Create your first Plexcord plugin in under 5 minutes. Step-by-step tutorial for writing a Hello Discord plugin from scratch.

Quick Start: Your First Plugin

In this guide, you'll create a working Plexcord plugin from scratch in about 5 minutes.

What We're Building

A HelloDiscord plugin that:

Logs a message when Discord starts
Logs a goodbye message when it stops
Shows a notification to confirm it's working

Step 1: Create the Plugin Folder

Navigate to the src/userplugins directory inside your Plexcord clone and create a new folder:

mkdir src/userplugins/helloDiscord

Step 2: Create the Plugin File

Create src/userplugins/helloDiscord/index.ts with this content:

import definePlugin from "@utils/types";

export default definePlugin({
    name: "HelloDiscord",
    description: "My first Plexcord plugin!",
    authors: [
        {
            name: "YourName",
            id: 0n  // Your Discord user ID (optional)
        }
    ],

    start() {
        console.log("[HelloDiscord] Plugin started! Hello, Discord!");
    },

    stop() {
        console.log("[HelloDiscord] Plugin stopped. Goodbye!");
    }
});

That's it! This is a complete, working Plexcord plugin.

Step 3: Build and Inject

Rebuild Plexcord and inject it into Discord:

pnpm build
pnpm inject

After each build, restart Discord to pick up your changes.

Step 4: Enable the Plugin

Open Discord
Go to User Settings → Plexcord → Plugins
Find HelloDiscord in the list
Toggle it ON

Step 5: Verify It Works

Open the Developer Tools in Discord (Ctrl+Shift+I on Windows, Cmd+Option+I on Mac) and look at the Console tab. You should see:

[HelloDiscord] Plugin started! Hello, Discord!

🎉 Congratulations! You just built your first Plexcord plugin!

Understanding What You Wrote

Let's break down each part:

`definePlugin()`

import definePlugin from "@utils/types";

export default definePlugin({ ... });

definePlugin is the core function from Plexcord's utilities. It takes a plugin definition object and returns a properly typed plugin. Every Plexcord plugin uses this.

Required Properties

name: "HelloDiscord",         // Display name in the plugin list
description: "...",           // Short description shown in settings
authors: [{ name, id }],      // Plugin authors

These three fields are always required.

Lifecycle Methods

start() { /* runs when plugin is enabled */ },
stop()  { /* runs when plugin is disabled */ }

start() is called when the plugin is enabled or Discord loads
stop() is called when the plugin is disabled. Always clean up here.

Upgrade: Add a Notification

Let's make the plugin a bit more visible. Update index.ts:

import definePlugin from "@utils/types";
import { showNotification } from "@api/Notifications";

export default definePlugin({
    name: "HelloDiscord",
    description: "My first Plexcord plugin!",
    authors: [{ name: "YourName", id: 0n }],

    start() {
        console.log("[HelloDiscord] Plugin started!");

        showNotification({
            title: "HelloDiscord",
            body: "Plugin is now active!",
            color: "#5865F2"
        });
    },

    stop() {
        console.log("[HelloDiscord] Plugin stopped.");
    }
});

Rebuild with pnpm build, restart Discord, and enable the plugin. You'll see a notification appear in Discord.

Upgrade: Localize Your Strings

The strings above are hardcoded in English. To support multiple languages, use t() from Plexcord's i18n API:

import definePlugin from "@utils/types";
import { showNotification } from "@api/Notifications";
import { t, plugin } from "@api/i18n";

export default definePlugin({
    name: "HelloDiscord",
    description: () => t(plugin.helloDiscord.description),
    authors: [{ name: "YourName", id: 0n }],

    start() {
        showNotification({
            title: t(plugin.helloDiscord.notif.title),
            body: t(plugin.helloDiscord.notif.body),
            color: "#5865F2"
        });
    },

    stop() {
        console.log("[HelloDiscord] Plugin stopped.");
    }
});

Then add the strings to src/locales/en.ts under plugin.helloDiscord, and mirror the same keys in any other locale files you want to support (tr.ts, de.ts, fr.ts, ja.ts, etc.). Plexcord automatically picks the right language based on the user's Discord locale. Users whose language doesn't have a translation automatically see English.

See the full i18n API reference for proxy key access, interpolation, and React hooks.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Plugin doesn't appear in list	Check for TypeScript compile errors with `pnpm tsc --noEmit`
`start()` not running	Make sure the plugin is toggled ON in settings
Import errors	Ensure you're using `@utils/types` path alias, not relative paths
Build not updating	Re-run `pnpm build` and fully reload Discord

Quick Start