Create a Plugin

Learn how to create custom plugins to extend ClawLayer agent capabilities.

Overview

Plugins are modular extensions that add new capabilities to ClawLayer agents. This guide will walk you through creating your own plugin from scratch.

Plugin Structure

A basic ClawLayer plugin has the following structure:

@clawlayer/plugin-example/
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts          # Main plugin export
│   ├── actions.ts        # Custom actions
│   ├── providers.ts      # Data providers
│   ├── services.ts       # Services
│   └── types.ts          # TypeScript types
├── tests/
│   └── index.test.ts
└── README.md

Creating Your First Plugin

1. Initialize the Plugin

mkdir clawlayer-plugin-custom
cd clawlayer-plugin-custom
npm init -y

2. Install Dependencies

npm install --save-dev typescript @types/node
npm install axios dotenv

3. Configure TypeScript

Create tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2020",
    "module": "commonjs",
    "lib": ["ES2020"],
    "outDir": "./dist",
    "rootDir": "./src",
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
    "declaration": true,
    "declarationMap": true,
    "sourceMap": true
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*"],
  "exclude": ["node_modules", "dist", "tests"]
}

4. Define Plugin Interface

Create src/types.ts:

export interface Plugin {
  name: string;
  version: string;
  description: string;
  actions?: Action[];
  providers?: Provider[];
  services?: Service[];
  initialize?: (config: PluginConfig) => Promise<void>;
  cleanup?: () => Promise<void>;
}

export interface Action {
  name: string;
  description: string;
  handler: ActionHandler;
  examples?: string[];
  validate?: (input: string) => boolean;
}

export type ActionHandler = (
  input: string,
  context: ActionContext
) => Promise<ActionResult>;

export interface ActionContext {
  agentId: string;
  userId: string;
  roomId?: string;
  metadata?: Record<string, any>;
}

export interface ActionResult {
  success: boolean;
  data?: any;
  error?: string;
  metadata?: Record<string, any>;
}

export interface Provider {
  name: string;
  get: (key: string) => Promise<any>;
  set: (key: string, value: any) => Promise<void>;
}

export interface Service {
  name: string;
  start: () => Promise<void>;
  stop: () => Promise<void>;
}

export interface PluginConfig {
  apiKey?: string;
  options?: Record<string, any>;
}

Example Plugin: Weather Service

Let's create a weather plugin that fetches weather data:

1. Define Actions

Create src/actions.ts:

import axios from 'axios';
import { Action, ActionHandler } from './types';

const getWeatherHandler: ActionHandler = async (input, context) => {
  try {
    // Extract city from input
    const cityMatch = input.match(/weather (?:in |for )?(.+)/i);
    if (!cityMatch) {
      return {
        success: false,
        error: 'Could not parse city name from input'
      };
    }

    const city = cityMatch[1].trim();
    const apiKey = process.env.WEATHER_API_KEY;

    // Fetch weather data
    const response = await axios.get(
      `https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather`,
      {
        params: {
          q: city,
          appid: apiKey,
          units: 'metric'
        }
      }
    );

    const weather = response.data;

    return {
      success: true,
      data: {
        city: weather.name,
        temperature: weather.main.temp,
        conditions: weather.weather[0].description,
        humidity: weather.main.humidity,
        windSpeed: weather.wind.speed
      },
      metadata: {
        timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
        source: 'OpenWeatherMap'
      }
    };
  } catch (error) {
    return {
      success: false,
      error: error.message
    };
  }
};

const getForecastHandler: ActionHandler = async (input, context) => {
  // Similar implementation for forecast
  // ... implementation details
  return {
    success: true,
    data: { /* forecast data */ }
  };
};

export const weatherActions: Action[] = [
  {
    name: 'get_weather',
    description: 'Get current weather for a city',
    handler: getWeatherHandler,
    examples: [
      'What is the weather in London?',
      'Get weather for Tokyo',
      'Weather in New York'
    ],
    validate: (input: string) => {
      return /weather/i.test(input);
    }
  },
  {
    name: 'get_forecast',
    description: 'Get weather forecast for a city',
    handler: getForecastHandler,
    examples: [
      'Weather forecast for Paris',
      'What will the weather be like in Berlin?'
    ]
  }
];

2. Create the Main Plugin

Create src/index.ts:

import { Plugin } from './types';
import { weatherActions } from './actions';

const weatherPlugin: Plugin = {
  name: '@clawlayer/plugin-weather',
  version: '1.0.0',
  description: 'Weather data plugin for ClawLayer agents',

  actions: weatherActions,

  initialize: async (config) => {
    console.log('Weather plugin initialized');

    // Validate required configuration
    if (!process.env.WEATHER_API_KEY) {
      throw new Error('WEATHER_API_KEY is required');
    }

    // Perform any setup tasks
    return Promise.resolve();
  },

  cleanup: async () => {
    console.log('Weather plugin cleanup');
    // Perform cleanup tasks
    return Promise.resolve();
  }
};

export default weatherPlugin;
export * from './types';
export * from './actions';

