Manage plugins

2 minute readAutomation

This page explains how to edit and export plugins in CloudBees CD/RO instances. For general plugin management information, refer to:

Edit plugins

To edit plugins, CloudBees strongly suggests using the plugin development kit (PDK) framework. PDK is distributed by CloudBees and, when paired with version control, provides a practical way to manage plugin changes over time. For more information, refer to Install and use the PDK CLI.

CloudBees is not responsible for any custom plugin, which includes modifications to the source code of any CloudBees bundled, supported, or community plugins. Editing bundled plugins in an unexpected way can have significant impacts on your platform and cause core functions to fail.

Additionally, you should never perform the following actions to plugins in a production environment. Always adequately test any modifications in a development environment before applying them to your production environment.

To edit plugin code in your developement environment CloudBees CD/RO instance, you must have sufficient Modify rights. To edit a plugin:

  1. Navigate to DevOps essentials  Plugin Manager  Installed plugins.

  2. Find your <PLUGIN-NAME>.

  3. To the far-right of the line entry, select the Options menu ().

  4. Select Properties.

  5. For the procedure you want to modify, select the Options menu () and Edit.

  6. Save your changes.

Any modification made here will be overwritten on the next plugin update.

Export plugins

If you have plugins you want to export as XML or DSL for auditing or record keeping purposes:

When exporting plugins, only the procedures and properties are exported. Workflows, schedules, credentials, and so on are not exported. Additionally, you should not export plugins in XML and DSL with the intent to import them to other CloudBees CD/RO instances, this is not explicitly supported.

It is suggested to use the PDK framework, compile your plugin as a JAR file, and then distribute it in your instances. For more information, refer to:

To export a plugin as XML, use ectool export to create a local file of the plugin project:

Command syntax
Example
ectool export PATH-TO-EXPORT-TO.xml --path /projects/PLUGIN-PROJECT-TO-EXPORT
ectool export /tmp/EC-Artifactory.xml --path /projects/EC-Artifactory-1.8.0.2023090544

To export a plugin as DSL, use ectool evalDSL to create a local file of the plugin project:

Command syntax
Example
ectool generateDsl /projects/PLUGIN-PROJECT-TO-EXPORT > PATH-TO-EXPORT-TO.dsl
ectool generateDsl /projects/EC-Artifactory-1.8.0.2023090544 > /tmp/EC-Artifactory.dsl