Essential Development Tools for UXP

Let's explore the essential tools to start building UXP plugins

Code Editor

A reliable Code Editor helps you stay organized and productive. Any modern editor will work, but Visual Studio Code is a popular choice thanks to its strong ecosystem, extensions for formatting and linting, and seamless integration with UXP-related workflows. Cursor is also a great option for developers who prefer a more AI-driven development experience.

UXP Developer Tool (UDT)

The UXP Developer Tool (UDT) simplifies the process of creating, loading, managing, and debugging plugins for Adobe's UXP-powered applications. UXP plugins are supported in Premiere v25.6 and later since UDT v2.2.

In addition, the UXP Developer Tool:

• Includes a Code Playground to quickly test and explore APIs.
• Lets you package plugins into a .ccx installable file, ready for distribution.
• Provides Starter Templates and Sample Projects to help you get moving faster

Installation

You can install UDT directly from Creative Cloud or by following these steps:

1. Open the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app. If you don't have it installed, download and install it here.
2. Sign in with your Adobe ID if you haven't already.
3. Go to the All apps section, where you'll find "UXP Developer Tools" listed; type "UXP Developer Tools" in the search bar for easier access.
4. Click Install on the UXP Developer Tools card to begin installation.

First launch

When you launch the Developer Tool for the first time, you'll be prompted to enable Developer Mode. This is required for you to load plugins in development into the application. Once you click Enable, elevated permissions will be requested, and you may be required to enter your password or approve an action from the Developer Tool.

If you have problems with this step, you can also configure Developer Mode manually, although you must have Administrative privileges to do so.

1. Quit the UXP Developer Tool

2. Navigate to /Library/Application Support/Adobe/UXP/Developer on macOS, or %CommonProgramFiles%/Adobe/UXP/Developer on Windows. If the folder does not exist, you can create it—you'll need administrative rights.

3. Create a new file named settings.json with the following content—you'll need administrative rights to save the file:

   Copy
   { "developer" : true }
   Copied to your clipboard
   { "developer" : true }

4. Launch the UXP Developer Tool again.

For now, successfully installing UDT is sufficient. We will understand UDT in more depth once you build your first plugin.

Last updated 11/10/2025

Was this helpful?

Yes

No