OwnCord/docs/architecture/plugins.md

Plugins — the experimental boundary

Kind: reference + boundary record. Verified against: dev @ 2b2d58ab, 2026-08-29. Satisfies: BPR-080, BPR-081, BG-17; feeds HP-2 question 6.

OwnCord has a WASM plugin runtime. It is experimental, off by default, and absent from every shipped artifact. This document says exactly what exists, what it may not be relied on for, what could become a plugin after beta, and what never will.

Status: off, twice — and not in the release at all

Layer	Fact	Anchor
Build tag	WASM execution compiles only under -tags wazero. The default build discovers and lists manifests but never executes a module	Server/plugin/sandbox_default.go:1-5 (//go:build !wazero); sandbox_wazero.go is the tagged twin
Config	plugins.enabled defaults to false; the example config block is commented out and says "Disabled by default so existing operators are unaffected"	Server/config/config.go:352; :449-457
Startup	The registry is only built when the flag is on; otherwise the plugin admin handler gets nil, lifecycle calls answer 503 and the list is empty	Server/main.go:394; Server/api/router.go:35-37, :184
Release builds	release.yml builds chatserver.exe / chatserver with a plain go build — no wazero tag. The Docker image does the same. No shipped binary can run a plugin.	.github/workflows/release.yml:261, :268; Server/Dockerfile:13
CI	The wazero variants are compiled on every PR so they cannot rot, but their tests run only under the tag	.github/workflows/ci.yml:52-55, :79

Configuration audit for HP-2 question 6 — is WASM off in every shape a server can take?

Shape	Verdict	Why
Fresh install	off	default false (config.go:352); the generated config.yaml has the block commented out (:452-457)
Upgraded install	off	an older config.yaml has no plugins key; koanf loads defaults first, so the absent key reads as false. Unknown keys are rejected, not silently ignored (Server/config/unknown_keys_test.go)
Docker	off	image built without the tag (Dockerfile:13); OWNCORD_PLUGINS_ENABLED=true (config.go:525-526 env provider) would flip the flag but the binary still cannot execute a module
Standalone release binary	off	same — no tag (release.yml:261, :268)
Source build with the flag	on	only go build -tags wazero and plugins.enabled: true together run WASM. This is the developer path and the only one

No API promise

The plugin ABI — the five guest exports (command_dispatch, allocate, deallocate, list_commands, and the manifest contract) — may change or be removed in any release without a deprecation period (Server/plugin/examples/hello/README.md:6-10). There are no supported plugins, so there is nothing to keep compatible with. The example under Server/plugin/examples/hello/ is a reference for the ABI as it stands, not a promise about the ABI to come; its prebuilt .wasm is not tracked (.gitignore:59) and is not byte-reproducible (TinyGo embeds host paths — hello/README.md:70-74).

Release-notes wording for beta. Use this text, unchanged, in the beta release notes and anywhere plugins are mentioned to operators:

Plugins are experimental. The WASM runtime is compiled out of release binaries and disabled by default in source builds. The plugin API carries no compatibility promise and may change or be removed without notice. Do not build on it for production use.

What exists today (for the record)

Enough to know what "experimental" is guarding. All paths under Server/plugin/.

