peertube/support/doc/plugins/guide.md

Plugins & Themes

• Concepts
  • Hooks
  • Static files
  • CSS
  • Server helpers (only for plugins)
    • Settings
    • Storage
    • Update video constants
    • Add custom routes
    • Add external auth methods
    • Add new transcoding profiles
  • Client helpers (themes & plugins)
    • Plugin static route
    • Notifier
    • Markdown Renderer
    • Custom Modal
    • Translate
    • Get public settings
    • Add custom fields to video form
  • Publishing
• Write a plugin/theme
  • Clone the quickstart repository
  • Configure your repository
  • Update README
  • Update package.json
  • Write code
  • Add translations
  • Build your plugin
  • Test your plugin/theme
  • Publish
• Plugin & Theme hooks/helpers API
• Tips
  • Compatibility with PeerTube
  • Spam/moderation plugin
  • Other plugin examples

Concepts

Themes are exactly the same as plugins, except that:

• Their name starts with peertube-theme- instead of peertube-plugin-
• They cannot declare server code (so they cannot register server hooks or settings)
• CSS files are loaded by client only if the theme is chosen by the administrator or the user

Hooks

A plugin registers functions in JavaScript to execute when PeerTube (server and client) fires events. There are 3 types of hooks:

• filter: used to filter functions parameters or return values. For example to replace words in video comments, or change the videos list behaviour
• action: used to do something after a certain trigger. For example to send a hook every time a video is published
• static: same than action but PeerTube waits their execution

On server side, these hooks are registered by the library file defined in package.json.

{
  ...,
  "library": "./main.js",
  ...,
}

And main.js defines a register function:

Example:

async function register ({
  registerHook,

  registerSetting,
  settingsManager,

  storageManager,

  videoCategoryManager,
  videoLicenceManager,
  videoLanguageManager,

  peertubeHelpers,

  getRouter,

  registerExternalAuth,
  unregisterExternalAuth,
  registerIdAndPassAuth,
  unregisterIdAndPassAuth
}) {
  registerHook({
    target: 'action:application.listening',
    handler: () => displayHelloWorld()
  })
}

On client side, these hooks are registered by the clientScripts files defined in package.json. All client scripts have scopes so PeerTube client only loads scripts it needs:

{
  ...,
  "clientScripts": [
    {
      "script": "client/common-client-plugin.js",
      "scopes": [ "common" ]
    },
    {
      "script": "client/video-watch-client-plugin.js",
      "scopes": [ "video-watch" ]
    }
  ],
  ...
}

And these scripts also define a register function:

function register ({ registerHook, peertubeHelpers }) {
  registerHook({
    target: 'action:application.init',
    handler: () => onApplicationInit(peertubeHelpers)
  })
}

Static files

Plugins can declare static directories that PeerTube will serve (images for example) from /plugins/{plugin-name}/{plugin-version}/static/ or /themes/{theme-name}/{theme-version}/static/ routes.

CSS

Plugins can declare CSS files that PeerTube will automatically inject in the client. If you need to override existing style, you can use the #custom-css selector:

body#custom-css {
  color: red;
}

#custom-css .header {
  background-color: red;
}

Server helpers (only for plugins)

Settings

Plugins can register settings, that PeerTube will inject in the administration interface.

Example:

registerSetting({
  name: 'admin-name',
  label: 'Admin name',
  type: 'input',
  // type: input | input-checkbox | input-password | input-textarea | markdown-text | markdown-enhanced
  default: 'my super name'
})

const adminName = await settingsManager.getSetting('admin-name')

const result = await settingsManager.getSettings([ 'admin-name', 'admin-password' ])
result['admin-name]

settingsManager.onSettingsChange(settings => {
  settings['admin-name])
})

Storage

Plugins can store/load JSON data, that PeerTube will store in its database (so don't put files in there).

Example:

const value = await storageManager.getData('mykey')
await storageManager.storeData('mykey', { subkey: 'value' })

Update video constants

You can add/delete video categories, licences or languages using the appropriate managers:

videoLanguageManager.addLanguage('al_bhed', 'Al Bhed')
videoLanguageManager.deleteLanguage('fr')

videoCategoryManager.addCategory(42, 'Best category')
videoCategoryManager.deleteCategory(1) // Music

videoLicenceManager.addLicence(42, 'Best licence')
videoLicenceManager.deleteLicence(7) // Public domain

videoPrivacyManager.deletePrivacy(2) // Remove Unlisted video privacy
playlistPrivacyManager.deletePlaylistPrivacy(3) // Remove Private video playlist privacy

