How to builld a plugin

[IvanRodriCalleja]

Hi

I know that at the moment there isn't a plugin system but i am working on a highlighter plugin (not public yet). In this moment if i want to run this plugin i have to fork the repo and add a new phase to the compile function like this:

In order to build my plugin i need the hast definitions to create the needed html code (because i decided to build in this phase) but i need to export in the fork too because now they are not public.

Do you have plans on exporting structs to allow building plugins at html level?

If i publish my crate it won't be possible to use unless you add it in the compile function, is it something you are open to do until a plugin system is implemented?

[wooorm]

Cool to hear! :) I don’t know exactly how everything should work and look. So for now I’ve just kept everything private.

Are you using treesitter? Something else?

i need the hast definitions

I think exposing hast from this project is fine for now. Sure!

is it something you are open to do until a plugin system is implemented?

We could maybe add an experimental_hast_transforms option for now. Should perhaps receive a whole tree (as a value) so it can return something else?

---

I wonder if I should change the ASTs used here to a Node trait.
That could make utilities such as

mdxjs-rs/src/mdast_util_to_hast.rs

Lines 1197 to 1222 in 4a861dc

	/// Visit.
	fn visit<Visitor>(node: &mdast::Node, visitor: Visitor)
	where
	Visitor: FnMut(&mdast::Node),
	{
	visit_impl(node, visitor);
	}
	/// Internal implementation to visit.
	fn visit_impl<Visitor>(node: &mdast::Node, mut visitor: Visitor) -> Visitor
	where
	Visitor: FnMut(&mdast::Node),
	{
	visitor(node);
	if let Some(children) = node.children() {
	let mut index = 0;
	while index < children.len() {
	let child = &children[index];
	visitor = visit_impl(child, visitor);
	index += 1;
	}
	}
	visitor
	}

work for mdast/hast/etc.

[IvanRodriCalleja]

Right now i am just using definitions from https://github.com/wooorm/mdxjs-rs/blob/main/src/hast.rs and i did a visitor to find code Nodes but it would be nice if this comes from the library.

Let me upload the code i have in a repo just to let you know if it makes sense what i comment before doing anything.

I can help you to implement something if needed.

I'll come to you soon!!

[IvanRodriCalleja]

Hi again,

Finally i had some time to spend on the highlighter and upload a initial version with just 2 lexers, you can find here. I decided to create as a workspace to have the fork and maybe create my own compile function with the plugin and bindings.

Do you think something like this will work in the future (without needing a fork)?
Right now i only need the fork to pick types and to build my own compile function to add my plugin.

[wooorm]

Nice! Have you thought about using: https://github.com/tree-sitter/tree-sitter/tree/master/highlight?

My previous comment still stands:

1. Preferably first make nodes into traits so that “unist utilities” can work on mdast and hast
2. We can then expose hast from here or now
3. We can then add some “experimental_hast_transforms” or so functionality here

[IvanRodriCalleja]

I didn't know about tree-sitter, i'lll take a look.

i'll work on point 1 to make it compatible with both and then i can help you to implement the experimental_hast_transforms if you want.

[n1xx1]

I just came around this project and the first thing I thought is: "let me build plugins for it now"!

I think having mdast, hast and recma plugins be just functions that return a new tree would be more than enough for a plugin system, similar to unified plugins.

Maybe something like this in the configuration:

pub experimental_mdast_transforms: Option<Vec<Box<dyn Fn(&mdast::Node) -> mdast::Node>>>;
pub experimental_hast_transforms: Option<Vec<Box<dyn Fn(&hast::Node) -> hast::Node>>>;
pub experimental_recma_transforms: Option<Vec<Box<dyn Fn(&swc_core::ecma::ast::Module) -> swc_core::ecma::ast::Module>>>;

Or maybe even supports both signatures of Fn(&mut mdast::Node) -> void and Fn(&mdast::Node) -> mdast::Node. But I'm not entirely sure about that. Maybe at some point it could even support wasm plugins like swc? Anyway thanks a lot for this @wooorm!

[wooorm]

I'm open to trying something out and experimenting! So whoever had an idea and is interested in working on it, can give it a go!