mikkeli
1ddba77c28
Adapted from musiikki/codename-206, where the same script guards a single plugin. It matters more here: renaming is the first thing anyone does with a template, and identity is duplicated across Cargo.toml, bundler.toml, src/lib.rs and the docs with nothing keeping them in agreement. A half-finished rename builds a bundle under one name while the docs and deploy script look for another. Changes from the codename-206 original: - Checks for files this repo does not ship (deploy.ps1) report as `skip` rather than FAIL, and start enforcing once the file appears. - STALE ships pre-seeded with this template's own placeholders, and each entry is skipped while it is still part of a canonical value. That makes renaming self-checking: entries arm themselves as you change the value they belong to, with no bookkeeping. Substring rather than equality, because placeholders nest — "your-domain" lives inside the canonical CLAP_ID. - Covers identity this template carries that codename-206's did not: VENDOR, EMAIL, the Cargo homepage feeding Plugin::URL, that the `env!` indirection is still in place, and the README's bundle command. - Asserts CLAP_ID is reverse-DNS safe. A stray capital or space there is not a compile error, it is a silent identity change between machines. Two placeholder spellings had to move to avoid false positives, since a checker that cries wolf trains you to ignore it: bundler.toml's comment contained the literal "Plugin Name", and the CLAP_ID TODO spelled the placeholder a third way that matched neither the constant nor the STALE list. The TODO now illustrates the form instead of repeating a placeholder. .gitattributes pins *.sh to LF so core.autocrlf=true on Windows cannot check the script out with a CRLF shebang that dash rejects. Verified three ways: clean template passes, a partial rename names every drifted file, and a complete rename passes and still compiles. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01WHt4DykxXaQnyaJfyS8KCn
NIH-plug Template
Minimal scaffold for new NIH-plug audio plugins (Rust + CLAP/VST3 + egui).
Based on patterns from musiikki/codename-206.
Quick Start
# Clone this repo as your starting point
git clone http://192.168.2.199:3005/musiikki/nih-plug-template my-plugin
cd my-plugin
# Edit: src/lib.rs, Cargo.toml, bundler.toml — replace placeholder values
# See musiikki/codename-206 for a real-world example of how to fill these in
# Then verify the rename landed everywhere
sh check-branding.sh
Renaming
Branding is duplicated across Cargo.toml, bundler.toml, src/lib.rs and the docs,
and nothing makes those agree — so a half-finished rename builds a bundle under one name
while the docs and deploy script look for another.
check-branding.sh declares the identity once at the top and asserts every copy matches:
sh check-branding.sh # exit 0 = consistent, 1 = drift found
To rename: edit the canonical block at the top of the script, run it, and fix everything
it reports. The placeholder spellings are pre-seeded into its STALE list, and each one
arms itself as soon as you change the matching canonical value — so leftovers surface
without you having to track them. It also asserts VST3_CLASS_ID is exactly 16 bytes and
that CLAP_ID is reverse-DNS safe, both of which are otherwise a compile error or a
silent identity change between machines.
Checks for files the template doesn't ship (e.g. a deploy.ps1) report as skip and
start enforcing once you add them.
Build
# Install Rust via rustup: https://rustup.rs
# No VST3 SDK needed — NIH-plug bundles its own bindings.
# Build + bundle the CLAP (default)
cargo xtask bundle nih_plug_template --release
# Add the VST3 as well — see the licensing note below before you do this
cargo xtask bundle nih_plug_template --release --features vst3
Output: target/bundled/<name>.clap (and <name>.vst3 with --features vst3), where
<name> is the name set in bundler.toml — not the crate name. Out of the box that
means target/bundled/Plugin Name.clap.
On Linux the egui editor needs the GUI development headers:
sudo apt install pkg-config libgl-dev libx11-dev libxcursor-dev libxcb1-dev \
libxcb-icccm4-dev libxcb-dri2-0-dev libx11-xcb-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev
Deploy
FL Studio
Build with --features vst3 first if you want the VST3 (see the licensing note below).
FL Studio scans C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 by default, ignores directory junctions
(so a symlinked bundle is invisible to its scanner), and caches failed scans.
- Copy the
.vst3bundle to a folder FL scans (e.g.C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3). - Copy the
.clapbundle to a folder FL scans (e.g.C:\Program Files\Common Files\CLAP). - In FL Studio: Options → Manage plugins → tick "Rescan previously failed plugins" → Find installed plugins, then search for your plugin name (set in
bundler.toml).
Linux
# CLAP
cp -r "target/bundled/Plugin Name.clap" ~/.clap/
# VST3 (only exists if you built with --features vst3)
cp -r "target/bundled/Plugin Name.vst3" ~/.vst3/
# Or globally:
# sudo cp -r "target/bundled/Plugin Name.clap" /usr/lib/clap/
# sudo cp -r "target/bundled/Plugin Name.vst3" /usr/lib/vst3/
Project Structure
Cargo.toml # Package deps + the opt-in `vst3` feature — NIH-plug pinned to codename-206's rev
bundler.toml # Bundle name for `cargo xtask bundle`
src/lib.rs # Plugin skeleton — params, DSP, and egui editor, with one example gain param
xtask/ # Bundler xtask (cargo xtask bundle)
.cargo/config.toml # xtask alias
check-branding.sh # Asserts the plugin's identity strings agree everywhere (see Renaming)
.gitattributes # Pins *.sh to LF so Windows checkouts keep a valid shebang
License
Apache-2.0
VST3 Licensing Note
NIH-plug's VST3 bindings (vst3-sys) are GPLv3. Linking them makes the resulting binary
GPLv3 regardless of what Cargo.toml declares, so VST3 is behind an opt-in vst3 feature
and this template builds CLAP only by default. That keeps the default build consistent with
the Apache-2.0 licence in Cargo.toml/LICENSE.
If you want to ship a VST3:
- Build with
--features vst3. - Relicense your plugin as GPLv3 (or obtain a commercial Steinberg licence) and update
Cargo.toml,LICENSE, and the SPDX headers insrc/. - Accept Steinberg's VST3 SDK licence.
CLAP has no such restriction.