Who built this — and why
I'm K. Shivaramakrishnan — a tissue-culture lab owner, plant seller, collector, breeder, and cultivar enthusiast. When I tried to build a proper online store for my plant business, every platform I touched was built for selling electronics or apparel. None of them understood TC batch provenance, seasonal shipping windows, phytosanitary requirements, or why a buyer needs to know a plant's exact growth stage before committing.
I spent months bolting things together with spreadsheets, manual DMs, and workarounds. Eventually I decided to build the tooling I wished existed — modules that make an e-commerce platform actually speak plant. PhytoCommerce is that tooling, open-sourced so no other plant business owner has to go through the same frustration.
— K. Shivaramakrishnan · LinkedIn · Forest Studio Labs
What Is PhytoCommerce?
Generic e-commerce platforms were built to sell shoes and electronics. Plant businesses are different. You track TC batch provenance. You manage seasonal availability and live arrival windows. You deal with phytosanitary certificates, KYC checks for wholesale pricing, and customers who need to know exactly what growth stage a plant is at before they commit.
PhytoCommerce is a suite of modules — 28 and counting — that slots into the platforms your developers already know, and gives your plant store the specialist features it actually needs. Any plant. Any scale. Any platform. No workarounds, no spreadsheets alongside your cart — just a store that speaks plant.
"We are specialty module developers — not tied to any single platform. We build the plant-commerce layer; you choose the foundation."
Live on PrestaShop 8 (28 modules, production-ready) and actively porting to WooCommerce. OpenCart, BigCommerce, and Magento Open Source are next — same feature set, idiomatic code per platform.
Link every product to its in-vitro batch record — medium formula, deflask date, operator, provenance.
Auto-attach phyto documents to orders, log dispatch evidence, and print compliant invoices in one click.
B2B price tiers that only unlock after PAN/GST verification — no more manual DMs to share wholesale rates.
Products that know their own season and climate zone — auto-hide out-of-window listings, notify on restock.
One-click meta-installer per platform deploys all modules in the correct dependency order — live in minutes.
Every line of code on GitHub. No lock-in, no phone-home, no vendor surprise. Fork it, extend it, own it.
Install modules individually — drop into /modules/ and activate. The Pack Installer is available to hosted customers only and deploys everything in one shot.
Upload any plugin ZIP via Plugins → Add New → Upload, or copy the folder to wp-content/plugins/ and activate. Individual modules only.
All modules at GitHub ↗. Each directory has its own README.md, install scripts, and frontend assets.
Module Categories
📦 Pack Installer
Hosted-only one-click installer — deploys all modules in correct dependency order. Per-platform editions: PS8, WooCommerce, and more.
🏗 Foundation
Branding, storefront rebranding, quick product entry, ERPNext sync, and automated SEO — the base layer every plant store needs.
🔬 Plant Science
TC batch tracking, growth stages, seasonal availability, care cards, climate suitability, acclimation kits, live arrival guarantees.
👥 Customer & Community
Growers journals, personal plant collections, and sourcing-origin badges.
📋 Operations & Compliance
Shipment evidence logging, phytosanitary document management, and TC cost calculators.
🛒 Commerce
B2B wholesale portals, recurring subscriptions, customer bundle builders, and loyalty points.
🔒 Security & Identity
Image watermarking + WebP conversion, and KYC verification (PAN/GST) with price blur.
🔔 Invoicing & Notifications
Phytosanitary-aware branded PDF invoices and out-of-stock restock alert subscriptions.
How to Get the Modules
Host with Us
We run the full stack — server, platform, modules, updates. You focus on your plants and your customers.
- ✓ All modules pre-installed & configured
- ✓ No platform restrictions — full admin freedom, no feature limits
- ✓ Full business analytics dashboard included
- ✓ Choose your subdomain on any of our plant domains
- ✓ Or bring your own domain — ₹400/month
- ✓ One-click Pack Installer — hosted customers only
- ✓ All current & future modules included
- ✓ Catalogue & taxonomy setup for your plants
Your Own Stack
Full source on GitHub. Install on any supported open-source platform — no lock-in, no phone-home.
- ✓ Works on: PrestaShop 8, WooCommerce, OpenCart, Magento Open Source, BigCommerce (porting in progress)
- ✓ Install modules individually — no pack installer required
- ✓ Full source code, fork and extend freely
- ◎ Premium modules & licence keys — from ₹99 / module
- ◎ Priority support add-on available
Where Does Your Store Live?
🏪 When you host with us, we handle the full tech stack — server, software, updates, all modules. You pick an address from one of our plant-focused domains or bring your own. Usually live within 24 hours.
Think of it as a fully stocked, fully staffed shop in a building we run. You bring the plants, we handle everything else.
A known destination for CP collectors in India. Ideal if you sell carnivorous plants or other rare specialty species — the domain works for you from day one.
your-nursery.carnivorousplants.inClean and professional — works for any plant business. Rare houseplants, botanical retailers, general nurseries. Not species-specific, so it grows with your catalogue.
greenfolia.phytolabs.inPurpose-built for labs that sell deflasked or in-vitro plants. The domain itself signals lab-origin provenance to buyers — trust built into the address.
your-lab.tcplants.inFor everyday plant retail — succulents, flowering plants, kitchen herbs, landscaping species. Approachable for buyers who aren't deep hobbyists.
terracegreens.onlinegarden.inyourbrand.carnivorousplants.in (or any of our domains above), every module included, managed by us.₹400 / month — same deal on your own domain, e.g.
yourbrand.com.Mail us or WhatsApp us — usually live within 24 hours to get your site rolling.