CTFd Beta Tester Plugin

A plugin for CTFd that allows administrators to designate certain users as beta testers who can access challenges before the official CTF start time.

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Overview

This plugin was originally developed for Oscar Zulu to facilitate challenge testing before competitions begin, and is now being offered to the broader CTF creator community.

Features

• Designate users as beta testers who can access challenges before the CTF starts
• Beta testers maintain regular user permissions without access to admin features
• Simple admin interface for managing beta testers
• Securely blocks beta testers from accessing admin routes
• Works with existing CTFd permission systems

Installation

1. Create the plugin directory structure in your CTFd installation:

   mkdir -p /path/to/CTFd/plugins/betatester/templates

2. Copy the plugin files to the appropriate locations:

   • __init__.py → /path/to/CTFd/plugins/betatester/
   • config.json → /path/to/CTFd/plugins/betatester/
   • betatesters.html → /path/to/CTFd/plugins/betatester/templates/

3. Restart your CTFd instance to load the plugin.

Usage

Adding Beta Testers

1. In the CTFd admin panel, go to Admin → Beta Testers
2. Select a user from the dropdown list
3. Click "Add to Beta Testers"

Removing Beta Testers

1. In the CTFd admin panel, go to Admin → Beta Testers
2. Find the user in the Beta Testers list
3. Click "Remove" next to their name

Beta Tester Experience

• Beta testers can access and solve challenges before the CTF officially starts
• Beta testers cannot access any admin routes or features
• Beta testers appear as regular users to other participants

How It Works

The plugin works by:

1. Promoting beta testers to admin role (giving them challenge access)
2. Tracking them in a separate BetaTesters table
3. Blocking their access to all admin routes
4. Automatically redirecting them to the challenges page if they try to access admin features

Requirements

• CTFd v3.0.0 or higher

License

This project is licensed under the GPLv3 License.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the project
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request