tabby/HACKING.md

Some background

Terminus is an Electron app, with the frontend written in Typescript with the help of Angular framework. It's built using Webpack.

Getting started

First of all, clone this repository. You'll also need a recent version of Node installed.

First, install the dependencies:

# macOS/Linux:
npm install
./scripts/install-deps.js
./scripts/build-native.js

# Windows:
npm -g install windows-build-tools
npm install
node scripts\install-deps.js
node scripts\build-native.js

Now, check if your build is working:

npm run build

Start Terminus with

npm start

Project layout

terminus
├─ app                                  # Electron app, just the bare essentials
|  ├─ src                               # Electron renderer code
|  └─ main.js                           # Electron main entry point
├─ build
├─ clink                                # Clink distributive, for Windows
├─ scripts                              # Maintenance scripts
├─ terminus-community-color-schemes     # Plugin that provides color schemes
├─ terminus-core                        # Plugin that provides base UI and tab management
├─ terminus-plugin-manager              # Plugin that installs other plugins
├─ terminus-settings                    # Plugin that provides the settings tab
└─ terminus-terminal                    # Plugin that provides terminal tabs

Plugin layout

terminus-pluginname
├─ src                                  # Typescript code
|  ├─ components                        # Angular components
|  |  ├─ foo.component.ts               # Code
|  |  ├─ foo.component.scss             # Styles
|  |  └─ foo.component.pug              # Template
|  ├─ services                          # Angular services
|  |  └─ foo.service.ts
|  ├─ api.ts                            # Publicly exported API
|  └─ index.ts                          # Module entry point
├─ package.json
├─ tsconfig.json
└─ webpack.config.js                         

Plugins

The app will load all plugins from the source checkout in the dev mode, from the user's plugins directory at all times (click Open Plugins Directory under Settings > Plugins) and from the directory specified by the TERMINUS_PLUGINS environment var.

Only modules whose package.json file contains a terminus-plugin keyword will be loaded.

If you're currently in your plugin's directory, start Terminus as TERMINUS_PLUGINS=$(pwd) terminus --debug

A plugin should only provide a default export, which should be a NgModule class (or a NgModuleWithDependencies where applicable). This module will be injected as a dependency to the app's root module.

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core'

@NgModule()
export default class MyModule {
  constructor () {
    console.log('Angular engaged, cap\'n.')
  }
}

Plugins provide functionality by exporting singular or multi providers:

import { NgModule, Injectable } from '@angular/core'
import { ToolbarButtonProvider, IToolbarButton } from 'terminus-core'

@Injectable()
export class MyButtonProvider extends ToolbarButtonProvider {
    provide (): IToolbarButton[] {
        return [{
            icon: 'star',
            title: 'Foobar',
            weight: 10,
            click: () => {
                alert('Woohoo!')
            }
        }]
    }
}

@NgModule({
    providers: [
        { provide: ToolbarButtonProvider, useClass: MyButtonProvider, multi: true },
    ],
})
export default class MyModule { }

See terminus-core/src/api.ts, terminus-settings/src/api.ts and terminus-terminal/src/api.ts for the available extension points.

Publish your plugin on NPM with a terminus-plugin keyword to make it appear in the Plugin Manager.