Writing Addons

Please read <LinkInline link="guide/theme-addon" /> and <LinkInline link="guide/write-theme" /> first.

Each slides project can only have one theme, but can have multiple addons.

Capability

Theoretically, all the capabilities of a theme can be done in an addon. However, an addon is more like a plugin that extends the functionalities of Slidev.

It's recommended to implement one or more of the following points in an addon:

• Provide custom components
• Provide new layouts
• Provide new code snippets
• Provide new code runners
• Configure tools like UnoCSS, Vite, etc.

However, the following points are not recommended to be done in an addon, and may be better implemented as a theme:

• Wildcard global styles
• Overriding existing layouts
• Overriding configurations
• Other things that may be incompatible with the theme and other addons

An addon can also specify its required Slidev version in the same way as themes.

Previewing

The same as themes, you can preview your addon via a ./slides.md like this:

---
addons:
  - ./
---

Publishing

When publishing the addon, non-JS files like .vue and .ts files can be published directly without compiling. Slidev will automatically compile them when using the addon.

Addons should follow the following conventions:

• Package name should start with slidev-addon-. For example, slidev-addon-name or @scope/slidev-addon-name
• Add "slidev-addon" and "slidev" in the keywords field of your package.json

Addons can be used locally without publishing to NPM. If your addon is only for personal use, you can simply use it as a local addon, or publish it as a private scoped package. However, it is recommended to publish it to the NPM registry if you want to share it with others.