3 Micro supports creating plugins with a simple Lua system. Plugins are
4 folders containing Lua files and possibly other source files placed
5 in `~/.config/micro/plug`. The plugin directory (within `plug`) should
6 contain at least one Lua file and an `info.json` file. The info file
7 provides additional information such as the name of the plugin, the
8 plugin's website, dependencies, etc... Here is an example info file
9 from the go plugin, which has the following file structure:
12 ~/.config/micro/plug/go-plugin/
19 The `go.lua` file contains the main code for the plugin, though the
20 code may be distributed across multiple Lua files. The `info.json`
21 file contains information about the plugin such as the website,
22 description, version, and any requirements. Plugins may also
23 have additional files which can be added to micro's runtime files,
24 of which there are 5 types:
32 In most cases, a plugin will want to add help files, but in certain
33 cases a plugin may also want to add colorschemes or syntax files. It
34 is unlikely for a plugin to need to add plugin files at runtime or
35 syntax header files. No directory structure is enforced but keeping
36 runtime files in their own directories is good practice.
40 Plugins use Lua but also have access to many functions both from micro
41 and from the Go standard library. Many callbacks are also defined which
42 are called when certain events happen. Here is the list of callbacks
45 * `init()`: this function should be used for your plugin initialization.
47 * `onBufferOpen(buf)`: runs when a buffer is opened. The input contains
50 * `onBufPaneOpen(bufpane)`: runs when a bufpane is opened. The input
51 contains the bufpane object.
53 * `onAction(bufpane)`: runs when `Action` is triggered by the user, where
54 `Action` is a bindable action (see `> help keybindings`). A bufpane
55 is passed as input and the function should return a boolean defining
56 whether the view should be relocated after this action is performed.
58 * `preAction(bufpane)`: runs immediately before `Action` is triggered
59 by the user. Returns a boolean which defines whether the action should
62 For example a function which is run every time the user saves the buffer
72 The `bp` variable is a reference to the bufpane the action is being executed
73 within. This is almost always the current bufpane.
75 All available actions are listed in the keybindings section of the help.
77 These functions should also return a boolean specifying whether the bufpane
78 should be relocated to the cursor or not after the action is complete.
80 ## Accessing micro functions
82 Some of micro's internal information is exposed in the form of packages which
83 can be imported by Lua plugins. A package can be imported in Lua and a value
84 within it can be accessed using the following syntax:
87 local micro = import("micro")
91 The packages and functions are listed below (in Go type signatures):
94 - `TermMessage(msg interface{}...)`: temporarily close micro and print a
97 - `TermError(filename string, lineNum int, err string)`: temporarily close
98 micro and print an error formatted as `filename, lineNum: err`.
100 - `InfoBar()`: return the infobar BufPane object.
102 - `Log(msg interface{}...)`: write a message to `log.txt` (requires
103 `-debug` flag, or binary built with `build-dbg`).
105 - `SetStatusInfoFn(fn string)`: register the given lua function as
106 accessible from the statusline formatting options.
108 - `CurPane() *BufPane`: returns the current BufPane, or nil if the
109 current pane is not a BufPane.
111 - `CurTab() *Tab`: returns the current tab.
113 - `MakeCommand(name string, action func(bp *BufPane, args[]string),
114 completer buffer.Completer)`:
115 create a command with the given name, and lua callback function when
116 the command is run. A completer may also be given to specify how
117 autocompletion should work with the custom command.
119 - `FileComplete`: autocomplete using files in the current directory
120 - `HelpComplete`: autocomplete using names of help documents
121 - `OptionComplete`: autocomplete using names of options
122 - `OptionValueComplete`: autocomplete using names of options, and valid
124 - `NoComplete`: no autocompletion suggestions
126 - `TryBindKey(k, v string, overwrite bool) (bool, error)`: bind the key
127 `k` to the string `v` in the `bindings.json` file. If `overwrite` is
128 true, this will overwrite any existing binding to key `k`. Returns true
129 if the binding was made, and a possible error (for example writing to
130 `bindings.json` can cause an error).
132 - `Reload()`: reload configuration files.
134 - `AddRuntimeFileFromMemory(filetype RTFiletype, filename, data string)`:
135 add a runtime file to the `filetype` runtime filetype, with name
136 `filename` and data `data`.
138 - `AddRuntimeFilesFromDirectory(plugin string, filetype RTFiletype,
139 directory, pattern string)`:
140 add runtime files for the given plugin with the given RTFiletype from
141 a directory within the plugin root. Only adds files that match the
142 pattern using Go's `filepath.Match`
144 - `AddRuntimeFile(plugin string, filetype RTFiletype, filepath string)`:
145 add a given file inside the plugin root directory as a runtime file
146 to the given RTFiletype category.
148 - `ListRuntimeFiles(fileType RTFiletype) []string`: returns a list of
149 names of runtime files of the given type.
151 - `ReadRuntimeFile(fileType RTFiletype, name string) string`: returns the
152 contents of a given runtime file.
