Implementing a Jenkins plugin from scratch in 5 steps and less then 5 minutes (no kidding)

I have written several posts in this blog about useful Jenkins plugins available in the Jenkins Update Center. But what about the plugin you need for specific purposes hasn't been implemented yet? Do it by yourself! If you have Java development skills and know a little bit of Maven this task isn't impossible.
You need to use Maven 3.1.1 or later in order to successfully complete the process detailed below.
Before you start you need to update the settings.xml file of you local Maven this way:

1) Add a mirror to the mirrors list for the Jenkins Update Centre:
<mirrors>
...
    <mirror>
      <id>repo.jenkins-ci.org</id>
      <url>http://repo.jenkins-ci.org/public/</url>
      <mirrorOf>m.g.o-public</mirrorOf>
    </mirror>
...
</mirrors>

2) Add a profile for Jenkins to the profiles list:
<profiles>
...
<profile>
      <id>jenkins</id>
      <activation>
        <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
      </activation>
      <repositories>
        <repository>
          <id>repo.jenkins-ci.org</id>
          <url>http://repo.jenkins-ci.org/public/</url>
        </repository>
      </repositories>
      <pluginRepositories>
        <pluginRepository>
          <id>repo.jenkins-ci.org</id>
          <url>http://repo.jenkins-ci.org/public/</url>
        </pluginRepository>
      </pluginRepositories>
    </profile>
...
</profiles>

Step 1: Create the plugin structure
From a shell command run:

mvn -U org.jenkins-ci.tools:maven-hpi-plugin:create

This will create the structure of the plugin project in your file system:

• project root: Contains the pom.xml and all the project subdirectories.
• src/main/java: Contains the deliverable Java source code for the project.
• src/main/resources: Contains the deliverable resources for the project, such as property files. For Jenkins plugins it contains the Jelly files for the plugin UI.
• src/test/java: Contains the testing classes (JUnit or TestNG test cases, for example) for the project.
• src/test/resources: Contains resources necessary for testing.

Step 2: Create the project for your favourite IDE
To transform the project into an Eclipse project, run from a shell command:

mvn -DdownloadSources=true -DdownloadJavadocs=true -DoutputDirectory=target/eclipse-classes -Declipse.workspace=/path/to/workspace eclipse:eclipse eclipse:add-maven-repo

Similar commands exist to transform the project in a NetBeans or IntelliJ project. Now you can import the project into an Eclipse workspace the usual way:



Step 3: Add your code
Start to code. You can use every Java stuff and library you need for the business logic. The plugin UIs are implemented in Jelly (http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-jelly/).

Step 4: Execute it locally
You can run (and debug) a plugin at development time locally. From a shell command execute:

mvn hpi:run

The Maven Jenkins plugin will start a local Jenkins sandbox to emulate the CI server environment:




Step 5: Package it
When you are happy with your implementation and have a stable version you can package the plugin running the following command:

mvn package

It will create the .hpi installer ready to be deployed on any Jenkins server the usual way:


Whether you implement a simple or complex Jenkins plugin, the steps to follow are always the same described in this post. Happy coding :)