Add custom routes

You can create custom routes using an express Router for your plugin:

const router = getRouter()
router.get('/ping', (req, res) => res.json({ message: 'pong' }))

The ping route can be accessed using:

• /plugins/:pluginName/:pluginVersion/router/ping
• Or /plugins/:pluginName/router/ping

Add external auth methods

If you want to add a classic username/email and password auth method (like LDAP for example):

registerIdAndPassAuth({
  authName: 'my-auth-method',

  // PeerTube will try all id and pass plugins in the weight DESC order
  // Exposing this value in the plugin settings could be interesting
  getWeight: () => 60,

  // Optional function called by PeerTube when the user clicked on the logout button
  onLogout: user => {
    console.log('User %s logged out.', user.username')
  },

  // Optional function called by PeerTube when the access token or refresh token are generated/refreshed
  hookTokenValidity: ({ token, type }) => {
    if (type === 'access') return { valid: true }
    if (type === 'refresh') return { valid: false }
  },

  // Used by PeerTube when the user tries to authenticate
  login: ({ id, password }) => {
    if (id === 'user' && password === 'super password') {
      return {
        username: 'user'
        email: 'user@example.com'
        role: 2
        displayName: 'User display name'
      }
    }

    // Auth failed
    return null
  }
})

// Unregister this auth method
unregisterIdAndPassAuth('my-auth-method')

You can also add an external auth method (like OpenID, SAML2 etc):

// result contains the userAuthenticated auth method you can call to authenticate a user
const result = registerExternalAuth({
  authName: 'my-auth-method',

  // Will be displayed in a button next to the login form
  authDisplayName: () => 'Auth method'

  // If the user click on the auth button, PeerTube will forward the request in this function
  onAuthRequest: (req, res) => {
    res.redirect('https://external-auth.example.com/auth')
  },

  // Same than registerIdAndPassAuth option
  // onLogout: ...

  // Same than registerIdAndPassAuth option
  // hookTokenValidity: ...
})

router.use('/external-auth-callback', (req, res) => {
  // Forward the request to PeerTube
  result.userAuthenticated({
    req,
    res,
    username: 'user'
    email: 'user@example.com'
    role: 2
    displayName: 'User display name'
  })
})

// Unregister this external auth method
unregisterExternalAuth('my-auth-method)

Add new transcoding profiles

Adding transcoding profiles allow admins to change ffmpeg encoding parameters and/or encoders. A transcoding profile has to be chosen by the admin of the instance using the admin configuration.

async function register ({
  transcodingManager
}) {

  // Adapt bitrate when using libx264 encoder
  {
    const builder = (options) => {
      const { input, resolution, fps, streamNum } = options

      const streamString = streamNum ? ':' + streamNum : ''

      // You can also return a promise
      return {
        outputOptions: [
        // Use a custom bitrate
          '-b' + streamString + ' 10K'
        ]
      }
    }

    const encoder = 'libx264'
    const profileName = 'low-quality'

    // Support this profile for VOD transcoding
    transcodingManager.addVODProfile(encoder, profileName, builder)

    // And/Or support this profile for live transcoding
    transcodingManager.addLiveProfile(encoder, profileName, builder)
  }

  {
    const builder = (options) => {
      const { streamNum } = options

      const streamString = streamNum ? ':' + streamNum : ''

      // Always copy stream when PeerTube use libfdk_aac or aac encoders
      return {
        copy: true
      }
    }

    const profileName = 'copy-audio'

    for (const encoder of [ 'libfdk_aac', 'aac' ]) {
      transcodingManager.addVODProfile(encoder, profileName, builder)
    }
  }

PeerTube will try different encoders depending on their priority. If the encoder is not available in the current transcoding profile or in ffmpeg, it tries the next one. Plugins can change the order of these encoders and add their custom encoders:

async function register ({
  transcodingManager
}) {

  // Adapt bitrate when using libx264 encoder
  {
    const builder = () => {
      return {
        outputOptions: []
      }
    }

    // Support libopus and libvpx-vp9 encoders (these codecs could be incompatible with the player)
    transcodingManager.addVODProfile('libopus', 'test-vod-profile', builder)

    // Default priorities are ~100
    // Lowest priority = 1
    transcodingManager.addVODEncoderPriority('audio', 'libopus', 1000)

    transcodingManager.addVODProfile('libvpx-vp9', 'test-vod-profile', builder)
    transcodingManager.addVODEncoderPriority('video', 'libvpx-vp9', 1000)

    transcodingManager.addLiveProfile('libopus', 'test-live-profile', builder)
    transcodingManager.addLiveEncoderPriority('audio', 'libopus', 1000)
  }

Client helpers (themes & plugins)

Plugin static route

To get your plugin static route:

const baseStaticUrl = peertubeHelpers.getBaseStaticRoute()
const imageUrl = baseStaticUrl + '/images/chocobo.png'

Notifier

To notify the user with the PeerTube ToastModule:

const { notifier } = peertubeHelpers
notifier.success('Success message content.')
notifier.error('Error message content.')

