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 a `repo.json` file. The `repo.json` file
7 provides additional information such as the name of the plugin, the
8 plugin's website, dependencies, etc... [Here is an example `repo.json` file](https://github.com/micro-editor/updated-plugins/blob/master/go-plugin/repo.json)
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 `repo.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.
46 This function is called after buffers have been initialized.
48 * `preinit()`: initialization function called before buffers have been
51 * `postinit()`: initialization function called after `init()`.
53 * `onBufferOpen(buf)`: runs when a buffer is opened. The input contains
56 * `onBufPaneOpen(bufpane)`: runs when a bufpane is opened. The input
57 contains the bufpane object.
59 * `onAction(bufpane)`: runs when `Action` is triggered by the user, where
60 `Action` is a bindable action (see `> help keybindings`). A bufpane
61 is passed as input and the function should return a boolean defining
62 whether the view should be relocated after this action is performed.
64 * `preAction(bufpane)`: runs immediately before `Action` is triggered
65 by the user. Returns a boolean which defines whether the action should
68 For example a function which is run every time the user saves the buffer
78 The `bp` variable is a reference to the bufpane the action is being executed
79 within. This is almost always the current bufpane.
81 All available actions are listed in the keybindings section of the help.
83 These functions should also return a boolean specifying whether the bufpane
84 should be relocated to the cursor or not after the action is complete.
86 ## Accessing micro functions
88 Some of micro's internal information is exposed in the form of packages which
89 can be imported by Lua plugins. A package can be imported in Lua and a value
90 within it can be accessed using the following syntax:
93 local micro = import("micro")
97 The packages and functions are listed below (in Go type signatures):
100 - `TermMessage(msg interface{}...)`: temporarily close micro and print a
103 - `TermError(filename string, lineNum int, err string)`: temporarily close
104 micro and print an error formatted as `filename, lineNum: err`.
106 - `InfoBar()`: return the infobar BufPane object.
108 - `Log(msg interface{}...)`: write a message to `log.txt` (requires
109 `-debug` flag, or binary built with `build-dbg`).
111 - `SetStatusInfoFn(fn string)`: register the given lua function as
112 accessible from the statusline formatting options.
114 - `CurPane() *BufPane`: returns the current BufPane, or nil if the
115 current pane is not a BufPane.
117 - `CurTab() *Tab`: returns the current tab.
119 - `MakeCommand(name string, action func(bp *BufPane, args[]string),
120 completer buffer.Completer)`:
121 create a command with the given name, and lua callback function when
122 the command is run. A completer may also be given to specify how
123 autocompletion should work with the custom command.
125 - `FileComplete`: autocomplete using files in the current directory
126 - `HelpComplete`: autocomplete using names of help documents
127 - `OptionComplete`: autocomplete using names of options
128 - `OptionValueComplete`: autocomplete using names of options, and valid
130 - `NoComplete`: no autocompletion suggestions
132 - `TryBindKey(k, v string, overwrite bool) (bool, error)`: bind the key
133 `k` to the string `v` in the `bindings.json` file. If `overwrite` is
134 true, this will overwrite any existing binding to key `k`. Returns true
135 if the binding was made, and a possible error (for example writing to
136 `bindings.json` can cause an error).
138 - `Reload()`: reload configuration files.
140 - `AddRuntimeFileFromMemory(filetype RTFiletype, filename, data string)`:
141 add a runtime file to the `filetype` runtime filetype, with name
142 `filename` and data `data`.
144 - `AddRuntimeFilesFromDirectory(plugin string, filetype RTFiletype,
145 directory, pattern string)`:
146 add runtime files for the given plugin with the given RTFiletype from
147 a directory within the plugin root. Only adds files that match the
148 pattern using Go's `filepath.Match`
150 - `AddRuntimeFile(plugin string, filetype RTFiletype, filepath string)`:
151 add a given file inside the plugin root directory as a runtime file
152 to the given RTFiletype category.
154 - `ListRuntimeFiles(fileType RTFiletype) []string`: returns a list of
155 names of runtime files of the given type.
157 - `ReadRuntimeFile(fileType RTFiletype, name string) string`: returns the
158 contents of a given runtime file.
160 - `NewRTFiletype() int`: creates a new RTFiletype, and returns its value.
162 - `RTColorscheme`: runtime files for colorschemes.
163 - `RTSyntax`: runtime files for syntax files.
164 - `RTHelp`: runtime files for help documents.
165 - `RTPlugin`: runtime files for plugin source code.
167 - `RegisterCommonOption(pl string, name string, defaultvalue interface{})`:
168 registers a new option with for the given plugin. The name of the
169 option will be `pl.name`, and will have the given default value. Since
170 this registers a common option, the option will be modifiable on a
171 per-buffer basis, while also having a global value (in the
174 - `RegisterGlobalOption(pl string, name string, defaultvalue interface{})`:
175 same as `RegisterCommonOption` but the option cannot be modified
176 locally to each buffer.
