Create or change an editor plugin

Before you start

• Use the computer app. See What are editor plugins?
• Have an AI agent set up, since an agent builds the plugin. See Set up your first AI agent.

Steps

1. Select New plugin

   On Files home, select Plugins, then the New plugin card. You can also right-click a file and choose New plugin for followed by its file type, such as New plugin for .md….

2. Name it and choose its file types

   Type a Name, such as “Kanban board”. In Opens, type the file types it should open, such as .md, .yaml, or * for any text file. Select Create plugin.

3. Describe what you want

   Enjoy creates the plugin as a new project and opens a new conversation in it. The message box already starts with “Build this Enjoy plugin”, the plugin’s name, and its file types, and ends with “It should”. Finish the sentence with what the editor should do, then send it.

4. Try it

   When the agent is done, go back to your project. See Switch between projects. Right-click a file of the right type and choose your plugin under Open with.

5. Change it later

   On the Plugins shelf, select Edit on the plugin’s card. You can also choose Edit with the plugin’s name from a tab’s editor menu. Enjoy opens the plugin’s project, where you can ask an agent for changes.

Good to know

• Until an agent changes it, a new plugin is a plain text editor.
• The plugin’s project comes with instructions that explain to agents how Enjoy plugins work, so you only need to describe what you want. See Give agents instructions for a project.
• The plugin’s folder is inside the Enjoy folder in your home folder, under Plugins. Its project is added to your projects and pinned as a tab, like any new project.
• When an agent changes a plugin, files open with it reload by themselves. Enjoy saves your edits first.
• Plugin names can be up to 80 characters and can’t include \ / : * ? " < > |.
• Built-in plugins, Markdown and Code, can’t be edited.
• If a plugin stops responding, choose its Restart option from the tab’s editor menu or the card’s menu on the Plugins shelf.

If something goes wrong

“A plugin named … already exists. Choose another name.”

You already have a plugin with that name. Choose a different name, or select Edit on the existing plugin’s card.

“Enter a folder name without path separators or reserved characters”

The name uses a character a folder name can’t have, or ends with a period. Remove it and try again.

Create plugin is greyed out

Name or Opens is empty. Fill in both.

“isn’t a file extension.”

The message starts with what you typed. File types can use up to 16 letters, numbers, +, -, and _, such as .md or .yaml.

A plugin card shows a problem and Edit plugin

The plugin’s enjoy-plugin.json file has a mistake, and the card says what it is. Select Edit plugin and ask an agent to fix it, pasting the message from the card.