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Welcome to the MuseScore plugins documentation!

This page gives a brief overview of the topics related to plugins development.

Plugin development overview

Here are some points concerning MuseScore plugin development:

Plugins are QML components.

MuseScore plugins are coded in QML. Each plugin is a QML component using which implements some logic inside its instance of \ref Ms::PluginAPI::PluginAPI "MuseScore" class and are capable to interact both with MuseScore API and with Qt itself (so MuseScore plugins can create their own windows, dialogs). Most of the plugins are contained within a single .qml file though they may contain more items like resources and translation files.

Debugging plugins

MuseScore provides a simple plugin code editor which allows developing and instantly testing the developed plugin. This editor can be launched with Plugins → Plugin Creator menu item or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P.

Clicking on a New button will create a sample plugin, you can also run your plugin with the Run button and see some debugging output in the console window below the editing area. In order to print some debugging messages to that console use console.log():

var e = newElement(Element.STAFF_TEXT);
console.log("the created element:", e, e.name);

Alternatively, you can edit your plugin's code with your favourite text editor and test it by launching it from MuseScore as long as the plugin is properly installed. See this Handbook page for the reference on plugins installation.

Hello World plugin

Here is an example of a simple plugin which prints "Hello World" to the debugging console:

import MuseScore 3.0

MuseScore {
    menuPath: "Plugins.pluginName"
    description: "Description goes here"
    version: "1.0"
    onRun: {
        console.log("Hello World!");
        Qt.quit();
    }
}

Here is what happens here.

  • import MuseScore 3.0 is necessary to use MuseScore API in QML code.
  • The MuseScore { ... } statement declares an object of MuseScore type (\ref Ms::PluginAPI::PluginAPI is exposed to QML as MuseScore). This should be the root object of any QML plugin for MuseScore.
  • Statements like menuPath: "Plugins.pluginName" assign properties to that object, see \ref Ms::PluginAPI::PluginAPI "the class reference" for the meaning of those properties. Apart from the properties listed in that page, you can assign any other properties and/or declare other QML objects too.
  • onRun() is the function that is invoked when the plugin is executed (via a menu entry or via a shortcut). This is the entry point of your plugin.
  • Qt.quit() statement requests termination of the plugin's execution.

Documentation from Earlier Versions

Although it is not up to date, documentation for creating plugins for earlier versions is available and may be useful. https://musescore.org/en/handbook/developers-handbook/plugin-development

Plugins Installed By Default

MuseScore is shipped with a set of simple plugins which can also be used as a reference while developing your own plugins.

ABC Import

This plugin imports ABC text from a file or the clipboard. Internet connection is required, because it uses an external web-service for the conversion, which uses abc2xml and gets send the ABC data, returns MusicXML and imports that into MuseScore.

Color Notes

This demo plugin colors notes in the selected range (or the entire score), depending on their pitch. It colors the note head of all notes in all staves and voices according to the Boomwhackers convention. Each pitch has a different color. C and C♯ have different color. C♯ and D♭ have the same color. To color all the notes in black, just run that plugin again (on the same selection). You could also use the 'Remove Notes Color' plugin for this.

Create Score

This demo plugin creates a new score. It creates a new piano score with 4 quarters C D E F. It's a good start to learn how to make a new score and add notes from a plugin.

helloQml

This demo plugin shows some basic tasks.

Note Names

This plugin names notes in the selected range or the entire score. It displays the names of the notes (as a staff text) as per MuseScore's language settings, for voices 1 and 3 above the staff, for voices 2 and 4 below the staff, and for chords in a comma-separated list, starting with the top note.

Note Names -Interactive

This plugin names notes as per your language setting.

Panel

This demo plugin creates a GUI panel.

random

Creates a random score.

random2

Creates a random score too.

run

This demo plugin runs an external command. Probably this will only work on Linux.

scorelist

This test plugin iterates through the score list.

View

Demo plugin to demonstrate the use of a ScoreView

Walk

This test plugin walks through all elements in a score

Porting MuseScore 2 plugins

This documentation corresponds to the plugins API for MuseScore 3.X version. To see the information on its difference from MuseScore 2 plugins API as well as some instructions on adapting MuseScore 2 plugins code to work with MuseScore 3, please refer to the \ref plugin2to3 page.

Internationalization

For the questions related to making a plugin translatable to different languages please refer to https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/blob/master/doc/i18n.md.