⚙️ Configuration

Plugin sources

A plugin is defined by adding a new unique name to the plugins table in the TOML config file. This can be done by either editing the file directly or using the provided Sheldon commands. A plugin must provide the location of the source. There are three types of sources, each kind is described in this section. A plugin may only specify one source type.

# ~/.config/sheldon/plugins.toml

#           ┌─ Unique name for the plugin
#        ┌──┴─┐
[plugins.base16]
github = "chriskempson/base16-shell"
#         └─────┬────┘ └─────┬────┘
#               │            └─ GitHub repository name
#               └─ GitHub user or organization

Git

Git sources specify a remote Git repository that will be cloned to the Sheldon data directory. There are three flavors of Git sources.

github

A GitHub source must set the github field and specify the repository. This should be the username or organization and the repository name separated by a forward slash. Add the following to the Sheldon config file.

[plugins.example]
github = "owner/repo"

Or run add with the --github option.

sheldon add example --github owner/repo

gist

A Gist source must set the gist field and specify the repository. This should be the hash or username and hash of the Gist. Add the following to the Sheldon config file.

[plugins.example]
gist = "579d02802b1cc17baed07753d09f5009"

Or run add with the --gist option.

sheldon add example --gist 579d02802b1cc17baed07753d09f5009

git

A Git source must set the git field and specify the URL to clone. Add the following to the Sheldon config file.

[plugins.example]
git = "https://github.com/owner/repo"

Or run add with the --git option.

sheldon add example --git https://github.com/owner/repo

Specifying a branch, tag, or commit

All Git sources also allow setting of one of the branch, tag or rev fields. Sheldon will then checkout the repository at this reference.

[plugins.example]
github = "owner/repo"
tag = "v0.1.0"

Or run add with the --tag, --branch, or --rev option.

sheldon add example --github owner/repo --tag v0.1.0

Cloning with Git or SSH protocols

GitHub and Gist sources are cloned using HTTPS by default. You can specify that Git or SSH should be used by setting the proto field to the protocol type. This must be one of git, https, or ssh.

[plugins.example]
github = "owner/repo"
proto = "ssh"

For a plain Git source you should specify the URL with a git:// or ssh://. For SSH you will need to specify the username as well (it is git for GitHub).

[plugins.example]
git = "ssh://git@github.com/owner/repo"

Private Git repositories

Currently Sheldon only supports authentication when cloning using SSH and requires an SSH agent to provide credentials. This means if you have a plugin source that is a private repository you will have to use the SSH protocol for cloning.

Remote

Remote sources specify a remote file that will be downloaded by Sheldon. A remote source must set the remote field and specify the URL. Add the following to the Sheldon config file.

[plugins.example]
remote = "https://github.com/owner/repo/raw/branch/plugin.zsh"

Or run add with the --remote option.

sheldon add example --remote https://github.com/owner/repo/raw/branch/plugin.zsh

Local

Local sources reference local directories. A local source must set the local field and specify a directory. Tildes may be used and will be expanded to the current user's home directory. Add the following to the Sheldon config file.

[plugins.example]
local = "~/Downloads/plugin"

Or run add with the --local option.

sheldon add example --local '~/Downloads/plugin'

Plugin options

These are options that are common to all the above plugins.

use

A list of files / globs to use in the plugin's source directory. If this field is not given then the first pattern in the global match field that matches any files will be used. Add the following to the Sheldon config file.

[plugins.example]
github = "owner/repo"
use = ["*.zsh"]

Or run add with the --use option when adding the plugin.

sheldon add example --github owner/repo --use '*.zsh'

apply

A list of template names to apply to this plugin. This defaults to the global apply.

[plugins.example]
github = "owner/repo"
apply = ["source", "PATH"]

Or run add with the --apply option when adding the plugin.

sheldon add example --github owner/repo --apply source PATH

You can define your own custom templates to apply to your plugins.

profiles

A list of profiles this plugin should be used in. If this field is not given the plugin will be used regardless of the profile. Otherwise, the plugin is only used if the specified profile is included in the configured list of profiles.

hooks

Statements executed around plugin installation.

[plugins.example]
github = "owner/repo"

[plugins.example.hooks]
pre = "export TEST=test"
post = "unset TEST"

Inline plugins

For convenience it also possible to define Inline plugins. An Inline plugin must set the inline field and specify the raw source.

[plugins.example]
inline = 'example() { echo "Just an example of inline shell code" }'

Templates

A template defines how the shell source for a particular plugin is generated. For example the PATH template adds the plugin directory to the shell PATH variable. A template will be applied to a plugin if you add the template name to the apply field on a plugin.

Available built-in templates are different depending on what shell you are using. The following are available for both Bash and Zsh.

  • source: source each file in a plugin.
  • PATH: add the plugin directory to the PATH variable.

If you are using Zsh then the following are also available.

  • path: add the plugin directory to the path variable.
  • fpath: add the plugin directory to the fpath variable.

As template strings in the config file they could be represented like the following.

[templates]
source = '''
{{ hooks?.pre | nl }}{% for file in files %}source "{{ file }}"
{% endfor %}{{ hooks?.post | nl }}'''
PATH = 'export PATH="{{ dir }}:$PATH"'
path = 'path=( "{{ dir }}" $path )'
fpath = 'fpath=( "{{ dir }}" $fpath )'

For example if we change the apply field for the below plugin, it will only add the plugin directory to the PATH and append it to the fpath. The plugin will not be sourced.

[plugins.example]
github = "owner/repo"
apply = ["PATH", "fpath"]

Custom templates

It is possible to create your own custom templates, and you can even override the built-in ones.

Plugins all have the following information that can be used in templates.

  • A unique name. This is completely arbitrary, and it is the value specified for the plugin in the plugins table. However, it is often the name of the plugin, so it can be useful to use this name in templates with {{ name }}.

  • A directory. For Git sources this is the location of the cloned repository, for local sources, it is the directory specified. This directory can be used in templates with {{ dir }}.

  • One or more files. These are the matched files in the plugin directory either discovered using the the global match field or specified as a plugin option with use. These can be used in templates by iterating over the files. For example: {% for file in files %} ... {{ file }} ... {% endfor %}.

  • Hooks Hooks are taken directly from the configuration and can be used as {{ hooks.[KEY] }}.

To add or update a template add a new key to the [templates] table in the config file. Take a look at the examples for some interesting applications of this.

Global options

shell

Indicates the shell that you are using. This setting will affect the default values for several global config settings. This includes the global match setting and the available templates. This defaults to zsh.

shell = "bash"

or

shell = "zsh"

match

A list of glob patterns to match against a plugin's contents. The first pattern that matches any files will be used by default as a plugin's use field. This defaults to

match = [
    "{{ name }}.plugin.zsh",
    "{{ name }}.zsh",
    "{{ name }}.sh",
    "{{ name }}.zsh-theme",
    "*.plugin.zsh",
    "*.zsh",
    "*.sh",
    "*.zsh-theme"
]

If the shell is Bash then this defaults to

match = [
    "{{ name }}.plugin.bash",
    "{{ name }}.plugin.sh",
    "{{ name }}.bash",
    "{{ name }}.sh",
    "*.plugin.bash",
    "*.plugin.sh",
    "*.bash",
    "*.sh"
]

apply

A list of template names to apply to all plugins by default (see apply). This defaults to

apply = ["source"]