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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 an IMP 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 an IMP.

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 IMP'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 IMP
  • 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.