Markdown Renderer

To render a formatted markdown text to HTML:

const { markdownRenderer } = peertubeHelpers

await markdownRenderer.textMarkdownToHTML('**My Bold Text**')
// return <strong>My Bold Text</strong>

await markdownRenderer.enhancedMarkdownToHTML('![alt-img](http://.../my-image.jpg)')
// return <img alt=alt-img src=http://.../my-image.jpg />

Custom Modal

To show a custom modal:

 peertubeHelpers.showModal({
   title: 'My custom modal title',
   content: '<p>My custom modal content</p>',
   // Optionals parameters :
   // show close icon
   close: true,
   // show cancel button and call action() after hiding modal
   cancel: { value: 'cancel', action: () => {} },
   // show confirm button and call action() after hiding modal
   confirm: { value: 'confirm', action: () => {} },
 })

Translate

You can translate some strings of your plugin (PeerTube will use your translations object of your package.json file):

peertubeHelpers.translate('User name')
   .then(translation => console.log('Translated User name by ' + translation))

Get public settings

To get your public plugin settings:

peertubeHelpers.getSettings()
  .then(s => {
    if (!s || !s['site-id'] || !s['url']) {
      console.error('Matomo settings are not set.')
      return
    }

    // ...
  })

Add custom fields to video form

To add custom fields in the video form (in Plugin settings tab):

async function register ({ registerVideoField, peertubeHelpers }) {
  const descriptionHTML = await peertubeHelpers.translate(descriptionSource)
  const commonOptions = {
    name: 'my-field-name,
    label: 'My added field',
    descriptionHTML: 'Optional description',
    type: 'input-textarea',
    default: ''
  }

  for (const type of [ 'upload', 'import-url', 'import-torrent', 'update' ]) {
    registerVideoField(commonOptions, { type })
  }
}

PeerTube will send this field value in body.pluginData['my-field-name'] and fetch it from video.pluginData['my-field-name'].

So for example, if you want to store an additional metadata for videos, register the following hooks in server:

async function register ({
  registerHook,
  storageManager
}) {
  const fieldName = 'my-field-name'

  // Store data associated to this video
  registerHook({
    target: 'action:api.video.updated',
    handler: ({ video, body }) => {
      if (!body.pluginData) return

      const value = body.pluginData[fieldName]
      if (!value) return

      storageManager.storeData(fieldName + '-' + video.id, value)
    }
  })

  // Add your custom value to the video, so the client autofill your field using the previously stored value
  registerHook({
    target: 'filter:api.video.get.result',
    handler: async (video) => {
      if (!video) return video
      if (!video.pluginData) video.pluginData = {}

      const result = await storageManager.getData(fieldName + '-' + video.id)
      video.pluginData[fieldName] = result

      return video
    }
  })
}

Publishing

PeerTube plugins and themes should be published on NPM so that PeerTube indexes take into account your plugin (after ~ 1 day). An official PeerTube index is available on https://packages.joinpeertube.org/ (it's just a REST API, so don't expect a beautiful website).

Write a plugin/theme

Steps:

• Find a name for your plugin or your theme (must not have spaces, it can only contain lowercase letters and -)
• Add the appropriate prefix:
  • If you develop a plugin, add peertube-plugin- prefix to your plugin name (for example: peertube-plugin-mysupername)
  • If you develop a theme, add peertube-theme- prefix to your theme name (for example: peertube-theme-mysupertheme)
• Clone the quickstart repository
• Configure your repository
• Update README.md
• Update package.json
• Register hooks, add CSS and static files
• Test your plugin/theme with a local PeerTube installation
• Publish your plugin/theme on NPM

Clone the quickstart repository

If you develop a plugin, clone the peertube-plugin-quickstart repository:

$ git clone https://framagit.org/framasoft/peertube/peertube-plugin-quickstart.git peertube-plugin-mysupername

If you develop a theme, clone the peertube-theme-quickstart repository:

