Extensions

Extensions are optional add-on packages that plug new behavior into Writers Notebook: a button in Settings that does something useful, a new item in the Workshop's navigation, an entirely custom Workshop screen, or an action on the right-hand action bar in the Editor and Review. Some extensions also run their own small backend program to do work outside the browser/app sandbox, like talking to another tool on your computer.

There's no built-in marketplace. You install an extension from a .zip package you've downloaded or built yourself. If you want to build one, see the Extension Development Guide.

Managing extensions

Open Settings > Extensions (its own tab, alongside Application and Project). From here you can install, enable, disable, adjust permissions, and remove extensions.

Installing an extension

Click Install Extension and choose a .zip file:

• On desktop, this opens a native file picker.
• In server (web) mode, it opens a browser file picker.

The package must contain an extension.yaml describing it. Once installed, it appears as a card showing its title, version, tags, description, and a link to its homepage/URL (if it has one).

Permissions

An extension declares what it wants to be able to do, for example add a Settings card, or invoke its own backend. Each requested permission is listed on its card with its own toggle, and you decide whether to grant it, nothing is granted automatically. If an extension is missing a permission it needs, you'll see a warning on its card, and it can't be enabled until every requested permission is either granted or the extension is reinstalled without it.

You can revoke a permission at any time; doing so disables the extension if that permission was required for it to run.

Enabling and using an extension

Toggle an extension on once you're comfortable with what it's asking for. What you get depends on what the extension actually adds:

• Settings card actions: buttons that appear right on the extension's card in Settings > Extensions.
• A side-panel action: a new button on the right-hand action bar in the Editor and Review.
• A Workshop navigation item: a new entry in the Workshop's sidebar, possibly leading to a full custom screen the extension provides.

Removing an extension

Click Remove on its card and confirm. This deletes the extension's installed files from your app's config directory; it doesn't touch your project data.

A note on trust

An extension's backend component, if it has one, runs as a real program on your computer, and its frontend component runs as real JavaScript inside the app. Writers Notebook enforces permissions around what an extension's frontend can register, but it can't vet what an extension's backend program actually does on your machine. Only install extensions from sources you trust, the same caution you'd use for a browser extension or a downloaded script.