### Build plugins
A plugin is a basic <b>python</b> function that takes positional arguments i.e one being <b>request</b> and the other <b>config</b>. We allow the function to have access to the request object (if data were submitted) and to QCMS configuration if any configuration data is needed.

    
    <div class="source-code editor border">
        <span class="code-comment"># saving this function to www/html/_plugins/myplugins.py</span>
        <span class="code-comment">#</span>
        <span class="keyword">import</span> numpy as np
        <span class="keyword">import</span> cms 

        @cms.Plugin(mimetype="application/json", methods=["POST"])
        <span class="keyword">def</span> demo(**_args):
            req = _args['request']
            conf= _args['config']
            <span class="keyword">return</span> {"name":"foo","age":np.random.randint(0,100)}
    </div>

### Register Plugin

Once a plugin is build it needs to be registered, in order to allow the function be made available to calling code (JS/HTML5) 

<div class="source-code">
$ qcms plugin-register qcms-manifest.json myplugins.py --import demo
</div>

Calling the registered function as an API. The example uses <b>curl</ba>
<div class="source-code">
$ curl http://localhost:8000/api/myplugins/demo
</div>

### Limitations

**QCMS** lowers the barrier to entry and makes the following tradeoffs to deliver an optimal solution:
<ul>
    <i class="fa-solid fa-minus"></i> Plugins are basic python function that need to be registered with <b>QCMS</b> instance/site
    <br><i class="fa-solid fa-minus"></i> We delegate access control (read/write) to web content to a cloud service provider (nextcloud for now).
</ul>