$ git clone https://framagit.org/framasoft/peertube/peertube-theme-quickstart.git peertube-theme-mysupername

Configure your repository

Set your repository URL:

$ cd peertube-plugin-mysupername # or cd peertube-theme-mysupername
$ git remote set-url origin https://your-git-repo

Update README

Update README.md file:

$ $EDITOR README.md

Update package.json

Update the package.json fields:

• name (should start with peertube-plugin- or peertube-theme-)
• description
• homepage
• author
• bugs
• engine.peertube (the PeerTube version compatibility, must be >=x.y.z and nothing else)

Caution: Don't update or remove other keys, or PeerTube will not be able to index/install your plugin. If you don't need static directories, use an empty object:

{
  ...,
  "staticDirs": {},
  ...
}

And if you don't need CSS or client script files, use an empty array:

{
  ...,
  "css": [],
  "clientScripts": [],
  ...
}

Write code

Now you can register hooks or settings, write CSS and add static directories to your plugin or your theme :)

Caution: It's up to you to check the code you write will be compatible with the PeerTube NodeJS version, and will be supported by web browsers. If you want to write modern JavaScript, please use a transpiler like Babel.

Add translations

If you want to translate strings of your plugin (like labels of your registered settings), create a file and add it to package.json:

{
  ...,
  "translations": {
    "fr-FR": "./languages/fr.json",
    "pt-BR": "./languages/pt-BR.json"
  },
  ...
}

The key should be one of the locales defined in i18n.ts. You must use the complete locales (fr-FR instead of fr).

Translation files are just objects, with the english sentence as the key and the translation as the value. fr.json could contain for example:

{
  "Hello world": "Hello le monde"
}

Build your plugin

If you added client scripts, you'll need to build them using webpack.

Install webpack:

$ npm install

Add/update your files in the clientFiles array of webpack.config.js:

$ $EDITOR ./webpack.config.js

Build your client files:

$ npm run build

You built files are in the dist/ directory. Check package.json to correctly point to them.

Test your plugin/theme

You'll need to have a local PeerTube instance:

• Follow the dev prerequisites (to clone the repository, install dependencies and prepare the database)
• Build PeerTube (--light to only build the english language):

$ npm run build -- --light

• Build the CLI:

$ npm run setup:cli

• Run PeerTube (you can access to your instance on http://localhost:9000):

$ NODE_ENV=test npm start

• Register the instance via the CLI:

$ node ./dist/server/tools/peertube.js auth add -u 'http://localhost:9000' -U 'root' --password 'test'

Then, you can install or reinstall your local plugin/theme by running:

$ node ./dist/server/tools/peertube.js plugins install --path /your/absolute/plugin-or-theme/path

Publish

Go in your plugin/theme directory, and run:

$ npm publish

Every time you want to publish another version of your plugin/theme, just update the version key from the package.json and republish it on NPM. Remember that the PeerTube index will take into account your new plugin/theme version after ~24 hours.

Plugin & Theme hooks/helpers API

See the dedicated documentation: https://docs.joinpeertube.org/api-plugins

Tips

Compatibility with PeerTube

Unfortunately, we don't have enough resources to provide hook compatibility between minor releases of PeerTube (for example between 1.2.x and 1.3.x). So please:

• Don't make assumptions and check every parameter you want to use. For example:

registerHook({
  target: 'filter:api.video.get.result',
  handler: video => {
    // We check the parameter exists and the name field exists too, to avoid exceptions
    if (video && video.name) video.name += ' <3'

    return video
  }
})

• Don't try to require parent PeerTube modules, only use peertubeHelpers. If you need another helper or a specific hook, please create an issue
• Don't use PeerTube dependencies. Use your own :)

If your plugin is broken with a new PeerTube release, update your code and the peertubeEngine field of your package.json field. This way, older PeerTube versions will still use your old plugin, and new PeerTube versions will use your updated plugin.

Spam/moderation plugin

If you want to create an antispam/moderation plugin, you could use the following hooks:

• filter:api.video.upload.accept.result: to accept or not local uploads
• filter:api.video-thread.create.accept.result: to accept or not local thread
• filter:api.video-comment-reply.create.accept.result: to accept or not local replies
• filter:api.video-threads.list.result: to change/hide the text of threads
• filter:api.video-thread-comments.list.result: to change/hide the text of replies
• filter:video.auto-blacklist.result: to automatically blacklist local or remote videos

Other plugin examples

You can take a look to "official" PeerTube plugins if you want to take inspiration from them: https://framagit.org/framasoft/peertube/official-plugins