Plugin system prototype for Helix

[denieldiniz]

👋 Hey everyone!

First of all, thank you for the incredible work on Helix — I've been using it heavily for the past few months, and it's truly changed the way I write code.

Recently, I started exploring ways to enable controlled extensibility in the editor, and ended up building a prototype for a plugin system, written entirely in Rust, with a modular, minimal, and safe design.

The idea is not to introduce scripting runtimes or runtime bloat, but rather to provide a clean foundation for a plugin API that is:

Optional

Well-integrated with Helix's core

Aligned with the project's philosophy

I created a fork of Helix to showcase this prototype and would love to hear your thoughts on it.

Repo: 👉 https://github.com/denieldiniz/helix

---

💡 What it currently does:

Registers commands from external plugins (.so/.dll)

Supports basic hooks like on_open, on_save, and on_command

Plugin discovery via [plugins] section in helix-config.toml

Trait-based plugin API in Rust — no runtime magic

Example:

#[helix_plugin]
fn on_command(input: &str) -> Option {
if input == "hello" {
Some(CommandOutput::new("Hello from plugin!"))
} else {
None
}
}

I’d really love to get your feedback on this:

Does this direction make sense for Helix?

Any concerns or ideas regarding the architecture?

Would it be worth evolving this into something officially supported?

I plan to open a PR with the initial version to help facilitate the technical discussion.

Thanks so much for your time — I’m happy to adjust, simplify, or rethink anything based on community and maintainer input! 🙌

[kirawi]

There is already an ongoing plugin system effort: #8675

[denieldiniz]

I've been following your work with great admiration. Helix has become my main editor, and honestly, I've never been as 'devoted' to a tool as I am to it. My motivation for this plugin system proposal (WASM and Lua) comes precisely from this deep desire to see Helix grow and become the definitive editor.

I believe that the ability to develop and integrate robust plugins is the turning point for Helix. It's what can set us apart from editors like Neovim and even non-modal ones. Development needs evolve quickly – think about integrations with LLMs and new interface features. In my work, at a government organization, we design rigorous processes for writing, validation, and testing across all layers of our applications. Being able to integrate these workflows directly into Helix would be the ideal scenario for me and my team.

My intention is not to create competition, but to boost the project. The important thing is that this functionality happens. Whether it's through my implementation, another colleague's, or a fusion of ideas, I'm here to help bring this to completion. It's an immense pleasure to contribute to my favorite editor.

[CaesarXInsanium]

Somebody has the right ideas. I'll check it out tomorrow, I has to sleep now.

[denieldiniz]

Thank you for your time @CaesarXInsanium!! Really hope we get to work on this together. Any feedback is super welcome!

[erasin]

Competition is right. We should not have only one choice.

[denieldiniz]

And we can team up! thanks..

[getreu]

@denieldiniz Could you elaborate a bit more on you design/architecture choices? As I understand you plugin system allows to write plugins in Lua and WASM?

[denieldiniz]

The idea is to support plugins in both Lua and WASM to give everyone more flexibility.

I've sketched out the reasoning and the next steps in a few markdown files here. Have a look if you're interested:

1. Why Lua + WASM? (Initial thoughts):

   • https://github.com/denieldiniz/helix/blob/feat/plugin-wasm-lua/anotacoes/1-helix-plugin.md

2. v1 Roadmap:

   • https://github.com/denieldiniz/helix/blob/feat/plugin-wasm-lua/anotacoes/2-roadmap_plugins_v1.md

3. Current Code Status (Report):

   • https://github.com/denieldiniz/helix/blob/feat/plugin-wasm-lua/anotacoes/3-relatorio_modulo_plugin.md

Any ideas, critiques, or suggestions, just let me know. We're building this together, so all feedback helps make the project better.

Cheers!

[getreu]

I found this:

Complete Report: Implementation of the Plugins/Scripts Module for the Helix Editor

Develop an extensible plugin system for the Helix editor, allowing the community to add new functionalities and customize the editor through plugins based on WebAssembly (WASM) and Lua.

[getreu]

@denieldiniz I have been waited so long for this feature.
Some feedback about your documents:

Why Lua + WASM? (Initial thoughts)

helix/anotacoes/1-helix-plugin.md at feat/plugin-wasm-lua · denieldiniz/helix
Lua is perfect for simple tasks and all folks coming from Neovim are used to read and write simple function in Lua. The performance and security of the WASM runtime fits well for more demanding use cases.
WASM will also please many developer, because they can write their plugins in their favorite language, e.g. Rust, C++, Go, Zig etc.

v1 Roadmap

helix/anotacoes/2-roadmap_plugins_v1.md at feat/plugin-wasm-lua · denieldiniz/helix
Professional. Critical tasks first, well structured.

Current Code Status (Report)

helix/anotacoes/3-relatorio_modulo_plugin.md at feat/plugin-wasm-lua · denieldiniz/helix

• A detailed list for developers who want to orient themselves in the code.
• I might have added a less technical summary that is also aimed at the less tech-savvy community.

BTW: There are quite a lot code comments in Portuguese. Remember to translate them before (if) this gets merged.

Do you have any special build instructions, e.g. did you update the flake.nix?