Creating a Plugin

This guide walks you through the steps to create an Angular plugin.

Step 1: Initialize the Plugin

First, you need to create the scaffolding for your plugin. Use the following command, replacing example-plugin with the name of your plugin:

npx nx g @nx/angular:app example-plugin --directory=apps/example-plugin --bundler=esbuild

Step 2: Configure the Manifest

Next, create a manifest.json file inside the /src/assets directory. This file is crucial as it defines key properties of your plugin, including permissions and the entry point script.

{
  "name": "Example plugin",
  "host": "http://localhost:4200",
  "code": "/assets/plugin.js",
  "icon": "/assets/icon.png",
  "permissions": ["page:read", "file:read", "selection:read"]
}

Step 3: Update Project Configuration

Now, add the following configuration to your project.json to compile the plugin.ts file:

"tags": ["type:plugin"],
"targets": {
  "buildPlugin": {
    "executor": "@nx/esbuild:esbuild",
    "outputs": [
      "{options.outputPath}"
    ],
    "options": {
      "minify": true,
      "outputPath": "apps/example-plugin/src/assets/",
      "main": "apps/example-plugin/src/plugin.ts",
      "tsConfig": "apps/example-plugin/tsconfig.plugin.json",
      "generatePackageJson": false,
      "format": [
        "esm"
      ],
      "deleteOutputPath": false
    }
  },
}

Also, update targets.build with the following code to allow the use of Penpot styles and build the plugin code.

"options": {
  "styles": [
    "libs/plugins-styles/src/lib/styles.css",
    "apps/example-plugin/src/styles.css"
  ],
  "optimization": {
    "scripts": true,
    "styles": true,
    "fonts": false
  }
},
"dependsOn": ["buildPlugin"]

Add the default port to the serve.configurations.development task:

"development": {
  // ...
  "port": 4302,
}

Step 4: Modify TypeScript Configuration

Create ``tsconfig.plugin.jsonnext to thetsconfig.json`:

{
  "extends": "./tsconfig.json",
  "compilerOptions": {
    "types": []
  },
  "files": ["src/plugin.ts"],
  "include": ["../../libs/plugin-types/index.d.ts"]
}

Add the reference to the main tsconfig.json:

"references": [
  {
    "path": "./tsconfig.plugin.json"
  }
],

Strep 5: Hello world plugin code

Create the file apps/example-plugin/src/plugin.ts with the following code:

console.log('Hello Plugin');

Step 6: Run the plugin

Run this command:

npx nx run example-plugin:init

This will run two tasks: serve, the usual Angular server, and buildPlugin, which will compile the plugin.ts file.

Step 6: Load the Plugin in Penpot

Finally, to load your plugin into Penpot, execute the following command in the browser's console devtools:

ɵloadPluginByUrl('http://localhost:4201/assets/manifest.json');

Step 7: Build plugin

npx nx run example-plugin:build

Learn More About Plugin Development

For more detailed information on plugin development, check out our guides:

Using a Starter Template

If you prefer to kickstart your plugin development, consider using the Penpot Plugin Starter Template. It's a template designed to streamline the creation process for Penpot plugins.

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