Plugins extend the capabilities of `nnn`. They are scripts which `nnn` can communicate with and trigger. This mechanism fits perfectly with the fundamental design to keep the core file manager lean and fast, by delegating repetitive (but not necessarily file manager-specific) tasks to the plugins.
| vidthumb | sh | [ffmpegthumbnailer](https://github.com/dirkvdb/ffmpegthumbnailer),<br>[lsix](https://github.com/hackerb9/lsix) | Show video thumbnails in terminal |
curl -Ls https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jarun/nnn/master/plugins/getplugs | sh
Plugins are installed to `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/nnn/plugins`. You can run the `getplugs` plugin later to update the plugins. It backs up earlier plugins.
**NOTE:** `getplugs` also downloads the launcher `nlaunch` and tries to place it at `/usr/local/bin/` using `sudo`. If it fails you have to place `nlauch` manually somewhere in your `$PATH`.
With this, plugin `fzy-open` can be run with the keybind <kbd>:o</kbd>, `mocplay` can be run with <kbd>:p</kbd> and so on... The key vs. plugin pairs are shown in the help and config screen. Up to 10 plugins can have such keybinds.
**Method 2:** Use the _pick plugin_ shortcut to visit the plugin directory and execute a plugin. Repeating the same shortcut cancels the operation and puts you back in the original directory.
- the current file under the cursor (the file name is passed as the first argument to a plugin)
- the traversed path where plugin is invoked (this is the second argument to the plugin; for all practical purposes this is the same as `$PWD` except paths with symlinks)
Plugins are scripts and all scripting languages should work. However, POSIX-compliant shell scripts runnable in `sh` are preferred. If that's too rudimentary for your use case, use Python, Perl or Ruby.
You can create your own plugins by putting them in `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/nnn/plugins`.
For example, you could create a executable shell script `git-changes`:
#!/usr/bin/env sh
git log -p -- "$@"
And then trigger it by hitting the pick plugin key and selecting `git-changes` which will conveniently show the git log of changes to the particular file along with the code for a quick and easy review.
## Contributing plugins
Please keep non-portable commands (like `notify-send`) commented so users from any other OS/DE aren't surprised.