3. Update package.json

{
  "name": "@clawlayer/plugin-weather",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Weather data plugin for ClawLayer",
  "main": "dist/index.js",
  "types": "dist/index.d.ts",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc",
    "dev": "tsc --watch",
    "test": "jest",
    "prepublishOnly": "npm run build"
  },
  "keywords": [
    "clawlayer",
    "plugin",
    "weather",
    "ai-agent"
  ],
  "author": "Your Name",
  "license": "MIT",
  "peerDependencies": {
    "@clawlayer/core": "^1.0.0"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "axios": "^1.6.0",
    "dotenv": "^16.0.0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/node": "^20.0.0",
    "typescript": "^5.0.0"
  }
}

Advanced Plugin Features

Adding Providers

Providers supply data to agents:

import { Provider } from './types';

export const weatherProvider: Provider = {
  name: 'weather_data',

  get: async (key: string) => {
    // Fetch and return weather data
    const [city, dataType] = key.split(':');

    if (dataType === 'current') {
      return await fetchCurrentWeather(city);
    } else if (dataType === 'forecast') {
      return await fetchForecast(city);
    }

    return null;
  },

  set: async (key: string, value: any) => {
    // Cache weather data
    // Implementation details
  }
};

Adding Services

Services run background tasks:

import { Service } from './types';

export const weatherUpdateService: Service = {
  name: 'weather_updates',

  start: async () => {
    console.log('Starting weather update service');

    // Start periodic updates
    setInterval(async () => {
      await updateWeatherCache();
    }, 300000); // Every 5 minutes
  },

  stop: async () => {
    console.log('Stopping weather update service');
    // Clean up intervals, connections, etc.
  }
};

Adding Middleware

export interface Middleware {
  name: string;
  process: (input: any, next: () => Promise<any>) => Promise<any>;
}

export const rateLimitMiddleware: Middleware = {
  name: 'rate_limit',

  process: async (input, next) => {
    // Check rate limit
    if (await isRateLimited(input.userId)) {
      throw new Error('Rate limit exceeded');
    }

    // Continue to next middleware/handler
    const result = await next();

    // Track usage
    await trackUsage(input.userId);

    return result;
  }
};

Testing Your Plugin

Create tests/weather.test.ts:

import weatherPlugin from '../src/index';
import { ActionContext } from '../src/types';

describe('Weather Plugin', () => {
  beforeAll(async () => {
    process.env.WEATHER_API_KEY = 'test_key';
    await weatherPlugin.initialize?.({});
  });

  afterAll(async () => {
    await weatherPlugin.cleanup?.();
  });

  test('should get weather for a city', async () => {
    const action = weatherPlugin.actions?.find(a => a.name === 'get_weather');
    expect(action).toBeDefined();

    const context: ActionContext = {
      agentId: 'test_agent',
      userId: 'test_user'
    };

    const result = await action!.handler(
      'What is the weather in London?',
      context
    );

    expect(result.success).toBe(true);
    expect(result.data).toHaveProperty('city');
    expect(result.data).toHaveProperty('temperature');
  });

  test('should validate weather queries', () => {
    const action = weatherPlugin.actions?.find(a => a.name === 'get_weather');
    expect(action?.validate?.('weather in Paris')).toBe(true);
    expect(action?.validate?.('hello world')).toBe(false);
  });
});

Plugin Configuration

Allow users to configure your plugin:

export interface WeatherPluginConfig extends PluginConfig {
  apiKey: string;
  units?: 'metric' | 'imperial';
  language?: string;
  cacheDuration?: number;
}

const weatherPlugin: Plugin = {
  // ... other properties

  initialize: async (config: WeatherPluginConfig) => {
    const {
      apiKey,
      units = 'metric',
      language = 'en',
      cacheDuration = 300000
    } = config;

    if (!apiKey) {
      throw new Error('Weather API key is required');
    }

    // Store configuration
    pluginConfig = { apiKey, units, language, cacheDuration };

    console.log('Weather plugin initialized with config:', {
      units,
      language,
      cacheDuration
    });
  }
};

Building and Testing Locally

# Build the plugin
npm run build

# Link for local testing
npm link

# In your ClawLayer project
npm link @clawlayer/plugin-weather

Using Your Plugin

Once built, use your plugin with agents:

const agent = await client.post('/agents', {
  name: 'Weather Bot',
  plugins: [
    {
      name: '@clawlayer/plugin-weather',
      enabled: true,
      config: {
        apiKey: process.env.WEATHER_API_KEY,
        units: 'metric',
        language: 'en'
      }
    }
  ]
});

Plugin Best Practices

1. Error Handling: Always handle errors gracefully

2. Validation: Validate all inputs and configuration

3. Documentation: Provide clear README and inline documentation

4. TypeScript: Use TypeScript for type safety

5. Testing: Write comprehensive tests

6. Versioning: Follow semantic versioning

7. Performance: Optimize for performance and resource usage

8. Security: Never expose API keys or sensitive data

9. Compatibility: Ensure compatibility with ClawLayer versions

10. Clean Code: Follow coding standards and best practices

Publishing Your Plugin

See Publish a Plugin for publishing instructions.

Example Plugins for Reference

Study these official plugins for examples:

• @clawlayer/plugin-evm - Blockchain interactions

• @clawlayer/plugin-discord - Platform integration

• @clawlayer/plugin-images - External API integration

• @clawlayer/plugin-sql - Database operations

Next Steps

• Publish a Plugin - Publish your plugin to npm

• Plugin Reference - Browse existing plugins

• API Reference - API documentation

Need Help?

• Discord Community

• Plugin Development Forum

• GitHub Issues