154 - `NewRTFiletype() int`: creates a new RTFiletype, and returns its value.
156 - `RTColorscheme`: runtime files for colorschemes.
157 - `RTSyntax`: runtime files for syntax files.
158 - `RTHelp`: runtime files for help documents.
159 - `RTPlugin`: runtime files for plugin source code.
161 - `RegisterCommonOption(pl string, name string, defaultvalue interface{})`:
162 registers a new option with for the given plugin. The name of the
163 option will be `pl.name`, and will have the given default value. Since
164 this registers a common option, the option will be modifiable on a
165 per-buffer basis, while also having a global value (in the
168 - `RegisterGlobalOption(pl string, name string, defaultvalue interface{})`:
169 same as `RegisterCommonOption` but the option cannot be modified
170 locally to each buffer.
172 - `GetGlobalOption(name string) interface{}`: returns the value of a
173 given plugin in the `GlobalSettings` map.
175 - `SetGlobalOption(option, value string) error`: sets an option to a
176 given value. Same as using the `> set` command. This will parse the
177 value to the actual value type.
179 - `SetGlobalOptionNative(option string, value interface{}) error`: sets
180 an option to a given value, where the type of value is the actual
181 type of the value internally.
183 - `ExecCommand(name string, arg ...string) (string, error)`: runs an
184 executable with the given arguments, and pipes the output (stderr
185 and stdout) of the executable to an internal buffer, which is
186 returned as a string, along with a possible error.
188 - `RunCommand(input string) (string, error)`: same as `ExecCommand`,
189 except this uses micro's argument parser to parse the arguments from
190 the input. For example `cat 'hello world.txt' file.txt`, will pass
191 two arguments in the `ExecCommand` argument list (quoting arguments
192 will preserve spaces).
194 - `RunBackgroundShell(input string) (func() string, error)`: returns a
195 function that will run the given shell command and return its output.
197 - `RunInteractiveShell(input string, wait bool, getOutput bool)
199 temporarily closes micro and runs the given command in the terminal.
200 If `wait` is true, micro will wait for the user to press enter before
201 returning to text editing. If `getOutput` is true, micro redirect
202 stdout from the command to the returned string.
204 - `JobStart(cmd string, onStdout, onStderr,
205 onExit func(string, []interface{}), userargs ...interface{})
207 Starts a background job by running the shell on the given command
208 (using `sh -c`). Three callbacks can be provided which will be called
209 when the command generates stdout, stderr, or exits. The userargs will
210 be passed to the callbacks, along with the output as the first
211 argument of the callback.
213 - `JobSpawn(cmd string, cmdArgs []string, onStdout, onStderr,
214 onExit func(string, []interface{}), userargs ...interface{})
216 same as `JobStart`, except doesn't run the command through the shell
217 and instead takes as inputs the list of arguments.
219 - `JobStop(cmd *exec.Cmd)`: kills a job.
220 - `JobSend(cmd *exec.Cmd, data string)`: sends some data to a job's stdin.
222 - `RunTermEmulator(h *BufPane, input string, wait bool, getOutput bool,
223 callback func(out string, userargs []interface{}),
224 userargs []interface{}) error`:
225 starts a terminal emulator from a given BufPane with the input command.
226 If `wait` is true it will wait for the user to exit by pressing enter
227 once the executable has terminated and if `getOutput` is true it will
228 redirect the stdout of the process to a pipe which will be passed to
229 the callback which is a function that takes a string and a list of
230 optional user arguments. This function returns an error on systems
231 where the terminal emulator is not supported.
233 - `TermEmuSupported`: true on systems where the terminal emulator is
234 supported and false otherwise. Supported systems:
242 - `NewMessage(owner string, msg string, start, end, Loc, kind MsgType)
244 creates a new message with an owner over a range given by the start
247 - `NewMessageAtLine(owner string, msg string, line int, kindMsgType)
249 creates a new message with owner, type and message at a given line.
251 - `MTInfo`: info message.
252 - `MTWarning`: warning message.
253 - `MTError` error message.
255 - `Loc(x, y int) Loc`: creates a new location struct.
257 - `BTDefault`: default buffer type.
258 - `BTLog`: log buffer type.
259 - `BTRaw`: raw buffer type.
260 - `BTInfo`: info buffer type.
262 - `NewBuffer(text, path string) *Buffer`: creates a new buffer with the
263 given text at a certain path.
265 - `NewBufferFromFile(path string) (*Buffer, error)`: creates a new
266 buffer by reading from disk at the given path.
268 - `ByteOffset(pos Loc, buf *Buffer) int`: returns the byte index of the
269 given position in a buffer.
271 - `Log(s string)`: writes a string to the log buffer.
272 - `LogBuf() *Buffer`: returns the log buffer.
274 - `RuneAt(str string, idx int) string`: returns the utf8 rune at a
275 given index within a string.
276 - `GetLeadingWhitespace(s string) string`: returns the leading
277 whitespace of a string.
