created: 20191022095653896
modified: 20191102131824766
tags: [[TiddlyWiki on Node.js]]
title: Installing custom plugins on Node.js
type: text/vnd.tiddlywiki

There are several ways in which custom plugins that are not part of TiddlyWiki's plugin library can be installed when using TiddlyWiki under Node.js. (See [[Installing a plugin from the plugin library]] for instructions on installing plugins from the library).

* Arrange the PluginFolders containing the plugins in a convenient shared location and then use [[environment variables|Environment Variables on Node.js]] to tell TiddlyWiki to search those folders. The plugins can be referenced in `tiddlywiki.info` by their name (e.g. `tiddlytools/magic`)
* Place the PluginFolders containing the plugins in a `plugins` folder within the [[wiki folder|TiddlyWikiFolders]]. TiddlyWiki will attempt to include every subfolder as a plugin. Do not add the plugin names to `tiddlywiki.info`. Do not add the PluginFolders under a specific namespace:<br><pre>.
├── plugins
│   ├── relink
│   │   ├── js
│   │   ├── plugin.info
│   │   └── tiddlers
│   └── relink-markdown
│       ├── js
│       ├── plugin.info
│       └── readme.tid
├── tiddlers
└── tiddlywiki.info
</pre>
* Depending on how TiddlyWiki itself has been installed, plugins can also be installed by copying the plugin folders into the `plugins` folder of the repository. This is only recommended if working with a forked copy of the repo. It is not recommended if TiddlyWiki has been installed with npm because npm is liable to overwrite the installation when performing an update

Note that including a plugin as an ordinary tiddler (e.g. by dragging and dropping a plugin into the browser) will result in the plugin only being active in the browser, and not available under Node.js.