Plugins

Plugins

What are they?

Plugins in kPad are some scripts that take advantage of the editor by using the built-in API. The plugin script is activated or run from the Plugins menu at the top. An alternative is to auto-start when kPad loads, which is useful for plugins which have widgets (frames, buttons, etc).

How do I install them?

Installing a plugin varies from versions.

kPad 1.2.x and up

First clone the plugin repo:

git clone https://github.com/<USERNAME>/<PLUGIN_NAME>.git

Then copy the folder to the specific folder found at:

• ~/Library/Application Support/kPad/plugins for Mac
• ~/.config/kpad/plugins for Linux
• %APPDATA%\kPad\Plugins for Windows

The folder name can be anything, but there MUST be logic.py and metadata.json.

kPad 1.3.x and up

Use the protocol:

kpad://InstallPLugin?url=<PLUGIN ZIP URL>

Note: Keep in mind that the URL protocol is still in alpha. If it doesn't work, then use the method above.

How do I make a plugin?

First, if you want to make it public, make a repo and start building it from there.

Then, inside, make two files:

|_ logic.py
|_ metadata.json

For the metadata, you need 4 required fields to input:

{
    "name": "<plugin name>",
    "author": "<username>",
    "version": "<version>",
    "desc": "<plugin description>"
}

And for the logic.py, you need a function named action(editor), like so:

def action(editor):
    ...

Commands to use with the editor variable (passed as a PluginAPI object in kPad) are listed in the PluginAPI wiki page.