Scaffolding a Plugin

Generate the project structure with the CLI:

forkbit plugin init --id com.example.release_notes --name "Release Notes" --non-interactive

This creates:

release_notes/
  plugin.json      — manifest
  main.py          — plugin code
  settings.json    — settings schema

The Manifest

Open plugin.json:

{
  "id": "com.example.release_notes",
  "name": "Release Notes",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "entry": "main.py",
  "min_app_version": "0.2.0",
  "requirements": []
}

Key fields:

• id — unique reverse-domain identifier (com.<vendor>.<name>)

• name — display name shown in ForkBit

• version — semver version of your plugin

• entry — Python file containing your BasePlugin subclass

• requirements — pip dependencies (vendored at build time)

• min_app_version — minimum ForkBit version required

The Entry Point

Open main.py:

from PySide6.QtCore import Qt
from PySide6.QtWidgets import QLabel, QVBoxLayout

from forkbit_sdk import BasePlugin


class ReleaseNotesPlugin(BasePlugin):

    def on_ready(self) -> None:
        layout = QVBoxLayout(self.container)
        layout.setAlignment(Qt.AlignmentFlag.AlignTop)

        status = QLabel("Plugin loaded successfully.")
        layout.addWidget(status)

This is the minimal plugin. The app calls on_ready() after injecting all context — you build your UI inside container.

Validate it:

forkbit plugin validate release_notes

You should see all checks pass. Next: Development Mode to load your plugin in ForkBit without building, or skip ahead to Building the UI.