---
title: "Make a plugin with the copilot"
description: "Lesson 13.3 of Creator Terminal's lesson films (Plugins): Ask the copilot for a plugin, a countdown for a live stream, watch it write, check and try it, then install it from Drafts."
canonical: "https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot/"
last_updated: 2026-11-06
---

# Make a plugin with the copilot

> Lesson 13.3 of Creator Terminal's lesson films (Plugins): Ask the copilot for a plugin, a countdown for a live stream, watch it write, check and try it, then install it from Drafts.

- The film (1:35): https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.3-make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot/7a76dcc96c27/13.3-make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot.mp4
- Vertical cut: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.3-make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot/eeb575a29e15/13.3-make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot-vertical.mp4
- Captions: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.3-make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot/1e3e684688b4/13.3-make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot.vtt
- The page: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot/
- The document the film opens: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.3-make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot/0d3a3fa9901a/live-intro.json

## Step by step

Some animations you make again and again: a countdown before every live show, a title for every
speaker. A plugin turns one into a command you run in a click, in any document, with the choices
you want each time. In this tutorial the copilot (Creator Terminal's AI assistant) writes one for
you, a countdown of big numbers, from a sentence. It checks the plugin and tries it on your
document; you install it when you're happy. No code is needed.

### Before you start

- The copilot set up: Claude Code, Codex or Kimi Code installed on this computer and signed in,
  and **AI features** on (`F2`). [Meet the copilot](/meet-the-copilot/) shows how.
- A document to try the plugin on. The film's, `live-intro.json`, is in **Follow along** on this
  page: a live show's intro, with a soft glow in the middle where the numbers will go.

### 1. New with the copilot

Press `:`, type `Plugins` and press `⏎` (Return). On the Plugins page, click **New with the
copilot**. The copilot's panel opens on the right, with the start of a request typed for you:
**Make a plugin that**.

### 2. Say what it does

Finish the sentence. Say what the plugin does, and what you'd like to choose each time you run
it: those become its inputs. The film asks:

```text
Make a plugin that counts down 3, 2, 1 at the playhead: big numbers in the middle, one a second, each popping in and fading out. Let me choose the number it counts from, its size and its colour.
```

![The copilot's panel on the right, the request typed in its box.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.3-make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot/83a5de9e9448/make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot-the-copilot-s-panel-on-the-right-the.webp)

### 3. Watch it write and check

Press `⏎` to send it. In the film the copilot reads the plugin guide and starts a draft named
`countdown`. It writes its command: a number a second, each popping in and fading out, with three
inputs, **Count from**, **Size** and **Colour**. It checks the draft, then tries it on your
document and looks at the frames. It tries a countdown from twelve in yellow too. A try with the
colour `orange` failed, so it rewrote the command to refuse a colour that isn't a hex value with
a clear message, and checked it again.

Each try replaces the last, and `⌘Z` undoes it. The copilot can write, check and try a draft, but
it can't install, turn on or remove a plugin: that's yours to do. When it's done, it says what it
made and how to install it.

![The copilot trying its countdown on the intro: a big 3 in the middle of the glow.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.3-make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot/0cc43accd1d8/make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot-the-copilot-trying-its-countdown-on-the-intro.webp)

### 4. Watch the try

Press `esc` to give the keys back to the stage (the panel stays open), then `0` and `space`.
Three, two, one, a second each. Press `space` to stop. This is only the copilot's try: the plugin
itself is still a draft.

### 5. Install the draft

Open **Plugins…** again. The copilot's plugin is under **DRAFTS**, with what it adds and the
tools it edits with. Press `⏎` on it, check the line at the foot of the page, and press `⏎` again
to install it.

![The Plugins page: the countdown installed and on, and still under DRAFTS.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.3-make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot/2da53698cc4f/make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot-the-plugins-page-the-countdown-installed-and-on.webp)

### 6. Use it in any document

Press `esc`. **Countdown** is in the left panel under **PLUGINS**, in every document. Click it to
choose where it counts from, its size and its colour, and press `⏎` to keep it. The copilot, and
other AI apps connected with `creator-tui mcp`, can call it too, from their next conversation.

The copilot's try is still in this document: undo it before you run the installed command, or
you'll have two countdowns.

![The left panel, with Countdown under PLUGINS.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.3-make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot/189d9c5b66b8/make-a-plugin-with-the-copilot-the-left-panel-with-countdown-under-plugins.webp)

### What you learned

- **New with the copilot**, on the Plugins page, has the copilot make a plugin from a sentence:
  it writes a draft, checks it and tries it on your document.
- What you ask to choose each time becomes the command's inputs.
- A draft is installed from **DRAFTS** on the Plugins page, by you.

[Plugins](/docs/plugins/) in the manual says what a plugin's command can and can't do, and
[Build one with a coding agent](/build-one-with-a-coding-agent/) makes one with Claude Code or
Codex instead.

## In this lesson

### New with the copilot (0:09)

Here's the intro to our live show. It needs a countdown, and so will every show after it, so let's make one as a plugin. Open Plugins, and click New with the copilot.

### Say what it does (0:21)

The copilot opens, with the start of a sentence for us. Say what the plugin does, and what we'd like to choose each time we use it.

### It writes and checks (0:41)

Send it. The copilot reads the plugin guide, and starts a draft called countdown. It writes its command, a number a second, popping in and fading out, and checks it. Then it tries it on our intro, and looks at the frames. When something's off, it fixes the code and checks again.

### Watch the try (0:59)

Let's see what it tried. Press escape to come back to the stage, then zero, and space. Three, two, one. It's only a try for now. The plugin itself is a draft.

### Install the draft (1:12)

To keep it, open Plugins again. It's under Drafts, with what it adds and edits with. Press Return, and Return again to install it.

### Yours to use (1:22)

Press escape. Countdown is in the left panel now, in every document, and the copilot can use it too.