Moodle version specifics¶

The RAGflow suite runs on Moodle 5.0, 5.1 and 5.2 from a single codebase (the main line of each plugin). This page collects the behaviour that differs between those versions and the requirements to be aware of.

Supported versions at a glance¶

Moodle	Supported	Web-root layout	AI error handling	Notes
5.2	✅	`public/`	`\core_ai\error\factory`	Reference version
5.1	✅	`public/`	`\core_ai\error\factory`
5.0	✅	repo root (no `public/`)	legacy error array	Requires PHP ≤ 8.3 (see below)
4.5 and earlier	❌ not supported	—	—	No `ai_providers` instance model (see below)

All plugins declare requires = 2025041400 (Moodle 5.0) and are verified green in CI on 5.0 and 5.2 × PostgreSQL and MariaDB.

The `public/` web root (Moodle 5.1+)¶

Moodle 5.1 moved all web-served code under a public/ directory. This only affects the install path of each plugin — the plugin code itself is identical:

Plugin	Path on Moodle 5.0	Path on Moodle 5.1+
AI provider	`ai/provider/ragflow`	`public/ai/provider/ragflow`
Helpdesk placement	`ai/placement/ragflowhelpdesk`	`public/ai/placement/ragflowhelpdesk`
Tutor block	`blocks/ragflowtutor`	`public/blocks/ragflowtutor`
Search block	`blocks/ragflowsearch`	`public/blocks/ragflowsearch`
Dashboard	`local/ragflowdashboard`	`public/local/ragflowdashboard`

If you install from a release ZIP through Moodle's plugin installer, Moodle places the files in the correct location automatically. When installing manually, use the path for your Moodle version.

AI error handling (version-guarded)¶

Moodle's AI subsystem changed how a provider returns action errors:

Moodle 5.1+ provides \core_ai\error\factory, which the provider uses to return structured error details (with an error source).
Moodle 5.0 has no error factory, so the provider returns the plain legacy error array (success / errorcode / errormessage), exactly as core's own providers do on 5.0.

The provider detects this at runtime, so the same code behaves correctly on every supported version. The user-facing behaviour (and the capability-gated Details on a failed chat) is the same.

PHP and database requirements¶

PHP: Moodle 5.0 supports PHP 8.1–8.3 and rejects 8.4. If you self-host with Docker or manage the PHP version yourself, pin PHP 8.3 for a 5.0 site. Moodle 5.1/5.2 follow their own PHP support matrix. The suite has no PHP requirement beyond Moodle's own.
Database: PostgreSQL or MariaDB/MySQL (the suite is verified on PostgreSQL and MariaDB). Day bucketing in the dashboard uses portable integer arithmetic for cross-database compatibility.

Why Moodle 4.5 is not supported¶

The suite is built entirely on the AI-provider instance model introduced in Moodle 5.0:

Moodle 5.0 added the ai_providers table, so a provider is configured as one or more instances (base URL, API key, per-action config) via the AI subsystem, plus the provider form hook after_ai_provider_form_hook.
Moodle 4.5 has no ai_providers table and configures AI providers through admin settings (settings.php / get_config) instead — a fundamentally different configuration model.

Supporting 4.5 would require a parallel configuration layer that permanently diverges from the 5.0+ model, for little benefit (AI features are a 5.0+ concern). It is a deliberate decision not to support Moodle 4.5 or earlier.

Upgrading your Moodle across these versions¶

Because one plugin line serves 5.0–5.2, upgrading Moodle (e.g. 5.0 → 5.2) needs no different plugin version — the same release keeps working. After any Moodle upgrade, run the standard Moodle upgrade so the plugins' (unchanged) versions are re-checked and caches are purged.

Note: This documentation was created with the help of AI. Spotted an error, an omission, or something unclear? Please report it in the ragcon-docs GitHub repository so we can fix it.