Developer Setup

Set up the Illegalcord repository for plugin development.

Plugin development happens inside the Illegalcord source tree. You do not need a separate plugin template or manifest.json.

Requirements

• Node.js 22 or newer.
• pnpm.
• A local clone of Illegalcord.
• Discord desktop for testing desktop injection, or a browser target for pnpm buildWeb.

Setup

1. Install dependencies

   From the repository root:

   pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
   
2. Choose a plugin folder

   Use src/userplugins/<name> for Illegalcord-specific bundled plugins, src/equicordplugins/<name> for Equicord-specific work, or src/plugins/<name> for stock plugin changes.

3. Build in watch mode

   For desktop work:

   pnpm watch
   

   For web work:

   pnpm watchWeb
   
4. Inject or reload

   Use pnpm inject after a desktop build, then restart Discord. For web, reload the extension output from dist.

Validation commands

Run focused checks before committing plugin work:

pnpm testTsc
pnpm lint
pnpm lint:patches
pnpm generatePluginJson

If your plugin includes CSS:

pnpm lint-styles

New plugin checklist

• Add the SPDX header at the top of each new source file.
• Export definePlugin({ ... }) as the default export.
• Include name, description, and authors.
• Use Devs or EquicordDevs for authors.
• Add dependencies for imperative API usage.
• Prefer declarative plugin fields.
• Clean up every timer, listener, observer, subscription, and manual registration.
• Regenerate plugin metadata with pnpm generatePluginJson.

Keep the first version in one file. Split only when a second file is genuinely reusable or the plugin grows past a comfortable size.