278 - `IsWordChar(s string) bool`: returns true if the first rune in a
279 string is a word character.
280 - `String(b []byte) string`: converts a byte array to a string.
281 - `RuneStr(r rune) string`: converts a rune to a string.
283 This may seem like a small list of available functions but some of the objects
284 returned by the functions have many methods. The Lua plugin may access any
285 public methods of an object returned by any of the functions above.
286 Unfortunately it is not possible to list all the available functions on this
287 page. Please go to the internal documentation at
288 https://godoc.org/github.com/zyedidia/micro to see the full list of available
289 methods. Note that only methods of types that are available to plugins via
290 the functions above can be called from a plugin. For an even more detailed
291 reference see the source code on Github.
293 For example, with a BufPane object called `bp`, you could call the `Save`
294 function in Lua with `bp:Save()`.
296 Note that Lua uses the `:` syntax to call a function rather than Go's `.`
300 micro.InfoBar().Message()
306 micro.InfoBar():Message()
309 ## Accessing the Go standard library
311 It is possible for your lua code to access many of the functions in the Go
314 Simply import the package you'd like and then you can use it. For example:
317 local ioutil = import("io/ioutil")
318 local fmt = import("fmt")
319 local micro = import("micro")
321 local data, err = ioutil.ReadFile("SomeFile.txt")
324 micro.InfoBar():Error("Error reading file: SomeFile.txt")
326 -- Data is returned as an array of bytes
327 -- Using Sprintf will convert it to a string
328 local str = fmt.Sprintf("%s", data)
330 -- Do something with the file you just read!
335 Here are the packages from the Go standard library that you can access.
336 Nearly all functions from these packages are supported. For an exact
337 list of which functions are supported you can look through `lua.go`
338 (which should be easy to understand).
357 For documentation for each of these functions, see the Go standard
358 library documentation at https://golang.org/pkg/ (for the packages
359 exposed to micro plugins). The Lua standard library is also available
360 to plugins though it is rather small.
362 The following functions are also available from the go-humanize package:
364 The `humanize` package exposes:
370 ## Adding help files, syntax files, or colorschemes in your plugin
372 You can use the `AddRuntimeFile(name string, type config.RTFiletype,
374 function to add various kinds of files to your plugin. For example, if you'd
375 like to add a help topic to your plugin called `test`, you would create a
376 `test.md` file, and call the function:
379 config = import("micro/config")
380 config.AddRuntimeFile("test", config.RTHelp, "test.md")
383 Use `AddRuntimeFilesFromDirectory(name, type, dir, pattern)` to add a number of
384 files to the runtime. To read the content of a runtime file use
385 `ReadRuntimeFile(fileType, name string)` or `ListRuntimeFiles(fileType string)`
386 for all runtime files. In addition, there is `AddRuntimeFileFromMemory` which
387 adds a runtime file based on a string that may have been constructed at
392 There are 6 default plugins that come pre-installed with micro. These are
394 * `autoclose`: automatically closes brackets, quotes, etc...
395 * `comment`: provides automatic commenting for a number of languages
396 * `ftoptions`: alters some default options depending on the filetype
397 * `linter`: provides extensible linting for many languages
398 * `literate`: provides advanced syntax highlighting for the Literate
400 * `status`: provides some extensions to the status line (integration with
402 * `diff`: integrates the `diffgutter` option with Git. If you are in a Git
403 directory, the diff gutter will show changes with respect to the most
404 recent Git commit rather than the diff since opening the file.
406 See `> help linter`, `> help comment`, and `> help status` for additional
407 documentation specific to those plugins.
409 These are good examples for many use-cases if you are looking to write
414 Micro also has a built in plugin manager which you can invoke with the
415 `> plugin ...` command, or in the shell with `micro -plugin ...`.
417 For the valid commands you can use, see the `command` help topic.
419 The manager fetches plugins from the channels (which is simply a list of plugin
420 metadata) which it knows about. By default, micro only knows about the official
421 channel which is located at github.com/micro-editor/plugin-channel but you can
422 add your own third-party channels using the `pluginchannels` option and you can
423 directly link third-party plugins to allow installation through the plugin
424 manager with the `pluginrepos` option.
426 If you'd like to publish a plugin you've made as an official plugin, you should
427 upload your plugin online (to Github preferably) and add a `repo.json` file.
428 This file will contain the metadata for your plugin. Here is an example:
432 "Name": "pluginname",
433 "Description": "Here is a nice concise description of my plugin",
434 "Website": "https://github.com/user/plugin",
435 "Tags": ["python", "linting"],
439 "Url": "https://github.com/user/plugin/archive/v1.0.0.zip",
448 Then open a pull request at github.com/micro-editor/plugin-channel adding a
449 link to the raw `repo.json` that is in your plugin repository.
451 To make updating the plugin work, the first line of your plugins lua code
452 should contain the version of the plugin. (Like this: `VERSION = "1.0.0"`)
453 Please make sure to use [semver](http://semver.org/) for versioning.