plainleaf/website/Plugs/Development.md

The easiest way to get started is to click the “Use this template” on the silverbullet-plug-template repo.

Generally, every plug consists of a YAML manifest file named yourplugname.plug.yaml. This file defines all functions that form your plug. To be loadable by SilverBullet, it needs to be compiled into a bundle (ending with .plug.js).

To compile it, run the build command specified in the plug template repo:

npm run build

For development it’s easiest to simply copy the .plug.js file into your space’s _plug/ folder after it’s built:

cp myplug.plug.js ~/myspace/_plug/

Within seconds (watch your browser’s JavaScript console), your plug should be picked up both on the server and, synced to your browser and loaded. No need to even reload the page.

Debugging

Since plugs run in your browser, you can use the usual browser debugging tools. When you console.log things, these logs will appear in your browser’s JavaScript console.

Distribution

Once you’re happy with your plug, you can distribute it in various ways:

• You can put it on github by simply committing the resulting .plug.js file there and instructing users to point to by adding - github:yourgithubuser/yourrepo/yourplugname.plug.js to their PLUGS file
• Add a release in your github repo and instruct users to add the release as - ghr:yourgithubuser/yourrepo or if they need a specific release - ghr:yourgithubuser/yourrepo/release-name
  • You need to upload the plug file as asset in the release, with a name matching your repository, e.g, yourrepo.plug.js
  • If your repository name starts with "silverbullet-", like silverbullet-foo, both silverbullet-foo.plug.js and foo.plug.js asset names will be tried
• You can put it on any other web server, and tell people to load it via https, e.g., - https://mydomain.com/mypugname.plug.js.