I’m new to creating plugins. I create several scripts for Adobe Illustrator for personal use and would like to turn them into plugins. Everything I see is only for Photoshop and XD, can anyone help me with a step-by-step guide to start creating a plugin or extension for Illustrator? If this is in the wrong forum, I apologize.
You’ve stumbled into the “UXP” forums. UXP is a modern JavaScript extensibility platform.
Unfortunately, Illustrator has not yet adapted the UXP platform at the time of this writing (nor do they have plans for it in 2024 that I’m aware of). To develop a plugin for Illustrator (at the time of this writing) you’ll have to use CEP for a JavaScript environment… or alternately try the C++ SDKs.
This Getting Started Guide uses Photoshop examples but also applies to Illustrator: GitHub - Adobe-CEP/Getting-Started-guides: Getting Started guides and samples for CEP extensions
The full CEP documentation is here: CEP-Resources/CEP_11.x/Documentation/CEP 11.1 HTML Extension Cookbook.md at master · Adobe-CEP/CEP-Resources · GitHub
If you’re interested in the C++ SDK for Illustrator, download the documentation here: https://console.adobe.io/downloads/ai … actually my link seems broken 
In the Console you need to browse to “Downloads” and search for Illustrator:
Could you help me? In the documentation for creating my own extensions, it says that later it can be added through “Windows” > “Extensions” … but in “Extensions,” I only have “Libraries.”
I can’t figure out how to test my CEP extension locally before deploying it to Creative Cloud.
Have you enabled debug mode?
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I did as per the link, and in regex, I created a variable for debugging and created a file in the extension code folder. The problem is that in C:\Users\{USER_NAME}\AppData\Roaming\Adobe there is no CEP/extensions folder, and creating it manually didn’t help.
You might get some more help in this forum: https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/ct-p/ct-illustrator?page=1&sort=latest_replies&filter=all&lang=all&tabid=discussions&topics=label-sdk
Anyway, when it comes to CEP extensions, they can be in any of the three locations documented here: CEP-Resources/CEP_11.x/Documentation/CEP 11.1 HTML Extension Cookbook.md at master · Adobe-CEP/CEP-Resources · GitHub
A little over a year ago I complained that there’s not really an end-to-end guide to CEP plugins. You can (painstakingly) download the CEP test extension from here: CEP-Resources/CEP_11.x/Samples/CEP_HTML_Test_Extension-10.0 at master · Adobe-CEP/CEP-Resources · GitHub
And then self-sign it: Getting-Started-guides/Package Distribute Install at master · Adobe-CEP/Getting-Started-guides · GitHub
And install it; I recommend this method: https://install.anastasiy.com/
If the sample “Anywhere” CEP plugin shows up as expected, there’s probably something wrong with your manifest of your extension. Check the CSXS version and the version of apps you’re saying it’s compatible with.
All of the detailed documentation is in the CEP Cookbook: CEP-Resources/CEP_11.x/Documentation/CEP 11.1 HTML Extension Cookbook.md at master · Adobe-CEP/CEP-Resources · GitHub