Docs/Settings/Plugins

Plugins

The Plugins tab in Settings is where you add things to Minerva in one bundle: a plugin can bring skills, object types, saved queries, note templates and citation styles together. Plugins live on this computer, in ~/.minerva/plugins/, and every change here takes effect straight away, in every open window. You never need to restart.

Built-in plugins

The buttons for installing a plugin are at the top of this tab. Below them, each plugin is listed by name with its switch, and installed ones with their author. Click a name to see the rest in the panel beside the list: what the plugin does, what it adds, what its code may do, and where it came from.

Some parts of Minerva itself are built-in plugins, listed under Built in. Each has a switch, and that's all: they can't be removed, and there's nothing to install. Turned off, a built-in plugin isn't hidden; it isn't running at all.

Kanban is one. It draws a type's notes as a Kanban board, and it starts turned on. Turned off, a board shows as the view's table instead, with a line saying why; nothing about the view is lost, and turning Kanban back on brings the board back as it was.

Timeline is one. It draws a type's notes on a timeline, and it starts turned on. Turned off, a timeline shows as the view's table instead, the same way.

Calendar is one. It draws a type's notes on a month calendar, and it starts turned on. Turned off, a calendar shows as the view's table instead.

Python is one. It runs Python code cells in your notes, which means running code on your computer, so it starts turned off on a new installation, and turning it on asks you with Minerva's own dialog first.

Sample plugins

Below the built-in plugins, under Samples, are small plugins that ship with Minerva to show what a plugin can do. They work like built-in plugins (a switch, nothing to install, nothing to remove), but they start turned off, and none of them is part of Minerva itself. Each is a working example of one kind of thing a plugin can add, which makes them a good starting point if you're writing your own.

Reading Queue: a sidebar panel of the books and articles you're reading, and a block that puts the same list in a note.
List Tools: a command that sorts the Markdown list in your selection.
Transcripts: ingests subtitle and caption files (.srt, .vtt) as sources.
EPUB: exports notes as an e-book.
Outline Checks: an inspection for headings that skip a level.
Steel: a light colour theme, with white pages, light grey chrome and steel-blue accents. Turn it on, then choose Steel from the theme list in Settings → Appearance.

What you can do

Install from folder

Choose Install from folder… and pick the plugin's folder. Minerva checks the whole plugin first and copies it in only if everything in it is usable; if not, it tells you every problem, and nothing is installed. The folder you picked is left where it was. If a plugin with the same name is already installed, Minerva asks before replacing it.

Install from zip

Choose Install from zip… and pick a .zip of the plugin, such as one downloaded from GitHub with Download ZIP. Minerva unpacks it safely and checks it the same way. An archive that tries to put files outside the plugin's own folder, holds links, or is far too big for a plugin is refused, and nothing is installed.

Install from a git URL

Choose Install from git URL… and paste the address of a public repository, such as https://github.com/you/lab. Add #v1.2.0, a branch name or a commit after a # to install that version; without one you get the latest on the default branch. Minerva never signs in to fetch a plugin, so for a private repository download a zip instead. Each plugin shows where it came from, and for a git URL, the commit installed. To update, install from the same URL again.

Recommended by a thoughtbase

A thoughtbase can say which plugins it works best with. When you open one that recommends plugins you don't have in use, a card lists them, each with Install (or Turn on, if it's installed but off). Nothing is installed until you press the button. Not now hides the card until you next open the thoughtbase, and Don't show again stops it for that thoughtbase on this computer. The recommendations are also listed in this tab. A note that uses a type from a plugin you don't have keeps working: its type is shown by name, with a hint saying which plugin provides it.

Turn a plugin on or off

The checkbox beside each plugin turns it on or off. Turned off, its skills, types, queries, templates and styles disappear, but it stays installed, ready to turn back on.

See what it adds

Click a plugin's name. The panel beside the list shows its description, its version and what it contributes, such as 2 skills · 1 type. A plugin folder that can't be used is listed as Not loaded; click it for the reasons. A plugin whose code you haven't allowed yet is marked Needs allowing, and its panel has Review and allow….

Plugin settings

A plugin that has options shows a Settings button in its panel. Its form saves on this computer only, never in a thoughtbase, and a change applies the next time you use the plugin's skills. A secret, such as an API token, is never shown again once saved; the field says whether one is set, and Clear removes it. If this computer has no system secure store, the form says the secret is saved as plain text in a file only your account can read.

Remove a plugin

Remove, in the plugin's panel, deletes the plugin from the plugins folder, after asking. Everything it added goes with it, including what it put in the knowledge graph.

Show the folder

Show folder shows a plugin's folder in your file manager, and Show plugins folder shows the folder they all live in.

Changes made outside Minerva

Minerva watches the plugins folder. If you (or an assistant writing a plugin for you) add, edit or remove a plugin there directly, the change applies by itself a moment later, just as it would from this tab.

Plugins add things; they don't run code

Everything a plugin contributes is something Minerva already knows how to read: a skill, a type definition, a query, a template, a citation style. A plugin can't replace what ships with Minerva or what you've made yourself, and anything the AI does with a plugin's skills still comes to you as a proposal to approve.