Development Conventions

A Paperlib extension is essentially an npm package. Therefore, the development of a Paperlib extension is similar to the development of an npm package. However, there are some restrictions. This section will explain the restrictions and conventions:

1. In the callback of the event listener, please avoid floating promise. That is, if your callback function contains any AsyncFunction, please be sure to await or .catch the error exception. Because the error in the floating promise cannot be caught in Paperlib, it will cause the extension to crash.
2. The extension must be able to be packaged as an npm package that conforms to the commonjs specification.
3. The extension must be able to be packaged as a single js file, and it is recommended to minify to reduce the download size. (Except for New Window extensions)
4. Use the appropriate tools to remove the import statements of PLAPI, PLMainAPI, PLExtAPI, and keep the usage statements of PLAPI, PLMainAPI, PLExtAPI in the code after packaging. This ensures the normal operation of the extension in Paperlib. In our provided development environment, we use the rollup-extension-modify extension to achieve this. The reason for this constraint is that the PLAPI, PLMainAPI, PLExtAPI provided by the paperlib-api/api package are only used for code type autocompletion during development, do not contain any functionality, and should not appear in the final code of a extension. After a extension is loaded, the PLAPI, PLMainAPI, PLExtAPI objects will be automatically globally injected into its VM for directly using.
5. The manifest_version field must be included in package.json to indicate the API version used by the extension. Please keep it consistent with the version of the paperlib-api package you actually installed. We recommend that you always use the latest API version.
6. The main field must be included in package.json, pointing to the entry file of the extension.
7. The keywords in package.json must contain paperlib so that it can be searched in the extension marketplace.
8. The name field in package.json must be consistent with the id field in the main code of the extension.
9. The version field in package.json must comply with the semver specification.
10. The description field in package.json must contain a brief description of the extension.
11. The author field in package.json must contain the author information of the extension.
12. The dependencies field in package.json does not contain dependencies. That is, all dependencies are devDependencies. Please package the related functions in the dependencies into the .js file of the extension through any bundling tool.
13. It is recommended to correctly set the files field in package.json to only include the release files.
14. It is highly recommended to use the homepage field in package.json to provide the official website of the extension for users to learn more about the extension and feedback.