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Almost everything in the NanoForge editor is a plugin: the file manager, the code editor, the Game and Scene screens, the ECS panels, the console, Git. Your own plugins use the same API as these. A plugin is a folder with:
  • nanoforge.manifest.json: its name, what it adds to the editor, and when to load it;
  • a client entry (index.js): code that runs in the editor’s page;
  • optionally a worker entry (code analysis and code generation) and a server entry (code that runs in the editor’s server);
  • its styles and assets.

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Where plugins live

The editor looks in four places. When the same plugin is in several, the later one in this table is used. Settings › Plugins lists every plugin with its source and state, lets you turn one off, and installs plugins from the marketplace.
A project plugin’s server entry only runs in a local editor, never in a hosted one.
The editor’s page has a Content Security Policy: in a hosted editor, the page (plugins included) connects to the editor’s own origin only; in a local editor, the page, plugins and games, may connect anywhere (http:, https:, ws:, wss:).

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How a plugin is loaded

  1. The editor reads every manifest. Everything a manifest declares in contributes (commands, menus, panels, settings, shortcuts) is in place before any plugin code runs.
  2. A plugin’s code is fetched and activate is called when one of its activation events happens: a panel of the plugin is shown, one of its commands runs, or at startup.
  3. When the plugin is turned off or replaced, everything it added through context.subscriptions is removed.
So a plugin that only shows a panel costs nothing until the panel is opened.

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What a plugin can import

Only the SDK:
  • @nanoforge-dev/editor-sdk: services, commands, settings, history, code, runtime;
  • @nanoforge-dev/editor-sdk/ui: panels, menus, the status bar, and the editor’s own components;
  • @nanoforge-dev/editor-sdk/worker: types for worker entries.
The editor provides these modules, and Svelte, at run time: they are not bundled into your plugin, so your panels use the editor’s own components and theme. Plugins are written in Svelte 5 with runes.

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Next

Create your first plugin

nf create plugin, run it in the editor, change it.

Manifest reference

Every field of nanoforge.manifest.json.

SDK

The activation context and the editor’s services.

Extension points

Every place a plugin can add something.