Step 1 — Install the DrillBit plugin in Moodle LMS

The first step is to install the DrillBit plagiarism plugin on your Moodle site. The plugin is published in the official Moodle plugin directory, so you can either install it directly from inside Moodle or upload the ZIP manually. This guide covers the in-Moodle path end-to-end — from opening the plugin installer to running the database upgrade.

Prerequisites

• A Moodle site administrator account.
• Moodle version supported by the DrillBit plugin (the plugin directory page lists the supported Moodle versions — e.g. Moodle 3.2 onwards).
• Outbound network access from your Moodle server so it can reach the DrillBit API URL you’ll configure in Step 2.

1. Open the Moodle plugin installer

1. Sign in to Moodle as an Administrator.
2. Open Site administration › Plugins › Install plugins.
3. You’ll see the Plugin installer page with two paths: a button to install from the Moodle plugin directory, and a file picker to install from a ZIP.

2. Find the DrillBit plugin in the Moodle plugin directory

1. Click Install plugins from the Moodle plugins directory.
2. On the Moodle.org plugins page, click Browse plugins.
3. In the search bar, type Drillbit plagiarism plugin and open the matching result.
4. Click Download on the plugin page — Moodle.org will give you a ZIP file for the plugin (e.g. plagiarism_drillbit).

3. Upload the plugin ZIP to Moodle

1. Go back to Site administration › Plugins › Install plugins on your Moodle site.
2. Under Install plugin from ZIP file, click Choose a file and pick the ZIP you just downloaded (or drag-and-drop it into the upload area).
3. Click Install plugin from ZIP file.
4. Moodle validates the package — you should see Validating plagiarism_drillbit … OK and Validation successful, installation can continue.
5. Click Continue.

4. Pass the server checks

Moodle now displays the Current release information screen with PHP / database / extension checks. You’re looking for one line at the bottom:

Your server environment meets all minimum requirements.

If any row reports an error, fix the underlying server-side issue (missing PHP extension, outdated database, etc.) before continuing. Once everything is green:

1. Click Continue.

5. Run the Moodle database upgrade

1. On the Plugins check page you’ll see Drillbit plagiarism plugin listed under Plugins requiring attention with a status of To be installed.
2. Click Upgrade Moodle database now at the bottom of the page.
3. Moodle runs the plugin’s upgrade script. When it reports plagiarism_drillbit — Success, click Continue.

Moodle drops you onto the Site administration Notifications page with a fresh availability-check timestamp — this confirms the plugin is now installed.

Troubleshooting

• Validation fails on upload – the ZIP isn’t the plugin package; re-download from the Moodle plugins directory.
• Server check reports a missing PHP extension – install the extension on the Moodle server (e.g. php-soap, php-curl) and restart PHP-FPM / Apache before retrying.
• Database upgrade hangs – check the Moodle config.php for the correct DB credentials and that the database user has ALTER permissions on the Moodle database.

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