Plugins

Note

These pages describe the process of building a plugin.

If you are looking to use published plugins, see the guide on installing plugins, or head to the napari hub to search for plugins.

Plugins allow developers to customize and extend napari. This includes

• Adding file format support with readers and writers

• Adding custom widgets and user interface elements

• Providing sample data

• Changing the look of napari with a color theme

Here you can find:

• How to build, test and publish a plugin.

• Where to find guides to help get you started.

• Best practices when developing plugins.

Introducing npe2

We introduced a new plugin engine npe2 in December 2021.

Unless otherwise stated, most of the documentation herein pertains to the new npe2 format (which uses a static napari.yaml manifest)

Plugins targeting the first generation napari-plugin-engine (using @napari_hook_implementation decorators) will continue to work for at least the first half of 2022, but we recommend migrating to npe2. See the migration guide for details.

How to build plugins

If you’re just getting started with napari plugins, try our Your First Plugin tutorial.

For a list of all available contribution points and specifications, see the Contributions reference

If you’re ready to publish your plugin, see Test and deploy

For special considerations when building a napari plugin, see Best practices.

Looking for help?

If you have questions, try asking on the zulip chat. Submit issues to the napari github repository.