created: 20140320055936611 modified: 20141022145259278 tags: howto title: Developing plugins using Node.js and GitHub type: text/vnd.tiddlywiki The most practical way to develop plugins is to use Node.js with the tiddlywiki5 repository to build your plugins, and to use ~GitHub to manage you files. ! Step by step !! 1. Installation First read https://tiddlywiki.com/static/PluginMechanism.html. Install Git from http://git-scm.com/downloads Install Node.js from http://nodejs.org/ !! 2. Create a new blank repository on ~GitHub Hint: ~GitHub repositories cannot be grouped together into directories, so it is only possible to group by using a naming scheme, e.g. use 'TW5-' as a name prefix with tiddlywiki5 projects to group them together. Go to https://github.com/ and create new a repository 'pluginname' - choose to add a readme file. !! 3. Setup a working environment Choose a location in your file system (eg TW5) for your plugin project; issue commands to: !!! 1. Create the directory ```bash mkdir TW5 ``` !!! 2. Make a local read-only copy of the ~TiddlyWiki5 repository ```bash git clone https://github.com/TiddlyWiki/TiddlyWiki5.git TW5 ``` !!! 3. Make a directory for your plugin ```bash cd TW5 cd plugins mkdir yourname cd yourname mkdir pluginname ``` !!! 4. Make a local copy of your plugin repository ```bash git clone https://github.com/yourgithub/pluginname.git pluginname ``` !!! 5. Go to your files ```bash cd pluginname ``` Create the file plugin.info with content: ```js { "title": "$:/plugins/yourgithub/pluginname", "description": "summary of the plugin's purpose", "author": "yourname", "version": "0.0.1", "core-version": ">=5.0.8", "source": "https://github.com/yourgithub/pluginname", "plugin-type": "plugin" } ``` !! 4. Create the files for your plugin For example files see the plugins in the ~TiddlyWiki5 repository i.e. those located at plugins/tiddlywiki/. See [[TiddlerFiles|https://tiddlywiki.com/#TiddlerFiles]] for details of the supported tiddler file formats. !!5. Build your files into a ~TiddlyWiki Modify `editions/tw5.com/tiddlywiki.info` to include a reference to your plugin directory, i.e. find `"plugins": [ ` and add `"yourname/pluginname"`. From the TW5 directory issue the command ```bash node ./tiddlywiki.js editions/tw5.com --build index ``` The resultant file (index.html) will be placed in the `editions/tw5.com/output` directory of the TW5 repo. !! 6. Save your work on ~GitHub From `plugins/yourname/pluginname/` issue commands to: !!! 1. Add all files ```bash git add -A ``` !!! 2. Commit to your local repository ```bash git commit -am "something meaningful about this check in" ``` !!! 3. Copy local changes to github ```bash git push ```