Writing a Custom Plugin¶

Before setting out to write a plugin it will be helpful to be familiar with the Basic Types of Plugins. Different plugins will require different implementation.

Basic Implementation¶

All plugins will share some common aspects.

Package¶

Any plugin will need its own package located in plugeth-plugins/packages. The package will need to include a main.go from which the .so file will be built. The package and main file should share the same name and the name should be a word that describes the basic functionality of the plugin.

Initialize¶

Most plugins will need to be initialized with a func Initialize. The initialize function will need to be passed at least three arguments: cli.Context, core.PluginLoader, core.Logger.

All plugins could have an intial template that looks something like this:

package main

import (
        "github.com/openrelayxyz/plugeth-utils/core"
        "gopkg.in/urfave/cli.v1"
)

var log core.Logger

func Initialize(ctx *cli.Context, loader core.PluginLoader, logger core.Logger) {
        log = logger
        log.Info("loaded New Custom Plugin")
}

InitializeNode¶

Many plugins will make use of func InitializeNode.

func InitializeNode(stack core.Node, b core.Backend) {
        backend = b
        log.Info("Initialized node and backend")
}

InitializeNode is called as soon as the Geth node is initialized. The core.Node object represents the running node with P2P and RPC capabilities, while the core.Backend gives you access to blocks and other data you may need to access.

Specialization¶

From this point implimentation becomes more specialized to the particular plugin type. Continue from here for specific instructions for the following plugins: