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PixieBrix Documentation
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Packaging and Sharing a Mod

Overview

You can share mods with your team so that they can run them without needing to build them.

Packaging a Mod to Share

Packaging a Mod

To share a mod, it needs to be part of a mod package. A mod package contains one or more mods inside, along with a description and activation options.

There are two ways to package mods:

  1. From the Page Editor
  2. From the Extension Console > Mods Screen

Packaging a Mod in the Page Editor

Click the three dots button next to the Page Editor entry, and click Add to mod:

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The Page Editor will prompt you to create a new mod, or add it to an existing mod.
The Page Editor will prompt you to create a new mod, or add it to an existing mod.

Packing a Mod in the Extension Console

In the Extension Console, navigate to the Mods screen.

Find the entry you want to share as a mod, click the three dots menu, and click Share with Teams or Publish to Marketplace.

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Mod Configuration Fields

Regardless of whether you begin the packaging process from the Page Editor or the Extension Console, PixieBrix will prompt you to provide an id, name, version, and description.

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When packaging a mod, PixieBrix prompts you for the following information

  • ID: a unique identification for the mod. It must start with your author scope or an author scope of a team where you have a Developer role.
    • Note that if you want to deploy a mod to your team or you want your team to have the ability to edit a mod, you’ll want to select the team alias (the @ field at the start of the mod ID, before the /).
  • Name: a human-readable name for the mod
  • Version: a version number, in the format major.minor.patch. For example 1.0.0
  • Description: a helpful description that describes what the mod is for

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Pro-Tip: you can add a “collection” part to the mod id to help organize your mod. For example @username/slack/send-slack-message instead of @username/send-slack-message

Exposing Activation-Time Mod Options

Integration Configurations

If you’ve added bricks requiring integrations to the mod, those integrations will automatically show up in the Mod Activation Wizard.

Custom Options

If you have non-integration onboarding options you want to add, you can add them by selecting the mod in the Page Editor and selecting the Input Form tab.

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Similar to the Form Builder, you can add any number of options fields:

  • Name: the field name for referencing the configured value in the mod. For example, if the name is fieldName, the field would be available in the mod as @options.fieldName
  • Label: the human-readable label to display in the Mod Activation Wizard

To add a new field. Click the Add new field button:

To switch between fields to configure, click the field in the Preview in the Data Panel on the right side of the Page Editor.

Sharing a Mod With Your Team

If you’d like to share a mod with a specific group of people, you’ll need to create a team in PixieBrix and add the appropriate members.

Once you’ve done that, go to the Mods page on Extension Console and click the three dots at the end of the row of the mod you’d like to share.

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Select the Share with Teams option.

Choose the team you want to share with from the dropdown options.

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If you accidentally choose one, click the red X button at the end of the row.

Copy the Link to share at the bottom of the modal, then click the purple Save and Close button. Share the link with anyone who is a member of those teams, and they’ll be able to access the mod.

Updating a Published Mod

Incrementing the Version Number

When updating a published mod, it’s best practice to increment the version number to indicate the kind of change made:

For example:

  • Increment Patch version (for bug fixes): 1.2.3 → 1.2.4
  • Increment Minor version (for new features): 1.2.3 → 1.3.0
  • Increment Major version (for backward incompatible changes): 1.2.3 → 2.0.0

Incrementing the version number conveys two primary benefits:

  • PixieBrix and users know it’s a new version
  • You can track changes made across versions, and/or revert to a previous version

Staging Mod Updates

When making major changes to a mod, it can be helpful to make a separate mod so you don’t break anything on the copy users currently have.

You can then copy changes from the updated mod to the live mod in the Workshop.