asdf Backend

::: warning asdf plugins are considered legacy. New asdf and vfox plugins are not accepted into the mise registry for supply-chain security reasons — for registry submissions use the aqua (preferred) or github backend instead.

If you are writing a private/custom plugin (not for registry submission), prefer vfox plugins over asdf — they're written in Lua, work cross-platform (including Windows), and have access to built-in modules for HTTP, JSON, HTML parsing, and more. :::

asdf is the original backend for mise.

It relies on asdf plugins for each tool. asdf plugins are more risky to use because they're typically written by a single developer unrelated to the tool vendor. They also generally do not function on Windows because they're written in bash which is often not available on Windows and the scripts generally are not written to be cross-platform.

asdf plugins are not used for tools inside the registry whenever possible. Sometimes it is not possible to use more secure backends like aqua/github because tools have complex install setups or need to export env vars.

All of these are hosted in the mise-plugins org to secure the supply chain so you do not need to rely on plugins maintained by anyone except me.

Because of the extra complexity of asdf tools and security concerns we are actively moving tools in the registry away from asdf where possible to backends like aqua and github which don't require plugins. That said, not all tools can function with github/aqua if they have a unique installation process or need to set env vars other than PATH.

Feature Comparison: asdf vs vfox

Feature	asdf Plugins	vfox Plugins
Language	Bash scripts	Lua
Windows Support	❌	✅
Built-in HTTP module	❌ (requires curl)	✅
Built-in JSON module	❌ (requires jq)	✅
Built-in HTML parsing	❌	✅
Built-in archive extraction	❌	✅
Built-in semver module	❌	✅
Built-in logging	❌	✅
Post-install hooks	❌	✅
Security attestations	❌	✅ (cosign, SLSA)
Multi-tool plugins	❌	✅ (backend plugins)
Lock file support	❌	✅
Rolling version checksums	❌	✅

Hook Migration: asdf to vfox

asdf Script	vfox Hook	Notes
bin/list-all	Available	Return structured version objects instead of plain text
bin/download	PreInstall	Return URL and checksum; mise handles the download
bin/install	PostInstall	Runs after mise downloads and extracts the tool
bin/exec-env	EnvKeys	Return structured key/value pairs instead of export statements
bin/list-legacy-filenames	PLUGIN.legacyFilenames	Set in metadata.lua instead of a script
bin/parse-legacy-file	ParseLegacyFile	Return structured result instead of plain text

Writing asdf (legacy) plugins for mise

See the asdf documentation for more information on writing plugins.