178 - `GetGlobalOption(name string) interface{}`: returns the value of a
179 given plugin in the `GlobalSettings` map.
181 - `SetGlobalOption(option, value string) error`: sets an option to a
182 given value. Same as using the `> set` command. This will parse the
183 value to the actual value type.
185 - `SetGlobalOptionNative(option string, value interface{}) error`: sets
186 an option to a given value, where the type of value is the actual
187 type of the value internally.
189 - `ExecCommand(name string, arg ...string) (string, error)`: runs an
190 executable with the given arguments, and pipes the output (stderr
191 and stdout) of the executable to an internal buffer, which is
192 returned as a string, along with a possible error.
194 - `RunCommand(input string) (string, error)`: same as `ExecCommand`,
195 except this uses micro's argument parser to parse the arguments from
196 the input. For example `cat 'hello world.txt' file.txt`, will pass
197 two arguments in the `ExecCommand` argument list (quoting arguments
198 will preserve spaces).
200 - `RunBackgroundShell(input string) (func() string, error)`: returns a
201 function that will run the given shell command and return its output.
203 - `RunInteractiveShell(input string, wait bool, getOutput bool)
205 temporarily closes micro and runs the given command in the terminal.
206 If `wait` is true, micro will wait for the user to press enter before
207 returning to text editing. If `getOutput` is true, micro redirect
208 stdout from the command to the returned string.
210 - `JobStart(cmd string, onStdout, onStderr,
211 onExit func(string, []interface{}), userargs ...interface{})
213 Starts a background job by running the shell on the given command
214 (using `sh -c`). Three callbacks can be provided which will be called
215 when the command generates stdout, stderr, or exits. The userargs will
216 be passed to the callbacks, along with the output as the first
217 argument of the callback.
219 - `JobSpawn(cmd string, cmdArgs []string, onStdout, onStderr,
220 onExit func(string, []interface{}), userargs ...interface{})
222 same as `JobStart`, except doesn't run the command through the shell
223 and instead takes as inputs the list of arguments.
225 - `JobStop(cmd *exec.Cmd)`: kills a job.
226 - `JobSend(cmd *exec.Cmd, data string)`: sends some data to a job's stdin.
228 - `RunTermEmulator(h *BufPane, input string, wait bool, getOutput bool,
229 callback func(out string, userargs []interface{}),
230 userargs []interface{}) error`:
231 starts a terminal emulator from a given BufPane with the input command.
232 If `wait` is true it will wait for the user to exit by pressing enter
233 once the executable has terminated and if `getOutput` is true it will
234 redirect the stdout of the process to a pipe which will be passed to
235 the callback which is a function that takes a string and a list of
236 optional user arguments. This function returns an error on systems
237 where the terminal emulator is not supported.
239 - `TermEmuSupported`: true on systems where the terminal emulator is
240 supported and false otherwise. Supported systems:
248 - `NewMessage(owner string, msg string, start, end, Loc, kind MsgType)
250 creates a new message with an owner over a range given by the start
253 - `NewMessageAtLine(owner string, msg string, line int, kindMsgType)
255 creates a new message with owner, type and message at a given line.
257 - `MTInfo`: info message.
258 - `MTWarning`: warning message.
259 - `MTError` error message.
261 - `Loc(x, y int) Loc`: creates a new location struct.
262 - `SLoc(line, row int) display.SLoc`: creates a new scrolling location struct.
264 - `BTDefault`: default buffer type.
265 - `BTLog`: log buffer type.
266 - `BTRaw`: raw buffer type.
267 - `BTInfo`: info buffer type.
269 - `NewBuffer(text, path string) *Buffer`: creates a new buffer with the
270 given text at a certain path.
272 - `NewBufferFromFile(path string) (*Buffer, error)`: creates a new
273 buffer by reading from disk at the given path.
275 - `ByteOffset(pos Loc, buf *Buffer) int`: returns the byte index of the
276 given position in a buffer.
278 - `Log(s string)`: writes a string to the log buffer.
279 - `LogBuf() *Buffer`: returns the log buffer.
281 - `RuneAt(str string, idx int) string`: returns the utf8 rune at a
282 given index within a string.
283 - `GetLeadingWhitespace(s string) string`: returns the leading
284 whitespace of a string.
285 - `IsWordChar(s string) bool`: returns true if the first rune in a
286 string is a word character.
287 - `String(b []byte) string`: converts a byte array to a string.
288 - `RuneStr(r rune) string`: converts a rune to a string.
289 - `Unzip(src, dest string) error`: unzips a file to given folder.
