What Are Nx Plugins?

Nx plugins help developers use a tool or framework with Nx. They allow the plugin author who knows the best way to use a tool with Nx to codify their expertise and allow the whole community to reuse those solutions.

For example, plugins can accomplish the following:

• Configure Nx cache settings for a tool. The @nx/webpack plugin can automatically configure the inputs and outputs for a build task based on the settings in the webpack.config.js file it uses.
• Update tooling configuration when upgrading the tool version. When Storybook 7 introduced a new format for their configuration files, anyone using the @nx/storybook plugin could automatically apply those changes to their repository when upgrading.
• Set up a tool for the first time. With the @nx/playwright plugin installed, you can use the @nx/playwright:configuration code generator to set up Playwright tests in an existing project.
• Run a tool in an advanced way. The @nx/js plugin's @nx/js:tsc executor combines the Nx understanding of your repository with Typescript's native batch mode feature to make your builds even more performant.

Plugin features

Infer tasks Automatically configure Nx settings for tasks based on tooling configuration

Generate Code Generate and modify code to set up and use the tool or framework

Maintain Dependencies Automatically update package versions and tooling configuration

Enhance Tooling with Executors Run a tool in an advanced way that may not be possible from the command line

Types of plugins

Learn by doing

Try the Reducing Configuration Boilerplate tutorial to apply these concepts in your own workspace.

Official and Community Plugins Browse the plugin registry to discover plugins created by the Nx core team and the community

Build Your Own Plugin Build your own plugin to use internally or share with the community