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Frontend Basics

docs/User Guide/User Guide/Scripting/Frontend Basics.md

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Frontend Basics

Front-end scripts are custom JavaScript notes that are run on the client (browser environment)

There are four flavors of front-end scripts:

Regular scriptsThese are run with the current app and note context. These can be run either manually or automatically on start-up.
<a class="reference-link" href="Frontend%20Basics/Custom%20Widgets.md">Custom Widgets</a>These can introduce new UI elements in various positions, such as near the <a class="reference-link" href="../Basic%20Concepts%20and%20Features/UI%20Elements/Note%20Tree.md">Note Tree</a>, content area or even the <a class="reference-link" href="../Basic%20Concepts%20and%20Features/UI%20Elements/Right%20Sidebar.md">Right Sidebar</a>.
<a class="reference-link" href="Frontend%20Basics/Launch%20Bar%20Widgets.md">Launch Bar Widgets</a>Similar to <a class="reference-link" href="Frontend%20Basics/Custom%20Widgets.md">Custom Widgets</a>, but dedicated to the <a class="reference-link" href="../Basic%20Concepts%20and%20Features/UI%20Elements/Launch%20Bar.md">Launch Bar</a>. These can simply introduce new buttons or graphical elements to the bar.
<a class="reference-link" href="../Note%20Types/Render%20Note.md">Render Note</a>This allows rendering custom content inside a note, using either HTML or Preact JSX.

For more advanced behaviors that do not require a user interface (e.g. batch modifying notes), see <a class="reference-link" href="Backend%20scripts.md">Backend scripts</a>.

Scripts

Scripts don't have any special requirements. They can be run manually using the Execute button on the code note or they can be run automatically; to do so, set the run label to either:

  • frontendStartup - when Trilium frontend starts up (or is refreshed), but not on mobile.
  • mobileStartup - when Trilium frontend starts up (or is refreshed), on mobile.

[!NOTE] Backend scripts have more powerful triggering conditions, for example they can run automatically on a hourly or daily basis, but also on events such as when a note is created or an attribute is modified. See the server-side <a class="reference-link" href="Backend%20scripts/Events.md">Events</a> for more information.

Widgets

Widgets require a certain format in order for Trilium to be able to integrate them into the UI.

  • For legacy widgets, the script note must export a BasicWidget or a derived one (see <a class="reference-link" href="Frontend%20Basics/Custom%20Widgets/Note%20context%20aware%20widget.md">Note context aware widget</a> or <a class="reference-link" href="Frontend%20Basics/Custom%20Widgets/Right%20pane%20widget.md">Right pane widget</a>).
  • For Preact widgets, a built-in helper called defineWidget needs to be used.

For more information, see <a class="reference-link" href="Frontend%20Basics/Custom%20Widgets.md">Custom Widgets</a>.

Script API

The front-end API of Trilium is available to all scripts running in the front-end context as global variable api. For a reference of the API, see <a class="reference-link" href="Script%20API/Frontend%20API">Frontend API</a>.

Tutorial

For more information on building widgets, take a look at Widget Basics.