# Plugin

An abstract base class to define a plugin.

# Protected members

_runtime: Access the plugin Runtime instance.

# Getters

name: Return the name of the plugin.

# Usage

# Define a plugin

my-plugin/src/myPlugin.ts
import { Plugin, type Runtime } from "@squide/firefly";

export class MyPlugin extends Plugin {
    constructor(runtime: Runtime) {
        super(MyPlugin.name, runtime);
    }
}

# Register a plugin

import { FireflyRuntime } from "@squide/firefly";
import { MyPlugin } from "@sample/my-plugin";

const runtime = new FireflyRuntime({
    plugins: [x => new MyPlugin(x)]
});

# Use a plugin runtime instance

my-plugin/src/myPlugin.ts
import { Plugin, type Runtime } from "@squide/firefly";

export class MyPlugin extends Plugin {
    constructor(runtime: Runtime) {
        super(MyPlugin.name, runtime);
    }

    sayHello() {
        this._runtime.logger.debug("Hello!");
    }
}

# Retrieve a plugin from a runtime instance

import { MyPlugin } from "@sample/my-plugin";

const myPlugin = runtime.getPlugin(MyPlugin.name) as MyPlugin;

# Retrieve a plugin with a custom function

We recommend pairing a plugin definition with a custom function to retrieve the plugin from a runtime instance.

my-plugin/src/myPlugin.ts
import { Plugin, type Runtime } from "@squide/firefly";

export class MyPlugin extends Plugin {
    constructor(runtime: Runtime) {
        super(MyPlugin.name, runtime);
    }
}

export function getMyPlugin(runtime: FireflyRuntime) {
    return runtime.getPlugin(MyPlugin.name) as MyPlugin;
}

import { getMyPlugin } from "@sample/my-plugin";

const myPlugin = getMyPlugin(runtime);

Retrieving a plugin with a custom function doesn't require the consumer to remember the plugin name, and has the upside of inferring the typings.