Way to keep track of required plugins for a site?

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When working on WordPress sites I’ve noticed that this question comes to mind when setting them up locally or on a server.

> What plugins does this site require to run?

I would like to know your ways to keep track of plugins that are considered required for the site to run correctly.

During my search, I would imagine a \`package.json` or `composer.json` file to signal WordPress which plugins are required and install them with the correct versions is not something that can be done.

I understand that there are the following approaches:
– Check which plugins are on the local instance and install them on the server. Or copy the `plugins` folder over.
– Use all-in-one migration-like plugins to add required plugins.
– Add code in the theme that checks which plugins are missing and throws an error until they’re installed.

However, is there a way to add a file to a repository to document the list of plugins and let them be installed when the site is set up?

If there was one caveat I can see that sometimes the plugins that are on production environments are not the same as the ones on staging or local.

What do you think? 🙏

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