291 This may seem like a small list of available functions but some of the objects
292 returned by the functions have many methods. The Lua plugin may access any
293 public methods of an object returned by any of the functions above.
294 Unfortunately it is not possible to list all the available functions on this
295 page. Please go to the internal documentation at
296 https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/zyedidia/micro/v2/internal to see the full list
297 of available methods. Note that only methods of types that are available to
298 plugins via the functions above can be called from a plugin. For an even more
299 detailed reference see the source code on Github.
301 For example, with a BufPane object called `bp`, you could call the `Save`
302 function in Lua with `bp:Save()`.
304 Note that Lua uses the `:` syntax to call a function rather than Go's `.`
308 micro.InfoBar().Message()
314 micro.InfoBar():Message()
317 ## Accessing the Go standard library
319 It is possible for your lua code to access many of the functions in the Go
322 Simply import the package you'd like and then you can use it. For example:
325 local ioutil = import("io/ioutil")
326 local fmt = import("fmt")
327 local micro = import("micro")
329 local data, err = ioutil.ReadFile("SomeFile.txt")
332 micro.InfoBar():Error("Error reading file: SomeFile.txt")
334 -- Data is returned as an array of bytes
335 -- Using Sprintf will convert it to a string
336 local str = fmt.Sprintf("%s", data)
338 -- Do something with the file you just read!
343 Here are the packages from the Go standard library that you can access.
344 Nearly all functions from these packages are supported. For an exact
345 list of which functions are supported you can look through `lua.go`
346 (which should be easy to understand).
367 For documentation for each of these functions, see the Go standard
368 library documentation at https://golang.org/pkg/ (for the packages
369 exposed to micro plugins). The Lua standard library is also available
370 to plugins though it is rather small.
372 The following functions are also available from the go-humanize package:
374 The `humanize` package exposes:
378 ## Adding help files, syntax files, or colorschemes in your plugin
380 You can use the `AddRuntimeFile(name string, type config.RTFiletype,
382 function to add various kinds of files to your plugin. For example, if you'd
383 like to add a help topic to your plugin called `test`, you would create a
384 `test.md` file, and call the function:
387 config = import("micro/config")
388 config.AddRuntimeFile("test", config.RTHelp, "test.md")
391 Use `AddRuntimeFilesFromDirectory(name, type, dir, pattern)` to add a number of
392 files to the runtime. To read the content of a runtime file use
393 `ReadRuntimeFile(fileType, name string)` or `ListRuntimeFiles(fileType string)`
394 for all runtime files. In addition, there is `AddRuntimeFileFromMemory` which
395 adds a runtime file based on a string that may have been constructed at
400 There are 6 default plugins that come pre-installed with micro. These are
402 * `autoclose`: automatically closes brackets, quotes, etc...
403 * `comment`: provides automatic commenting for a number of languages
404 * `ftoptions`: alters some default options depending on the filetype
405 * `linter`: provides extensible linting for many languages
406 * `literate`: provides advanced syntax highlighting for the Literate
408 * `status`: provides some extensions to the status line (integration with
410 * `diff`: integrates the `diffgutter` option with Git. If you are in a Git
411 directory, the diff gutter will show changes with respect to the most
412 recent Git commit rather than the diff since opening the file.
414 See `> help linter`, `> help comment`, and `> help status` for additional
415 documentation specific to those plugins.
417 These are good examples for many use-cases if you are looking to write
422 Micro also has a built in plugin manager which you can invoke with the
423 `> plugin ...` command, or in the shell with `micro -plugin ...`.
425 For the valid commands you can use, see the `commands` help topic.
427 The manager fetches plugins from the channels (which is simply a list of plugin
428 metadata) which it knows about. By default, micro only knows about the official
429 channel which is located at github.com/micro-editor/plugin-channel but you can
430 add your own third-party channels using the `pluginchannels` option and you can
431 directly link third-party plugins to allow installation through the plugin
432 manager with the `pluginrepos` option.
434 If you'd like to publish a plugin you've made as an official plugin, you should
435 upload your plugin online (to Github preferably) and add a `repo.json` file.
436 This file will contain the metadata for your plugin. Here is an example:
440 "Name": "pluginname",
441 "Description": "Here is a nice concise description of my plugin",
442 "Website": "https://github.com/user/plugin",
443 "Tags": ["python", "linting"],
447 "Url": "https://github.com/user/plugin/archive/v1.0.0.zip",
456 Then open a pull request at github.com/micro-editor/plugin-channel adding a
457 link to the raw `repo.json` that is in your plugin repository.
459 To make updating the plugin work, the first line of your plugins lua code
460 should contain the version of the plugin. (Like this: `VERSION = "1.0.0"`)
461 Please make sure to use [semver](http://semver.org/) for versioning.