Your First Extension

This guide assumes you have git and npm installed. If not, you can get them here: git · npm / Node.js

Start by cloning the template repository and installing its dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/inkdex/template-extensions
cd template-extensions
npm install

This repository is the standard template for an Inkdex extension. It comes pre-configured with all the tooling used across Inkdex's own extension repos.

Repository structure

Here is a quick overview of what is inside:

• package.json : declares all dependencies and the scripts used to build, run, and debug the extension.
• tsconfig.json : TypeScript compiler settings shared across all Inkdex extensions.
• .oxfmtrc.json / .oxlintrc.json : formatting and linting rules to keep code style consistent.
• README.md, LICENSE, .gitignore, .github/, .husky/ : standard project files; nothing to worry about for now.

All the code that matters lives in src/, which contains two directories:

• src/test/ : test harness to verify that your extension runs correctly and has no major issues.
• src/ContentTemplate/ : the extension itself. This is where you will spend most of your time. We will rename this directory in the next step to match your extension.

Installing on your phone

Make sure your phone and computer are on the same local network, then run:

npm run dev

This command builds your extension and starts a local server, allowing you to load and hot-reload the extension directly on your device. You should see output similar to:

Building Sources
Working directory: /home/user/template-extensions
✔ Bundle Sources [17ms]
  ✔ Transpiling Project [13ms]
  ✔ Generate SourceInfo [0ms]
    ✔ ContentTemplate [0ms]
✔ Generate Versioning File [3ms]
✔ Generate Homepage [2ms]
Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8080/
Server running at http://192.168.1.xx:8080/
For a list of commands do h or help
[23:24:33:0115]

The exact output may differ slightly, but the important line is the local network address (192.168.1.xx:8080).

On your phone, add an extension repository using that address, for example http://192.168.1.105:8080/. You should see ContentTemplate available to download. That is your first extension, congratulations!

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In the next guide, we will open up that extension and start editing it to make it our own.