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How to load plugins

Plugins are developed separately to the Impact Framework core. However, the IF core developers maintain a standard library of plugins come bundled with IF. These are known as builtins.

Builtins have to be initialized in a manifest file using the path builtin. Then they can be invoked in pipelines.

name: if-demo
description: demo pipeline
tags:
initialize:
  plugins:
    'sum':
      path: 'builtin'
      method: Sum
      config:
        input-parameters:
          - cpu/energy
          - network/energy
        output-parameter: energy-sum

Other plugins are hosted externally to the IF. Anyone can build a plugin and provide it as an npm package or a public code repository (such as Github) and share it using our Explorer.

These external plugins are loaded into IF by installing locally and initializing in a manifest.

First, install the plugin by providing the path to the repository to npm install as follows:

npm install https://github.com/some-account/some-repo

Then, in the manifest's initialize section, you'll need to provide the following fields:

  • YOUR-PLUGIN-HERE: a name to reference this specific instance of the plugin. The same name has to be used to refer to this plugin instance everywhere across the manifest
  • method: the function name exported by your plugin, e.g. AzureImporter
  • path: the path to the plugin

And, if your plugin requires it, add its config too.

name: plugin-demo
description: loads plugin
tags: null
initialize:
  plugins:
    <YOUR-PLUGIN-HERE:
      method: OutputPlugin
      path: https://github.com/my-repo/my-plugin

Anyone can develop plugins. As long as you conform to our plugin specification, you can load your plugin into the Impact Framework and run it as part of a pipeline. We provide a guide to building plugins and a template to help you structure them correctly.