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Installing addons

Directory structure​

Ayon addons are installed into the addons directory, following the structure:

addons/
  └── {addon_name}/
      └── {addon_version}/

Each version of an addon contains the following components:

  • Addon base class (__init__.py): This is the main class that defines the addon's functionality.
  • Server code (optional): This includes any server-side code for the addon.
  • Frontend code (optional): This contains the frontend code for the addon, if applicable.
  • Binary package for the client application (optional): This is a pre-compiled binary package that can be used by the client application.

For example, an addon named example with version 1.0.0 would have the following directory structure:

addons/
  └── example/
      └── 1_0_0/
          ├── __init__.py
          ├── frontend/ (optional - frontend code)
          ├── private/ (optional - static files available to logged in users)
          └── public/ (optional - publicly available static files, such as icons)

This structure allows for multiple versions of addons to coexist, and makes it easy to manage and update addons in your Ayon server.

Using Development Versions of Addons​

The common practice for working with development versions of addons is to use the dev directory instead of a specific version number. This allows you to separate the development version from production versions and makes it easier to test and debug your addons.

To set up a development version of an addon, follow these steps:

  1. Create a directory for the addon within the addons folder using the addon's name.
mkdir addons/example
  1. Navigate to the newly created addon directory.
cd addons/example
  1. Clone the addon repository into the dev directory.
git clone https://github.com/ynput/ayon-example-addon dev

Your addon's directory structure should now look like this:

addons/
  └── example/
      └── dev/
          ├── __init__.py
          └── ...