What plugins does Prettier support and how to develop custom Prettier plugins?

Prettier Plugin System and Extension Mechanism

Prettier itself provides rich language support and also supports extending its functionality through a plugin system to meet formatting needs for specific projects or languages.

Plugin Types

1. Language Parser Plugins Add support for new languages to Prettier, for example:

• @prettier/plugin-php - PHP language support
• @prettier/plugin-pug - Pug template language support
• @prettier/plugin-ruby - Ruby language support
• @prettier/plugin-swift - Swift language support

2. Formatting Enhancement Plugins Extend formatting capabilities of existing languages, for example:

• prettier-plugin-organize-imports - Automatically organize import statements
• prettier-plugin-sort-json - Sort JSON keys
• prettier-plugin-packagejson - Format package.json files

Plugin Installation and Usage

1. Install Plugins

bash
# Install PHP plugin
npm install --save-dev @prettier/plugin-php

# Install import organization plugin
npm install --save-dev prettier-plugin-organize-imports

2. Configure Plugins Configure in .prettierrc:

json
{
  "plugins": [
    "@prettier/plugin-php",
    "prettier-plugin-organize-imports"
  ]
}

3. Use Plugins for Formatting

bash
# Format PHP files
prettier --write index.php

# Format JavaScript files (will automatically organize imports)
prettier --write index.js

Custom Plugin Development

1. Plugin Structure

javascript
// my-prettier-plugin/index.js
module.exports = {
  languages: [
    {
      name: "MyLanguage",
      parsers: ["my-parser"],
      extensions: [".mylang"],
    },
  ],
  parsers: {
    "my-parser": {
      parse: (text, parsers, options) => {
        // Parse code to AST
      },
      astFormat: "my-ast",
    },
  },
  printers: {
    "my-ast": {
      print: (path, options, print) => {
        // Convert AST to formatted code
      },
    },
  },
};

2. Plugin Configuration

json
{
  "plugins": ["./my-prettier-plugin"]
}

Recommended Plugins

1. Code Organization

• prettier-plugin-organize-imports - Automatically organize and sort imports
• prettier-plugin-sort-imports - Sort import statements

2. Language-Specific

• @prettier/plugin-php - PHP formatting
• @prettier/plugin-pug - Pug template formatting
• @prettier/plugin-ruby - Ruby formatting

3. File Enhancement

• prettier-plugin-packagejson - Optimize package.json format
• prettier-plugin-sort-json - Sort JSON keys

4. Framework-Specific

• prettier-plugin-tailwindcss - Tailwind CSS class name sorting
• prettier-plugin-astro - Astro framework support

Plugin Best Practices

1. Choose Appropriate Plugins

• Evaluate plugin maintenance status and community activity
• Test plugin impact on project code
• Consider plugin compatibility with existing tools

2. Version Management

• Lock plugin versions to avoid unexpected changes
• Regularly update plugins for latest features and fixes
• Document plugin version changes

3. Performance Considerations

• Avoid installing too many plugins that affect performance
• Use caching mechanism to improve formatting speed
• Test plugin performance impact in CI

4. Team Collaboration

• Document used plugins
• Ensure team members install the same plugins
• Verify plugin configuration in CI

By properly using Prettier plugins, you can extend its functionality to meet formatting needs for various projects.