---
name: "plasmaengineexplorer"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "plasma-sdk"
version: "6.8.2-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/plasmaengineexplorer"
---

# plasmaengineexplorer(1)

Provides direct access to plasma data engines

## NAME

plasmaengineexplorer - Provides direct access to plasma data engines

## SYNOPSIS

**plasmaengineexplorer** \[**-v, --version**\] \[**-h, --help**\] \[**--list**\] \[**--height***pixels*\] \[**--width***pixels*\] \[**-x***pixels*\] \[**-y***pixels*\] \[**--engine***data engine*\] \[**--source***data engine*\] \[**--interval***ms*\] \[**--app***application*\]

**plasmaengineexplorer** \[KDE Generic Options\] \[Qt Generic Options\]

## DESCRIPTION

**plasmaengineexplorer** is a graphical tool allowing developers to test Plasma data engines without writing a Plasma applet.

If no options are given, it will start without any data engine selected. The required data engine can be selected from a drop-down list.

Only installed data engines will be found. **kbuildsycoca4** may need to be run for newly-installed data engines to be found.

## OPTIONS

- **-v, --version**

  Displays version information.

- **-h, --help**

  Displays this help.

- **--list** *pixels*

  Displays a list of known engines and their descriptions.

- **--height**

  Sets the height of the window, in pixels.

- **--width** *pixels*

  Sets the width of the window, in pixels.

- **-x** *pixels*

  Sets the x (horizontal) co-ordinate of the top left corner of the window, in pixels.

- **-y** *pixels*

  Sets the y (vertical) co-ordinate of the top left corner of the window, in pixels.

**--engine** *data engine*

Start **plasmaengineexplorer** with the given data engine selected. *data engine* is the internal name of the data engine given by the X-KDE-PluginInfo-Name key of the desktop file.

**--source** *data engine*

Only valid in conjunction with **--engine**. Requests a specific source from the data engine when **plasmaengineexplorer** is started.

- **--interval** *time*

  Sets the default update interval for requested sources to *time* milliseconds. If not set, the source will update on demand (for some sources, this will be when new data is available).

  If **--source** is specified, this is the update interval that will be used when requesting that source.

- **--app** *application*

  Only show engines associated with the parent application; maps to the X-KDE-ParentApp entry in the DataEngine's .desktop file.

## SEE ALSO

More detailed user documentation is available from **help:/plasma-desktop** (either enter this URL into Konqueror, or run **khelpcenter** *help:/plasma-desktop*).

## EXAMPLES

Load the time data engine, showing the local time and updating every second:

```
plasmaengineexplorer --engine time --source Local --interval 1000
```

## AUTHORS

**plasmaengineexplorer** was written by Aaron Seigo \<aseigo@kde.org\>.