--- title: "Plugins" description: "A plugin adds commands, animation presets and interface themes to Creator Terminal. It is a folder of plain files, which you install from this computer or from a .zip." canonical: "https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/plugins/" last_updated: 2026-11-01 --- # Plugins A plugin adds commands, animation presets and interface themes to Creator Terminal. It is a folder of plain files, which you install from this computer or from a `.zip`. ## Use a plugin Choose **Plugins…** in the command palette (`⌘P`) or the File menu. The Plugins page lists each plugin with what it adds and the tools its commands edit with. - `space` turns the chosen plugin off or on. A plugin that's off stays installed and adds nothing. - `⌫` asks once more, then removes it. - `⏎` opens the palette on the plugin's commands. The left panel's **PLUGINS** list, under **CREATE**, shows enabled plugins' commands. **More plugins ›** lists the commands that do not fit. **Quick plugin access** in Settings' **Editor** section turns this list off or on (on by default). Commands are also in the palette (`⌘P`), found by their names or the plugin's, with the plugin's name beside them. Click a command, or choose it with `⏎` in the palette. A command with no inputs runs at once. One with inputs opens its panel on the right rail and tries the command on the stage. The palette closes. The panel remembers the values you used last until you quit. While the panel has the keys, `↑` `↓` or `tab` `⇧tab` move between inputs. Type a number or step it with `←` `→` (`⇧` steps by 10). `←` `→` change a choice or an on/off; `space` toggles it. Click a number or text to type, the arrows to step, or an on/off to toggle. The hint below the inputs explains the focused value or why the command could not run. Keys with `⌘` or `⌃` do what they do in the editor (`⌘A` selects every layer and tries the command on them, `⌘S` saves). **apply ⏎** or `⏎` keeps the result as one undo step and closes the panel. **✕**, `esc`, or clicking the lit command again closes it and drops the try. A click elsewhere gives the keys back to the editor while the panel and try stay open; click the panel to give it the keys again. Selecting other layers tries the command on them. An edit while a try shows keeps that try as its own undo step. The panel stays open, and its next change tries on top. Closing then says **kept: the document changed since**. Agents' edits wait while the panel has the keys. `⌘Z` or redo closes the panel, drops its current try, then undoes or redoes as usual. Changing documents, turning the plugin off or removing it closes the panel. Its presets are in **Apply preset**, after your own and before those that come with the app, with the plugin's name beside them. Its themes are in the theme list (`⇧K`). A plugin's preset or theme never replaces one of yours or one that comes with the app. The copilot, and AI apps connected with `creator-tui mcp`, get a tool for each command of an enabled plugin, from their next conversation. A call edits the open document as the palette does, as one undo step. ## Install one On the Plugins page, choose **Install from a folder…**, find the plugin's folder (`tab` goes into a folder) and press `⏎` on it, or on its `.zip`. The line at the foot of the page says what the plugin adds and what its commands edit with; `⏎` installs it. From a shell: ```sh creator-tui plugin install ./orbit ``` Installing a plugin of the same name again replaces it and keeps it on or off as it was. ## What a plugin can do A command reads the open document and the selection, and returns edits made with the tools its plugin names, such as `set` or `animate`. The edits apply together, as one undo step; if one fails, or the document changes while the command runs, none are kept and the status line says why. A command can't read or write files, use the network or start anything. It stops after 2 seconds or 64 MiB of memory. A run returns at most 1,000 edits; nothing changes when a limit is exceeded. A plugin adds commands, presets and themes; it can't add panels, keys or export formats. ## Make one **With the copilot.** With the AI features on, choose **New with the copilot** on the Plugins page, finish the sentence **Make a plugin that…** and send it. The copilot writes a draft, checks it and tries it on the open document, each try replacing the last; `⌘Z` undoes it. The draft is under **Drafts** on the Plugins page, where you install it. The copilot can't install, turn on or remove a plugin. **With a coding agent** such as Claude Code or Codex, start a plugin in a folder of its own: ```sh creator-tui plugin new sparkle ``` A plugin name has at most 24 lowercase letters, digits and hyphens; each command id has at most 16 lowercase letters, digits and underscores, starting with a letter. It's a working plugin with one command, a preset, a document to try it on and `AGENTS.md`, which tells the agent how plugins are made and how to check and try one: ```sh creator-tui plugin check sparkle creator-tui plugin try sparkle scatter --on sparkle/example.json ``` `try` runs a command on a copy of the document and says what it changed; `--out result.json` writes the result. `creator-tui plugin docs` prints the whole guide, with every tool a command can edit with. When it's ready, install the folder. ## Share one Zip the plugin's folder and send the `.zip`. The skills in its `skills/` folder are Agent Skills, which Claude Code, Codex and other agents can use to learn when to call its commands. Two complete examples: [Orbit](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/plugins/orbit/README.md), with two commands, and [Studio pack](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/plugins/studio-pack/README.md), with presets and a theme. ## What's in the folder ```text orbit/ ├── plugin.json its name, version, description and commands ├── com.lottiefiles.creator-terminal/ │ ├── plugin.js its commands, one function each │ ├── presets/*.json animation presets │ └── themes/*.json interface themes └── skills//SKILL.md for coding agents ``` Anything else in the folder (a README, an example document) is kept but not used by the app. A plugin is plain files, no links, at most 8 MiB. [Command line](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/cli.md#plugins) lists the `creator-tui plugin` commands.