inspec/dev-docs/inspec-init-plugin.md

About inspec init plugin cli command

Purpose

inspec init plugin generates the scaffold of InSpec plugin, which can extend the functionality of InSpec itself.

Operational Notes

Generating InSpec Plugin

`inspec init plugin --help`

```
Usage:
  inspec init plugin PLUGIN_NAME [options]

Options:
  [--prompt], [--no-prompt]      # Interactively prompt for information to put in your generated plugin.
                                 # Default: true
  [--detail=DETAIL]              # How detailed of a plugin to generate. 'full' is a normal full gem with tests; 'core' has tests but no gemspec; 'test-fixture' is stripped down for a test fixture.
                                 # Default: full
  [--author-email=AUTHOR_EMAIL]  # Author Email for gemspec
                                 # Default: you@example.com
  [--author-name=AUTHOR_NAME]    # Author Name for gemspec
                                 # Default: Your Name
  [--description=DESCRIPTION]    # Multi-line description of the plugin
  [--summary=SUMMARY]            # One-line summary of your plugin
                                 # Default: A plugin with a default summary
  [--license-name=LICENSE_NAME]  # The name of a license
                                 # Default: Apache-2.0
  [--activator=one two three]    # A list of plugin activator, in the form type1:name1, type2:name2, etc
                                 # Default: ["cli_command:my_command"]
  [--hook=one two three]         # Legacy name for --activator - Deprecated.
  [--homepage=HOMEPAGE]          # A URL for your project, often a GitHub link
  [--module-name=MODULE_NAME]    # Module Name for your plugin package.  Will change plugin name to CamelCase by default.
  [--copyright=COPYRIGHT]        # A copyright statement, to be added to LICENSE
  [--log-level=LOG_LEVEL]        # Set the log level: info (default), debug, warn, error
  [--log-location=LOG_LOCATION]  # Location to send diagnostic log messages to. (default: $stdout or Inspec::Log.error)

Generates an InSpec plugin, which can extend the functionality of InSpec itself.
```

Options

inspec init plugin command requires few details about the plugin to be added. This can be added using command line prompt or by passing them as the options like for e.g --author-name,--author-email, --description, --module-name etc.

--detail This option can be used to skip generation of test files or gemspec file. Available values full, core or test-fixture.

--activator Available activator type are cli_command and reporter. The default activator type is "cli_command". Usage: inspec init pluign <inspec-plugin-name> --activator "cli_command:my_test" OR inspec init plugin <inspec-plugin-reporter-name> --activator "reporter:my_reporter"

Note: The InSpec plugin generator can currently only generate one activator of each type.

--hook Legacy name for --activator - Deprecated.