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
global-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 manifestmethod
: the function name exported by your plugin, e.g.AzureImporter
path
: the path to the plugin
And, if your plugin requires it, add its global-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.