[//]: # (title: Dokka plugins)
Dokka was built from the ground up to be easily extensible and highly customizable, which allows the community
to implement plugins for missing or very specific features that are not provided out of the box.
Dokka plugins range anywhere from supporting other programming language sources to exotic output formats. You can add
support for your own KDoc tags or annotations, teach Dokka how to render different DSLs that are found in KDoc
descriptions, visually redesign Dokka's pages to be seamlessly integrated into your company's website, integrate it
with other tools and so much more.
If you want to learn how to create Dokka plugins, see
[Developer guides](https://kotlin.github.io/dokka/%dokkaVersion%/developer_guide/introduction/).
## Apply Dokka plugins
Dokka plugins are published as separate artifacts, so to apply a Dokka plugin you only need to add it as a dependency.
From there, the plugin extends Dokka by itself - no further action is needed.
> Plugins that use the same extension points or work in a similar way can interfere with each other.
> This may lead to visual bugs, general undefined behaviour or even failed builds. However, it should not lead to
> concurrency issues since Dokka does not expose any mutable data structures or objects.
>
> If you notice problems like this, it's a good idea to check which plugins are applied and what they do.
>
{type="note"}
Let's have a look at how you can apply the [mathjax plugin](https://github.com/Kotlin/dokka/tree/master/plugins/mathjax)
to your project:
The Gradle plugin for Dokka creates convenient dependency configurations that allow you to apply plugins universally or
for a specific output format only.
```kotlin
dependencies {
// Is applied universally
dokkaPlugin("org.jetbrains.dokka:mathjax-plugin:%dokkaVersion%")
// Is applied for the single-module dokkaHtml task only
dokkaHtmlPlugin("org.jetbrains.dokka:kotlin-as-java-plugin:%dokkaVersion%")
// Is applied for HTML format in multi-project builds
dokkaHtmlPartialPlugin("org.jetbrains.dokka:kotlin-as-java-plugin:%dokkaVersion%")
}
```
> When documenting [multi-project](dokka-gradle.md#multi-project-builds) builds, you need to apply Dokka plugins within
> subprojects as well as in their parent project.
>
{type="note"}
The Gradle plugin for Dokka creates convenient dependency configurations that allow you to apply Dokka plugins universally or
for a specific output format only.
```groovy
dependencies {
// Is applied universally
dokkaPlugin 'org.jetbrains.dokka:mathjax-plugin:%dokkaVersion%'
// Is applied for the single-module dokkaHtml task only
dokkaHtmlPlugin 'org.jetbrains.dokka:kotlin-as-java-plugin:%dokkaVersion%'
// Is applied for HTML format in multi-project builds
dokkaHtmlPartialPlugin 'org.jetbrains.dokka:kotlin-as-java-plugin:%dokkaVersion%'
}
```
> When documenting [multi-project](dokka-gradle.md#multi-project-builds) builds, you need to apply Dokka plugins within
> subprojects as well as in their parent project.
>
{type="note"}
```xml
org.jetbrains.dokka
dokka-maven-plugin
...
org.jetbrains.dokka
mathjax-plugin
%dokkaVersion%
```
If you are using the [CLI](dokka-cli.md) runner with [command line options](dokka-cli.md#run-with-command-line-options),
Dokka plugins should be passed as `.jar` files to `-pluginsClasspath`:
```Shell
java -jar dokka-cli-%dokkaVersion%.jar \
-pluginsClasspath "./dokka-base-%dokkaVersion%.jar;...;./mathjax-plugin-%dokkaVersion%.jar" \
...
```
If you are using [JSON configuration](dokka-cli.md#run-with-json-configuration), Dokka plugins should be specified under
`pluginsClasspath`.
```json
{
...
"pluginsClasspath": [
"./dokka-base-%dokkaVersion%.jar",
"...",
"./mathjax-plugin-%dokkaVersion%.jar"
],
...
}
```
## Configure Dokka plugins
Dokka plugins can also have configuration options of their own. To see which options are available, consult
the documentation of the plugins you are using.
