Creating plugins

Getting started

If you are not already familiar with the BOT Architecture in Light Table, it's highly recommended that you read through that before starting to develop a plugin for Light Table.

Bootstrap using the Leiningen lt-plugin

The easiest route to get started with creating a new plugin is to use the lt-plugin for Leiningen. If haven't installed Leiningen and don't feel like doing so, you can obviously create the files listed below manually.

To get started. Just type the following in a terminal

• #> lein new lt-plugin myplugin
• Then add the folder to your Light Table workspace

Structure

Description

myplugin.cljs - Source entry point for your plugin. myplugin.behaviors - Configuration of your plugin. Here you can configure behaviors, load the compiled plugin source, load additional JavaScript or CSS files etc. myplugin_compiled.js - This is just a placeholder for the compiled source of your plugin. It will be generated/updated by the compiler plugin.edn - Plugin description which described the key attributes of your plugin. It is necessary for the plugin manager in Light Table project.clj - ClojureScript - Project file for your plugin. It is needed by the compiler. Here you can add 3.rd party ClojureScript libraries

For a more in-depth explanation of what you can configure in your .behaviors file check out the Behaviors File Reference

Developing

You might find inspiration from the following plugin creation guides

• Creating a Skin
• <Need an example of something in between...>
• Creating a Language plugin

Submit a plugin

If it's your first time submitting a plugin, make sure you have a valid plugin.edn. Fill out the keys as follows:

• :name*: Camel case is recommended
• :version*: Must be in format X.X.X e.g. 0.1.4
• :source*: Must be a github url e.g. https:\/\/github.com\/USER\/PLUGIN
• :behaviors*: Refers to the behaviors file which is needed to load the plugin and define any keybinding or behavior.
• :desc: Primary means users can find your plugin
• :author: Your name and another useful way to find your plugin

* Means the field is required.

When releasing a new version, you must update the :version key and push the new git tag e.g. git tag X.X.X && git push --tags. With your updated plugin.edn, add or update your plugin to the plugin metadata repository using these instructions.