🛠️ Building Custom Plugins

Want to build your own plugin? Follow this guide to create and publish your custom plugin that can be loaded remotely using module federation. This guide focuses on the technical aspects of plugin development.

Plugin Types

You can create three types of plugins:

• Sources: Monitor and collect content from platforms (e.g., Twitter, Telegram)
• Distributors: Send content to external platforms (e.g., Telegram, Notion, RSS)
• Transformers: Modify content before distribution (e.g., AI enhancement, formatting)

Development Tools

tip

We provide a Plugin Manager for local development and testing. This tool allows you to test plugins without installing them in a project.

Plugin Manager Features

• Local plugin registry management
• Real-time plugin testing
• Environment variable configuration
• Plugin validation tools

Getting Started with Plugin Development

1. Use our plugin template to bootstrap your plugin:

git clone https://github.com/PotLock/curatedotfun-plugin-template.git your-plugin-name
cd your-plugin-name

2. Start the Plugin Manager:

git clone https://github.com/PotLock/curatedotfun-plugins.git
cd curatedotfun-plugins
bun install
bun run start

info

Your plugin doesn't need to be in the curatedotfun-plugins repository. You can develop it anywhere and add it to the Plugin Manager's registry.

3. Implement your plugin following the template structure:

   // src/index.ts
   import type { Plugin, PluginConfig } from '@curatedotfun/types';
   
   export interface YourPluginConfig extends PluginConfig {
     // Your plugin's configuration type
   }
   
   const plugin: Plugin<YourPluginConfig> = {
     // Plugin implementation
   };
   
   export default plugin;

Module Federation Setup

Your plugin must expose itself as a module federation remote:

// webpack.config.js
const { ModuleFederationPlugin } = require('webpack').container;

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new ModuleFederationPlugin({
      name: 'your_plugin',
      filename: 'remoteEntry.js',
      exposes: {
        './plugin': './src/index',
      },
    }),
  ],
};

Development Workflow

1. Start your plugin's development server
2. Add your plugin to the Plugin Manager registry:

{
  "@your-org/your-plugin": {
    "url": "http://localhost:3001/remoteEntry.js",
    "type": "distributor" // or "transformer"
  }
}

Environment Variables

Plugins can access environment variables in their configuration using the {VARIABLE_NAME} syntax. For example:

{
  "config": {
    "apiKey": "{OPENROUTER_API_KEY}",
    "botToken": "{TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}"
  }
}

Add these variables to the Plugin Manager's .env file during development.

Testing Your Plugin

Use the Plugin Manager's UI to:

• Test content transformation (for transformer plugins)
• Test content distribution (for distributor plugins)
• Validate plugin configuration
• Monitor plugin performance

caution

Always test your plugin thoroughly in the Plugin Manager before deploying. This helps catch configuration issues and ensures proper functionality.

Deployment

1. Deploy your plugin to a static hosting service (e.g., Vercel, Netlify)
2. Configure it in curate.config.json:

{
  "plugins": {
    "@your-org/your-plugin": {
      "type": "distributor", // or "transformer"
      "url": "https://your-plugin-url.com/remoteEntry.js"
    }
  }
}

tip

You can find example plugins in our curatedotfun-plugins repository for reference.