Let's have a look at how you can configure the `DokkaBase` plugin, which is responsible for generating [HTML](dokka-html.md)
documentation, by adding a custom image to the assets (`customAssets` option), by adding custom style sheets
(`customStyleSheets` option), and by modifying the footer message (`footerMessage` option):
Gradle's Kotlin DSL allows for type-safe plugin configuration. This is achievable by adding the plugin's artifact to
the classpath dependencies in the `buildscript` block, and then importing plugin and configuration classes:
```kotlin
import org.jetbrains.dokka.base.DokkaBase
import org.jetbrains.dokka.gradle.DokkaTask
import org.jetbrains.dokka.base.DokkaBaseConfiguration
buildscript {
dependencies {
classpath("org.jetbrains.dokka:dokka-base:%dokkaVersion%")
}
}
tasks.withType().configureEach {
pluginConfiguration {
customAssets = listOf(file("my-image.png"))
customStyleSheets = listOf(file("my-styles.css"))
footerMessage = "(c) 2022 MyOrg"
}
}
```
Alternatively, plugins can be configured via JSON. With this method, no additional dependencies are needed.
```kotlin
import org.jetbrains.dokka.gradle.DokkaTask
tasks.withType().configureEach {
val dokkaBaseConfiguration = """
{
"customAssets": ["${file("assets/my-image.png")}"],
"customStyleSheets": ["${file("assets/my-styles.css")}"],
"footerMessage": "(c) 2022 MyOrg"
}
"""
pluginsMapConfiguration.set(
mapOf(
// fully qualified plugin name to json configuration
"org.jetbrains.dokka.base.DokkaBase" to dokkaBaseConfiguration
)
)
}
```
```groovy
import org.jetbrains.dokka.gradle.DokkaTask
tasks.withType(DokkaTask.class) {
String dokkaBaseConfiguration = """
{
"customAssets": ["${file("assets/my-image.png")}"],
"customStyleSheets": ["${file("assets/my-styles.css")}"],
"footerMessage": "(c) 2022 MyOrg"
}
"""
pluginsMapConfiguration.set(
// fully qualified plugin name to json configuration
["org.jetbrains.dokka.base.DokkaBase": dokkaBaseConfiguration]
)
}
```
```xml
org.jetbrains.dokka
dokka-maven-plugin
...
${project.basedir}/my-image.png
${project.basedir}/my-styles.css
(c) MyOrg 2022 Maven
```
If you are using the [CLI](dokka-cli.md) runner with [command line options](dokka-cli.md#run-with-command-line-options),
use the `-pluginsConfiguration` option that accepts JSON configuration in the form of `fullyQualifiedPluginName=json`.
If you need to configure multiple plugins, you can pass multiple values separated by `^^`.
```Bash
java -jar dokka-cli-%dokkaVersion%.jar \
...
-pluginsConfiguration "org.jetbrains.dokka.base.DokkaBase={\"customAssets\": [\"my-image.png\"], \"customStyleSheets\": [\"my-styles.css\"], \"footerMessage\": \"(c) 2022 MyOrg CLI\"}"
```
If you are using [JSON configuration](dokka-cli.md#run-with-json-configuration), there exists a similar
`pluginsConfiguration` array that accepts JSON configuration in `values`.
```json
{
"moduleName": "Dokka Example",
"pluginsConfiguration": [
{
"fqPluginName": "org.jetbrains.dokka.base.DokkaBase",
"serializationFormat": "JSON",
"values": "{\"customAssets\": [\"my-image.png\"], \"customStyleSheets\": [\"my-styles.css\"], \"footerMessage\": \"(c) 2022 MyOrg\"}"
}
]
}
```
## Notable plugins
Here are some notable Dokka plugins that you might find useful:
| **Name** | **Description** |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [Android documentation plugin](https://github.com/Kotlin/dokka/tree/master/plugins/android-documentation) | Improves the documentation experience on Android |
| [Versioning plugin](https://github.com/Kotlin/dokka/tree/master/plugins/versioning) | Adds version selector and helps to organize documentation for different versions of your application/library |
| [MermaidJS HTML plugin](https://github.com/glureau/dokka-mermaid) | Renders [MermaidJS](https://mermaid-js.github.io/mermaid/#/) diagrams and visualizations found in KDocs |
| [Mathjax HTML plugin](https://github.com/Kotlin/dokka/tree/master/plugins/mathjax) | Pretty prints mathematics found in KDocs |
| [Kotlin as Java plugin](https://github.com/Kotlin/dokka/tree/master/plugins/kotlin-as-java) | Renders Kotlin signatures as seen from Java's perspective |
If you are a Dokka plugin author and would like to add your plugin to this list, get in touch with maintainers
via [Slack](dokka-introduction.md#community) or [GitHub](https://github.com/Kotlin/dokka/).