Extensions

Snapcraft extensions enable snap developers to easily incorporate a set of common requirements into a snap.

These requirements can include build and staging packages, plugs and interfaces, file layouts and environments, and whatever other project file elements may be required to build a functioning system.

A snap developer creating a GTK3 application snap, for example, can use the gnome-3-28 extension to expose the GTK3 libraries to a snap at build and runtime without the snap developer needing specific deep knowledge about GTK3. There are extensions for building robotics (ROS 2) applications too, including the ROS2 Humble Extension.

Extensions help:

• Avoid repetitive tasks in the crafting process

• Work around the need for in-depth knowledge of the target software stack

• Create a standard template for common application requirements

• Reduce the testing and security burden, as they’re tested and updated independently

For a full list of supported extensions, see the Extensions reference.