I want to know About Meshery Plugin Development

Meshery
1

Hey everyone,

I have exploring Meshery & it is for managing service meshes. I want to know about diving deeper into plugin development or contributing in some way but I am a bit unsure where to start.

Are there any beginner-friendly docs, tutorials or even video walkthroughs that walk through how plugins are built and how Meshery handles extensibility under the hood?

Also, does the community follow any preferred stack or conventions for writing custom adapters or extensions? I noticed a lot of Go being used so I am brushing up on that too just enrolled in a Golang Training to be better prepared :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:.

I want to hear from someone who is already tinkered with plugin work or has some helpful tips before I go too deep on my own.

Thank you.:slight_smile:

2

Hey @Elenana! :waving_hand:

Great to see your interest in Meshery and especially in diving into plugin and adapter development! :tada: Meshery is a cloud native manager, and its architecture is built with extensibility in mind. And there’s plenty of room for contributors to innovate with adapters, extensions, and the Meshery UI.

Where to Start

  • Docs: The Meshery documentation has a dedicated section for Adapters and Extensions that outlines how components integrate with the Meshery server.
  • Tutorials & Walkthroughs: Check out the Layer5 YouTube channel there are several community calls and recorded sessions where core contributors explain adapter patterns and extension workflows.
  • Good First Issues: The Meshery GitHub repo and meshery-adapters often have “good first issue” labels for newcomers.

Tech Stack & Conventions

You can check this : Repository Overview

Tips Before Diving In

  1. Start Small – Explore the existing adapters’ code (e.g., Istio, Linkerd) to get familiar with the architecture.
  2. Join Community Calls – The Meshery community call is a great place to discuss ideas or blockers. As a MeshMate, I can say everyone is incredibly welcoming and happy to guide new contributors.
  3. Experiment Locally – Running Meshery with a couple of adapters locally will help you understand the interaction model firsthand.