Tutorial: Write your first extension

Scaffold, build, and install a minimal Inari extension with a backend plugin and a UI remote. ~45 minutes.

Prerequisites: Go, Node.js, and the inari CLI; access to a dev control plane (or the bundled mock harness); a platform engineer to install your finished extension. Read backend extensions and UI extensions first, and keep inari-ext-argocd open as the reference.

1. Scaffold

inari extension init hello-ext
cd hello-ext

You get: a Go backend module with the SDK wired, a TS UI remote with Module Federation config, a plugin.yaml manifest, and a health endpoint.

2. Add a backend endpoint

Implement a handler in the Go module. The SDK hands you an auth context per call — use it, never raw tokens:

func (p *Plugin) HandleHello(ctx context.Context, ac auth.Context, req *pb.HelloRequest) (*pb.HelloResponse, error) {
    // ac.User, ac.Tenant, ac.Permissions are already authenticated/authorized
    return &pb.HelloResponse{Message: "hello " + ac.User.Name + " from " + ac.Tenant}, nil
}

Declare the endpoint in plugin.yaml under endpoints: so the proxy exposes it at /api/extensions/hello-ext/hello.

3. Add a UI slot

Register a CatalogCardBlueprint in src/index.ts:

import {CatalogCardBlueprint} from '@inari/ui-plugin-sdk';

export default [
  CatalogCardBlueprint.make({
    id: 'hello-ext.card',
    component: HelloCard, // calls /api/extensions/hello-ext/hello via the SDK fetch helper
  }),
];

4. Run the dev harness

inari extension dev

The harness serves your remoteEntry.js, runs your backend against a mocked control plane, and gives you fixtures for tenant context and catalog items. Iterate until the card renders and the endpoint answers.

5. Package

inari extension package   # builds the image + remote bundle, emits checksums into plugin.yaml

Sign the artifact with cosign like every Inari artifact; unsigned plugins are refused at load.

6. Install

Hand the OCI reference to a platform engineer (extension installation is platform-governed). They install it from Extensions → Add remote, approve it, and scope tenant visibility. Your card now appears on catalog items, and /api/extensions/hello-ext/hello answers for users with extensions, invoke, hello-ext.

Where next

• Realistic backend: actions on tenant clusters via the SDK's dispatch helpers — mirror how inari-ext-argocd tunnels ArgoCD actions over the agent stream.
• More slots: ClusterTab, InstanceAction, FormWidget, Page (blueprint reference).
• Governance: packaging & trust tiers.