Prerequisites
Before you scaffold and deploy your first UI plugin, make sure you have the following in place.
Required software
Node.js and npm
The SailPoint starter template is an Angular application, so you need a current LTS release of Node.js (which includes npm). Node 20 or later is recommended.
SailPoint CLI
UI plugin workflows are driven entirely by the SailPoint CLI. Install it and confirm it is on your PATH:
sail --version
If you have not used the CLI before, follow the CLI documentation to install it and configure an environment.
Authentication
The CLI must be authenticated against the tenant you want to build in. UI plugin commands that reach the backend (create, link, upload, list, delete) resolve the target tenant from your active CLI environment, and init validates your chosen alias against that tenant before scaffolding.
Configure an environment and a personal access token (PAT) with the CLI, then confirm the active environment:
sail env
Tenant enablement and rights
UI Plugins are an experimental, gated capability. To work with them, your tenant must have the feature enabled, and your user must hold the appropriate rights. The backend enforces a distinct right per operation:
| Operation | Required right |
|---|---|
| Create a plugin instance | idn:plugins-ui:create |
| Read / list plugin instances | idn:plugins-ui:read |
| Link, unlink, or upload assets | idn:plugins-ui:update |
| Delete a plugin instance | idn:plugins-ui:delete |
If the feature is not enabled for your tenant, backend calls return a "not enabled for this tenant" error. If you are missing a right, the CLI reports which right the operation requires.
Enable the experimental command group
While UI Plugins are experimental, the sail ui-plugins command group is hidden from the CLI's default command discovery. Enable it for your shell session by setting an environment variable:
export SAIL_EXPERIMENTAL_UI_PLUGINS=1
Without it, any sail ui-plugins command fails with:
Error: the `sail ui-plugins` command group is experimental and currently disabled. Enable it with `SAIL_EXPERIMENTAL_UI_PLUGINS=1`
Add the export to your shell profile (for example, ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc) so you do not have to set it in every new terminal.
Recommended knowledge
The starter template is an Angular project, so familiarity with Angular, TypeScript, HTML, and CSS is helpful. You can also attach the SailPoint UI plugin SDK to an existing web application — see sail ui-plugins init --path in the CLI command reference.