Nx Plugin Toolkit

Complete toolkit for creating custom Nx plugins with generators and executors.

Included Skills

nx-plugin-authoring

Create Nx plugins with custom generators and executors for TypeScript monorepos. Covers plugin scaffolding, Tree API usage, schema-driven options, ExecutorContext API, template generation, project-graph-safe updates, cache-aware outputs, and testable workflows.

Use when:

• Creating Nx plugins from scratch
• Building custom generators for scaffolding
• Implementing custom executors for task automation
• Enforcing organization-specific conventions
• Extending Nx workspace automation

Installation

tessl install pantheon-ai/nx-plugin-toolkit

Quick Start

Create a New Plugin

npx create-nx-plugin my-plugin
cd my-plugin

Add Plugin to Existing Workspace

npx nx add @nx/plugin
npx nx g @nx/plugin:plugin tools/my-plugin

Generate a Generator

npx nx g generator my-plugin/src/generators/library-with-readme

Generate an Executor

mkdir -p tools/executors/my-executor

Key Features

• Plugin Scaffolding: Complete setup with create-nx-plugin or @nx/plugin
• Tree API: Safe, deterministic filesystem operations for generators
• Schema-Driven Options: Type-safe generator and executor options
• ExecutorContext API: Access workspace configuration and project metadata
• Template Generation: EJS-based file generation with variable substitution
• Cache-Aware Execution: Declare outputs for Nx cache integration
• Testing Support: Unit and E2E testing patterns for plugins

Core Concepts

Generators

Generators automate file and project scaffolding:

• Use Tree API exclusively (tree.write, generateFiles, updateJson)
• Define typed schemas for options validation
• Generate files from EJS templates
• Update project configurations safely

Executors

Executors define reusable build, test, and development tasks:

• Return { success: boolean } from executor function
• Use ExecutorContext for workspace metadata
• Declare outputs for cache awareness
• Use async file I/O for performance

Anti-Patterns

• Never modify files outside Tree API - breaks dry-run and change tracking
• Never hardcode project paths - derive from readProjectConfiguration().root
• Never skip schema validation - causes late failures with unclear errors
• Never mutate project config blindly - read before update to preserve existing state
• Never use relative executor references - use package notation (@scope/pkg:executor)
• Never omit outputs for cacheable tasks - breaks Nx cache optimization

Quality Metrics

• Tessl Score: 100% (11/11 checks passed)
• Quality Grade: B+ (124/140, 89%)
• Eval Coverage: 85% (40/47 instructions tested)
• Documentation: 9 reference guides, 3 knowledge-base articles

Evaluation Scenarios

This skill includes 5 comprehensive runtime validation scenarios:

1. Safe Generator Implementation - Tree API, schema validation, boundary enforcement
2. Cache-Aware Executor - ExecutorContext API, async I/O, output declarations
3. Template-Driven Generation - EJS templates, file name substitution, formatFiles
4. Safe Config Updates - Read-before-mutate, target preservation, package references
5. Plugin Registration - Entry points, registry files, workspace integration

Resources

• Nx Plugin Development
• Nx Devkit API
• Plugin Registry

Version

v0.2.0 - Consolidated from 3 overlapping skills (nx-generators, nx-executors, extending-plugins)

License

MIT