kde-plasmoid-dev

KDE Plasma 6 Plasmoid Development

Plasmoids are QML applications loaded by the Plasma 6 shell. A plasmoid is a directory with a metadata.json and a contents/ui/main.qml, packaged and installed via kpackagetool6.

Ground in current docs first

Plasma APIs and packaging conventions change between minor releases. Always fetch the current canonical docs before scaffolding or debugging — do not rely on the inline summary below as the source of truth. Fetch the relevant pages with WebFetch (or the user's preferred docs tool) and use them as the authority.

Authoritative references (Plasma 6):

• Widget development index — https://develop.kde.org/docs/plasma/widget/
• Getting started / first widget tutorial — https://develop.kde.org/docs/plasma/widget/tutorial/
• metadata.json properties reference — https://develop.kde.org/docs/plasma/widget/properties/
• Configuration (KConfigXT + config.qml) — https://develop.kde.org/docs/plasma/widget/configuration/
• Translation / i18n — https://develop.kde.org/docs/plasma/widget/translations-i18n/
• Plasma 5 → 6 porting guide — https://develop.kde.org/docs/plasma/widget/porting-plasma6/
• Examples (official plasma-sdk examples repo) — https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-sdk
• Plasma framework API — https://api.kde.org/frameworks/plasma-framework/html/
• Kirigami components — https://develop.kde.org/docs/getting-started/kirigami/
• Community Developer Guide (note: largely Plasma 5 era — useful for context, not authoritative for P6) — https://community.kde.org/Plasma/DeveloperGuide

When the user asks for an API, schema field, or import path, fetch the relevant URL above rather than guessing.

Basic conventions (Plasma 6)

These hold at the time of writing — verify against the docs above for any project that ships.

Directory layout

my-plasmoid/
├── metadata.json
└── contents/
    ├── ui/
    │   ├── main.qml                  # required — root must be PlasmoidItem
    │   ├── CompactRepresentation.qml # optional — panel / collapsed view
    │   └── FullRepresentation.qml    # optional — popup / expanded view
    ├── config/
    │   ├── main.xml                  # KConfigXT schema
    │   └── config.qml                # ConfigModel of pages
    └── icon.svg                      # optional, if not using a theme icon

metadata.json

{
  "KPlugin": {
    "Id": "org.example.myplasmoid",
    "Name": "My Plasmoid",
    "Description": "One-line description",
    "Icon": "preferences-desktop-plasma",
    "Authors": [{ "Name": "Author", "Email": "[email protected]" }],
    "Category": "Utilities",
    "License": "MIT",
    "Version": "1.0",
    "Website": "https://example.com"
  },
  "KPackageStructure": "Plasma/Applet",
  "X-Plasma-API-Minimum-Version": "6.0"
}

The Id must be reverse-DNS, unique, and must match the directory name when installed.

main.qml skeleton

import QtQuick
import QtQuick.Layouts
import org.kde.plasma.plasmoid
import org.kde.plasma.components as PlasmaComponents
import org.kde.kirigami as Kirigami

PlasmoidItem {
    id: root

    compactRepresentation: PlasmaComponents.Label { text: "MP" }

    fullRepresentation: ColumnLayout {
        Layout.minimumWidth: Kirigami.Units.gridUnit * 12
        Layout.minimumHeight: Kirigami.Units.gridUnit * 8

        PlasmaComponents.Label {
            Layout.alignment: Qt.AlignCenter
            text: "Hello from My Plasmoid"
        }
    }
}

The root must be PlasmoidItem (from org.kde.plasma.plasmoid). Imports drop the version suffix in Plasma 6 (org.kde.plasma.components, not ... 3.0).

Install / test cycle

# Install or upgrade to user scope (~/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids/<id>/)
kpackagetool6 -t Plasma/Applet -i ./my-plasmoid       # first time
kpackagetool6 -t Plasma/Applet -u ./my-plasmoid       # upgrade in place
kpackagetool6 -t Plasma/Applet -r org.example.myplasmoid

# Live preview without touching the panel
plasmoidviewer6 -a ./my-plasmoid
# or, for an installed plasmoid:
plasmawindowed org.example.myplasmoid

# Reload plasmashell after an upgrade
kquitapp6 plasmashell && kstart plasmashell

Edits to QML files inside ~/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids/<id>/contents/ui/ take effect after a plasmashell reload (or remove + re-add the widget on the panel).

Debugging

• Tail QML errors and console.log(): journalctl --user -f -t plasmashell
• Verbose QML logging: kquitapp6 plasmashell; QT_LOGGING_RULES="qml=true" plasmashell --replace
• plasmoidviewer6 runs the plasmoid in isolation — the fastest dev loop, and prints errors to the terminal directly.

Common gotchas

• Wrong root type — bare Item instead of PlasmoidItem silently fails to expose compactRepresentation / fullRepresentation.
• Versioned imports — Plasma 5 imports like org.kde.plasma.components 3.0 fail in Plasma 6; drop the version.
• Id mismatch — directory name and KPlugin.Id must agree.
• Trailing commas in metadata.json — JSON is strict; kpackagetool6 will refuse to install.
• Icon resolution — KPlugin.Icon must be a freedesktop icon name (e.g. preferences-desktop-plasma) or omitted if shipping contents/icon.svg.

Output convention when scaffolding

When the user asks to scaffold a new plasmoid:

1. Confirm the running stack: plasmashell --version (must be 6.x), kpackagetool6 --version. If they're on Plasma 5, stop and tell the user this skill is Plasma 6 only.
2. Ask for: plugin id (reverse-DNS), display name, one-line description, where to put the source (suggest ~/repos/ — never ~/.claude/).
3. Fetch https://develop.kde.org/docs/plasma/widget/properties/ to confirm the current metadata.json schema before writing the file.
4. Write metadata.json and contents/ui/main.qml. Add contents/config/ only if the user wants settings.
5. Install with kpackagetool6 -t Plasma/Applet -i ./<dir> and tell the user how to add it to their panel.
6. Offer to tail journalctl --user -f -t plasmashell in a background shell during iteration.