Version: v1.4.x

Installing plug-ins

Use commands in the plugins command group to install and manage plug-ins for Zowe CLI.

Important! Plug-ins can gain control of your CLI application legitimately during the execution of every command. Install third-party plug-ins at your own risk. We make no warranties regarding the use of third-party plug-ins.

You can install the following plug-ins:

IBM CICS Plug-in for Zowe CLI
Use @brightside/cics@lts-incremental in your command syntax to install, update, and validate the plug-in.
IBM Db2 Database for Zowe CLI
Use @brightside/db2@lts-incremental in your command syntax to install, update, and validate the plug-in.

Setting the registry#

If you installed Zowe CLI from the bundle distributed with the Zowe PAX media, proceed to the Install step.

If you installed Zowe CLI from an online registry, confirm that NPM is set to target the registry by issuing the following command:

npm config set @brightside:registry https://api.bintray.com/npm/ca/brightside

Meeting the software requirements#

Ensure that you meet the software requirements for a plug-in before you install the plug-in to Zowe CLI. For information related to each plug-in, see Software requirements for Zowe CLI plug-ins.

Installing plug-ins#

Issue an install command to install plug-ins to Zowe CLI. The install command contains the following syntax:

zowe plugins install [plugin...] [--registry <registry>]

[plugin...]
(Optional) Specifies the name of a plug-in, an npm package, or a pointer to a (local or remote) URL. When you do not specify a plug-in version, the command installs the latest plug-in version and specifies the prefix that is stored in npm save-prefix. For more information, see npm save prefix. For more information about npm semantic versioning, see npm semver. Optionally, you can specify a specific version of a plug-in to install. For example, zowe plugins install pluginName@^1.0.0.
Tip: You can install multiple plug-ins with one command. For example, issue zowe plugins install plugin1 plugin2 plugin3
[--registry <registry>]
(Optional) Specifies a registry URL from which to install a plug-in when you do not use npm config set to set the registry initially.

Examples: Install plug-ins

The following example illustrates the syntax to use to install a plug-in that is distributed with the zowe-cli-bundle.zip. If you are using zowe-cli-bundle.zip, issue the following command for each plug-in .tgz file:
```
zowe plugins install ./zowe-cli-cics.tgz 
```
The following example illustrates the syntax to use to install a plug-in that is named "my-plugin" from a specified registry:
```
zowe plugins install @brightside/my-plugin@lts-incremental
```
The following example illustrates the syntax to use to install a specific version of "my-plugins"
```
 zowe plugins install @brightside/my-plugin@"^1.2.3"
```

Validating plug-ins#

Issue the plug-in validation command to run tests against all plug-ins (or against a plug-in that you specify) to verify that the plug-ins integrate properly with Zowe CLI. The tests confirm that the plug-in does not conflict with existing command groups in the base application. The command response provides you with details or error messages about how the plug-ins integrate with Zowe CLI.

Perform validation after you install the plug-ins to help ensure that it integrates with Zowe CLI.

The validate command has the following syntax:

zowe plugins validate [plugin]

[plugin]
(Optional) Specifies the name of the plug-in that you want to validate. If you do not specify a plug-in name, the command validates all installed plug-ins. The name of the plug-in is not always the same as the name of the NPM package.

Examples: Validate plug-ins

The following example illustrates the syntax to use to validate a specified installed plug-in:
```
zowe plugins validate @brightside/my-plugin
```
The following example illustrates the syntax to use to validate all installed plug-ins:
```
zowe plugins validate
```

Updating plug-ins#

Issue the update command to install the latest version or a specific version of a plug-in that you installed previously. The update command has the following syntax:

zowe plugins update [plugin...] [--registry <registry>]

[plugin...]
Specifies the name of an installed plug-in that you want to update. The name of the plug-in is not always the same as the name of the NPM package. You can use npm semantic versioning to specify a plug-in version to which to update. For more information, see npm semver.
[--registry <registry>]
(Optional) Specifies a registry URL that is different from the registry URL of the original installation.

Examples: Update plug-ins

The following example illustrates the syntax to use to update an installed plug-in to the latest version:
```
zowe plugins update @brightside/my-plugin@lts-incremental
```
The following example illustrates the syntax to use to update a plug-in to a specific version:
```
zowe plugins update @brightside/my-plugin@"^1.2.3"
```

Uninstalling plug-ins#

Issue the uninstall command to uninstall plug-ins from a base application. After the uninstall process completes successfully, the product no longer contains the plug-in configuration.

Tip: The command is equivalent to using npm uninstall to uninstall a package.

The uninstall command contains the following syntax:

zowe plugins uninstall [plugin]

[plugin]
Specifies the plug-in name to uninstall.

Example: Uninstall plug-ins

The following example illustrates the syntax to use to uninstall a plug-in:
```
zowe plugins uninstall @brightside/my-plugin
```