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Setting Plugin Metadata

Writing a plugin is all well and good, but you're also going to want some way to configure how it appears in the plugin installer: its name, description, icon, update changelogs, and so on. You do this by writing a plugin manifest, which is a JSON or YAML file named after your plugin's internal name (for example: SamplePlugin.yaml).

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When using a YAML manifest, you should replace CamelCase keys with snake_case (for example, where a JSON manifest would contain RepoUrl, a YAML manifest would contain repo_url).

Example​

A very basic YAML manifest might look something like this:

name: Test Plugin
author: You
punchline: Does nothing! # short summary that fits on one line
description: |- # long description, shown when your plugin is clicked on
  This is a test plugin - this first line is a summary.

  Down here is a more detailed explanation of what the plugin
  does, manually wrapped to make sure it stays visible in the
  installer.
repo_url: https://example.com # where can users find your plugin's source code?

Available manifest keys​

These keys are required:

  • Name
  • Author
  • Description
  • Punchline

Optional keys include:

  • ApplicableVersion
  • RepoUrl
  • Tags
  • CategoryTags
  • LoadRequiredState
  • LoadSync
  • CanUnloadAsync
  • LoadPriority
  • ImageUrls
  • IconUrl
  • Changelog (see Changelogs below for alternatives)
  • AcceptsFeedback
  • FeedbackMessage

See the definition of IPluginManifest for further information. NB: some fields mentioned there, like Dip17Channel, are set automatically by the various plumbing that gets your plugins from GitHub to people's computers, and you should not include them in your manifest explicitly. (For a list of the keys you're allowed to set, see the relevant part of DalamudPackager.)

Note that the following keys are also required for Dalamud to load a plugin, but if you're using DalamudPackager, it will automatically fill them in for you, so you can and should ignore these:

  • AssemblyVersion
  • InternalName
  • DalamudApiLevel

Changelogs​

You can set a plugin changelog in three separate ways:

  1. Include a changelog field in your manifest.toml, in the DalamudPluginsD17 repository
  2. Write text in your Pull Request description
  3. Include the Changelog key in your plugin manifest

These will be checked in order, and the first available changelog will be used.

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If you'd like your changelog to be visible in the plugin installer, you must include it in manifest.toml or your plugin manifest, not the PR description.

Discord webhook​

Plugin updates are usually automatically posted in the XIVLauncher & Dalamud Discord server. If you'd rather write an announcement message yourself, you can prevent the automatic post by starting your Pull Request description with the word nofranz. Note that any changelog you write in manifest.toml or the plugin manifest will still be visible to users via the plugin installer.

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For more information about submitting your plugin and the approval process, see: