
+│   │   ├── urls.py
+│   │   └── views.py
+│   ├── choices.py
+│   ├── filtersets.py
+│   ├── forms.py
+│   ├── graphql
+│   │   ├── enums.py
+│   │   ├── filters.py
+│   │   ├── __init__.py
+│   │   ├── schema.py
+│   │   └── types.py
+│   ├── __init__.py
+│   ├── migrations
+│   │   ├── 0001_initial.py
+│   │   └── __init__.py
+│   ├── models.py
+│   ├── navigation.py
+│   ├── search.py
+│   ├── tables.py
+│   ├── templates
+│   │   └── netbox_access_lists
+│   │       ├── accesslist.html
+│   │       └── accesslistrule.html
+│   ├── urls.py
+│   └── views.py
+├── pyproject.toml
+└── README.md
+```
+
+:blue_square: **Note:** You don't need to create all of this up front. We'll add files and directories as we go.
+
+If you prefer to use the cookiecutter template, you can skip ahead to [Step 1](/tutorial/step01-plugin-configuration.md). Keep in mind that cookiecutter generates a slightly different (and more complete) project layout, which is especially helpful if you plan to publish your plugin on PyPI.
+
+If you're following the manual approach and want a reference implementation to compare against, see the next section.
+
+### Demo Git repository (optional)
+
+The demo repository contains the completed plugin project from this tutorial. Each tutorial step builds on the previous one, and the demo repo includes a snapshot of the code at each step as a separate Git branch.
+
+To clone the demo repository, `cd` to your preferred workspace (your home directory is fine) and run:
+
+```bash
+git clone --branch step00-empty https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox-plugin-demo
+```
+
+:blue_square: **Note:** Cloning the demo repository is optional, but it makes it easy to jump between steps and compare your work to a known-good implementation if you get stuck.
+
+This completes our initial setup.
+
+<div align="center">
+
+[Step 1: Plugin Configuration](/tutorial/step01-plugin-configuration.md) :arrow_right:
+
+</div>
diff --git a/tutorial/step01-initial-setup.md b/tutorial/step01-initial-setup.md