A new plugin can be created from scratch by running following Maven command:

mvn -U archetype:generate -Dfilter=io.jenkins.archetypes:

This invokes the generation of a new plugin from several project archetypes and requests for all mandatory information like groupId, artifactId, initial version and package structure.

The plugin workspace is structured as follows:

• Project root: Maven build configuration pom.xml and all the project subdirectories
• src/main/java: Deliverable Java source code files
• src/main/resources: Deliverable resources, such as Jelly and property files for UI
• src/main/webapp: Static resources, such as images and HTML files
• src/test/java: Unit testing classes
• src/test/resources: Necessary resources for unit tests only

Maven is generally used to build Jenkins plugins and stores the configuration in the pom.xml located at the root directory. New plugin are based on the Plugin Parent POM:

<parent>
    <groupId>org.jenkins-ci.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>plugin</artifactId>
    <version>3.42</version>
    <relativePath />
</parent>

The Jenkins baseline version and Java level are mandatory and can be set via Maven property:

<properties>
    <jenkins.version>2.164.1</jenkins.version>
    <java.level>8</java.level>
</properties>

• Start a new plugin
• Jenkins Parent POM