A plugin fills one stage, often in under 25 lines

vx is a pipeline with a named hook at every stage. A plugin fills only
the stage it needs. This one picks which ready task starts first:

import { definePlugin, type VxPlugin } from '@vzn/vx'

export function prioritize(ids: readonly string[]): VxPlugin {
  return definePlugin(import.meta, {
    schedule(nodes) {
      const weights = new Map<string, number>()
      for (const [i, id] of ids.entries()) if (nodes.has(id)) weights.set(id, 1e6 - i)
      return weights
    },
  })
}

Add prioritize(['app#build']) to plugins in .vx/workspace.ts.
Every stage has a tested example in private/vx-plugin-examples:

The stages, in order

In words: config → discover → project → graph → key → fingerprint →
schedule → admit → executor, with setup and teardown around the
run and commands for new verbs.

Stage	What a plugin can do there
config	See and adjust the workspace config before anything uses it.
discover	Name directories to make projects beyond the package manager's members.
project	Add, remove or edit one loaded project's tasks.
graph	Add or drop edges, mark tasks requested.
key	Contribute extra cache-key material per task.
fingerprint	Claim a root file such as a lockfile and key it per project.
schedule	Return a priority per ready task.
admit	Vet each local dispatch against what is running right now; false holds the task.
executor	Decide where one task's command runs.
cache	Provide a remote where artifacts live.
telemetry	Receive plain-data run records. Cannot change behaviour, by construction.
output	Return a Logger that draws the run's terminal output in place of vx's.
setup	Once per run, after the planning stages and before the first task.
commands	Add a CLI verb. A verb named like a core verb is refused, so nothing shadows vx run.
teardown	Flush and close at the end of the run.

Plugins run in the order .vx/workspace.ts lists them. A plugin's name
is its package name, read from import.meta.

vx's own plugins use the same hooks

Plugin	Hooks
turbo() (@vzn/vx-migrate)	project: turbo.json becomes vx tasks
@vzn/vx-lockfile	fingerprint: keys each task on its own dependencies
@vzn/vx-history	schedule, admit, commands
@vzn/vx-reapi	executor and cache over Bazel's remote API
turboCache(), nxCache()	cache on Turbo's and Nx's wire
@vzn/vx-otel, @vzn/vx-ci	telemetry

Each imports core only through @vzn/vx, and a test pins that surface.
When core grows a branch for one consumer, the plugin point is too
narrow, so we widen it. Core applies no plugin by default.

Only running and caching here are built in (running here is not a
plugin).

Guide: Writing a vx plugin. More at
vznjs.github.io/vx.

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Originally published on the vx blog. vx is open-source (MIT) task orchestration with a build cache: vznjs.github.io/vx · GitHub.

_{Written with AI assistance.}