# Developing for the Plugin System
With plugins you can extend LibreNMS with special functions that are
specific to your setup or are not relevant or interesting for all community members.
You are able to intervene in defined places in the behavior of
the website, without it coming to problems with future updates.
This documentation will give you a basis for writing a plugin for
LibreNMS. An example plugin is included in the LibreNMS distribution.
## Version 2 Plugin System structure
Plugins in version 2 need to be installed into app/Plugins
>Note: Plugins are disabled when the have an error, to show errors instead set plugins.show_errors
The structure of a plugin is follows:
```
app/Plugins
/PluginName
/DeviceOverview.php
/Menu.php
/Page.php
/PortTab.php
/Settings.php
/resources/views
/device-overview.blade.php
/menu.blade.php
/page.blade.php
/port-tab.blade.php
/settings.blade.php
```
The above structure is checked before a plugin can be installed.
All file/folder names are case sensitive and must match the structure.
Only the blade files that are really needed need to be created. A plugin manager
will then load a hook that has a basic functionality.
If you want to customize the basic behavior of the hooks, you can create a
class in 'app/Plugins/PluginName' and overload the hook methods.
- device-overview.blade.php :: This is called in the Device
Overview page. You receive the $device as a object per default, you can do your
work here and display your results in a frame.
```
{{ $title }}
{{ $device->hostname }}
```
- port-tab.blade.php :: This is called in the Port page,
in the "Plugins" menu_option that will appear when your plugin gets
enabled. In this blade, you can do your work and display your
results in a frame.
- menu.blade.php :: For a menu entry
- page.blade.pho :: Here is a good place to add a own LibreNMS page without dependence with a device. A good place to create your own lists with special requirements and behavior.
- settings.blade.php :: If you need your own settings and variables, you can have a look in the ExamplePlugin.
### PHP Hooks customization
PHP code should run inside your hooks method and not your blade view.
The built in hooks support authorize and data methods.
These methods are called with [Dependency Injection](https://laravel.com/docs/container#method-invocation-and-injection)
Hooks with relevant database models will include them in these calls.
Additionally, the settings argument may be included to inject the plugin settings into the method.
#### Data
You can overrid the data method to supply data to your view. You should also do any processing here.
You can do things like access the database or configuration settings and more.
In the data method we are injecting settings here to count how many we have for display in the menu entry blade view.
Note that you must specify a default value (`= []` here) for any arguments that don't exist on the parent method.
```php
class Menu extends MenuEntryHook
{
public function data(array $settings = []): array
{
return [
'count' => count($settings),
];
}
}
```
#### Authorize
By default hooks are always shown, but you may control when the user is authorized to view the hook content.
As an example, you could imagine that the device-overview.blade.php should only be displayed when the
device is in maintanence mode and the current user has the admin role.
```php
class DeviceOverview extends DeviceOverviewHook
{
public function authorize(User $user, Device $device): bool
{
return $user->can('admin') && $device->isUnderMaintenance();
}
}
```
### Full plugin
You may create a full plugin that can publish multiple routes, views, database migrations and more.
Create a package according to the Laravel documentation you may call any of the supported hooks to tie into LibreNMS.
https://laravel.com/docs/packages
> This is untested, please come to discord and share any expriences and update this documentation!
## Version 1 Plugin System structure (legacy version)
Plugins need to be installed into html/plugins
The structure of a plugin is follows:
```
html/plugins
/PluginName
/PluginName.php
/PluginName.inc.php
```
The above structure is checked before a plugin can be installed.
All files / folder names are case sensitive and must match.
PluginName - This is a directory and needs to be named as per the
plugin you are creating.
- PluginName.php :: This file is used to process calls into the plugin
from the main LibreNMS install. Here only functions within the class
for your plugin that LibreNMS calls will be executed. For a list of
currently enabled system hooks, please see further down. The minimum
code required in this file is (replace Test with the name of your
plugin):
```
```
- PluginName.inc.php :: This file is the main included file when
browsing to the plugin itself. You can use this
to display / edit / remove whatever you like. The
minimum code required in this file is:
```
```
## System Hooks
System hooks are called as functions within your plugin class. The
following system hooks are currently available:
- menu() :: This is called to build the plugin menu system and you
can use this to link to your plugin (you don't have to).
```
public static function menu() {
echo('
');
}
```
- device_overview_container($device) :: This is called in the Device
Overview page. You receive the $device as a parameter, can do your
work here and display your results in a frame.
```
public static function device_overview_container($device) {
echo('
'.get_class().' Plugin
');
echo(' Example plugin in "Device - Overview" tab ');
echo('
');
}
```
- port_container($device, $port) :: This is called in the Port page,
in the "Plugins" menu_option that will appear when your plugin gets
enabled. In this function, you can do your work and display your
results in a frame.
```
public static function port_container($device, $port) {
echo('