Plugins Guidelines

Plugins unlock custom functionality on Sudowrite, empowering our writer community to build and share totally custom tools. With great power comes great responsibility though, so here are some guidelines as to what we expect from our community when it comes to building and sharing Plugins.

The Plugins drop-down in your toolbar is like a Swiss Army Knife, only you get to decide the tools you’ll fill it with. You can do so by adding Plugins from the Explore page or by building them yourself.

Generally speaking, we expect Plugins to enhance or enrich the writing process. This might mean making it easier, faster, more creative, or more joyful. Plugins may be used for analysis, generation, interpretation, or even to accomplish specialized writing techniques. We don’t want to be overly prescriptive about what you should make though! Our main advice is to reflect on your workflow and get creative.

Here are a few helpful guidelines to keep in mind as you build:

✅ Use short, descriptive titles. The Plugin’s title will show up in the Plugins drop-down, so short and sweet helps the UX.

✅ Keep Plugin titles and descriptions PG-13. Use NSFW designations when merited.

✅ Be clear about the input necessary. Not everyone will read your Plugin’s full prompt, so try to say how it works in the description. (Ex. “Highlight at least 200 words.”)

✅ Be clear about the expected output. Say exactly what a user should expect to get out of using your Plugin—whether that’s an analysis, finished prose, multiple cards, or something else. (Ex. “This Plugin will generate two separate cards of prepared prose.)

✅  Share what you build! You’re encouraged to Publish and share the Plugins you’ve built. But also…

❌ Leave broken Plugins Unlisted. It can take a little experimentation to get a Plugin working just right. If it’s not working as described or intended, leave it Unlisted until it is.

❌ Try not to delete Plugins people depend on. Deleting a Plugin altogether will remove it for everyone who has ever added it. That might break things for others who have come to depend on it, so default to toggling it to Unlisted if necessary.

This part should be obvious, but to keep everyone safe we don’t allow Plugins that are dangerous, hateful, or illegal.

You can view the list of prohibited uses here.

As you discover and experiment with Plugins, you may encounter Plugins that don’t work as described. If you’re able to find the creator in Discord, let them know so they have the opportunity to fix it up. Otherwise, you can let us know, and we can toggle it to Unlisted until we can get in touch with them.

Meanwhile, if you find a Plugin that you feel weird about—maybe you’re concerned it’s in violation of our rules above—feel free to drop us a note and we’ll give it a look. Contact us at hi@sudowrite.com or reach out to our Community Lead, Michael Stewart, on Discord.

Please email hi@sudowrite.com with your questions or concerns. Alternatively, raise them in the community Discord server!