Aspect	State	Anchor
Runtime	wazero, one module instance per plugin, closed on context done	sandbox_wazero.go:102-103
Manifest	JSON plugin.json; TOML plugin.toml only under the tag and preferred when both exist. Entrypoint must be a relative .wasm path. A zip with both is rejected as ambiguous (OC-0318)	manifest.go:52-61, :115, :144-148; manifest_toml.go:1-5; loader.go:39; test registry_test.go:696-700
Capabilities	closed set commands, events, storage, http, ui; anything else fails load	manifest.go:97-112, :151
Memory	per-plugin linear-memory cap from manifest or plugins.max_memory_mb (default 64 MiB), clamped to the wazero page limit	sandbox_wazero.go:84-97, :102; config.go:126, :354
CPU	a wall-clock deadline per invocation — manifest, then plugins.cpu_budget_ms, then a hard 100 ms floor. Not fuel-based: a runaway loop is killed by closing the module	sandbox_wazero.go:300-325; config.go:128, :355; TOML resource keys decode (OC-0338) — test manifest_test.go:149-155
HTTP	only hosts on plugins.http_allowlist (empty by default), 10 s timeout, body cap, at most 5 redirects re-validated, through the guarded dialer that refuses private, loopback, link-local and CGN answers	host_http.go:39, :66, :87-102, :112, :136-155, :182-249; tests TestGuardedDial_*
Storage	a per-plugin key/value namespace, scan size clamped; no other table is reachable	pluginstore.go:12-24; host_storage.go:27-66
Filesystem	none — no WASI preview-1 filesystem is mounted	sandbox_wazero.go:77-78
Host imports	none are wired into the runtime yet. The http, storage, events and ui APIs exist on the Go side of the registry; a guest module today can only receive command_dispatch	sandbox_wazero.go:311-316
Admin surface	GET /, POST /install (zip), POST /{id}/enable, POST /{id}/disable, DELETE /{id} under /api/v1/admin/plugins, behind the admin IP allowlist and an admin session — a LAN peer on the allowed CIDR cannot install without one. Install and uninstall are audited	Server/api/plugins_handler.go:43-47; Server/api/router.go:171-186; test TestAuditCoverage_PluginLifecycle
Client	no plugin UI exists in the desktop client	grep -rn plugin Client/src hits only @tauri-apps/plugin-* imports

Could become a plugin after beta (BPR-081)

Cohesive features and provider integrations that are natural plugin shapes. During beta they stay where they are, in core, behind the same tests — the audit names them so the boundary is a decision, not drift. Nothing on this list moves behind the experimental runtime before a supported plugin API exists.

Candidate	Lives today	Why it is a candidate
GIF provider (Klipy)	Server/api/gif_handler.go (server proxy, gif.api_key)	one vendor behind one endpoint; swapping vendors should not touch core
Link-preview and embed providers (YouTube oEmbed, OG)	Client/src/components/message-list/media.ts, embeds.ts (moves behind the B7 native broker first — C-09)	provider-shaped; the destination policy stays core
Slash commands and automation	the plugin_command protocol family already exists (protocol/schema.json)	the one thing the runtime can dispatch today
Webhooks (inbound and outbound)	not implemented	classic integration seam
Optional moderation automation	not implemented; human moderation in Server/service/moderation.go	may suggest; human authority and the moderation audit trail stay core
UI tabs / panels	ui capability reserved (host_ui.go), no client side	display-only extension point
Import/export bridges (other chat platforms)	not implemented	one-shot data movers with no security surface of their own
Observability exporters	Server/telemetry/ (OTel, -tags otel, exporter none by default)	already a build-tagged optional edge

Core that never moves

These stay in the server and client proper, permanently, whatever the plugin system becomes. A plugin may call some of them; none may replace or bypass them.

Concern	Owner
Authentication, sessions, 2FA	Server/auth/, Server/api/auth_handler.go
Authorization	Server/permissions/ (one predicate per property — B2-5)
TLS and certificate pinning	Server/auth/tls.go; Client/src-tauri/src/tofu.rs
Safe outbound fetch	Server/plugin/host_http.go guarded dialer; the B7 native broker (C-09)
Quotas and rate limits	Server/auth/ratelimit*.go, per-action limits in Server/service/
Voice/video E2EE	Client/src/lib/e2eeCrypto.ts, livekitE2EE.ts, identity.ts; Server/ws/voice_e2ee.go
Updates and signatures	Server/updater/, Server/api/client_update.go
Deletion and account removal	Server/db/account.go
Backup and recovery	Server/admin/handlers_backup.go, Server/db/admin_queries.go
Moderation audit	Server/db/audit*.go, Server/db/audittest/, TestAuditCoverage_*

The trust statements these back are in ../trust-model.md.

Maintenance

Source of truth: Server/plugin/, Server/config/config.go (PluginsConfig and its defaults), Server/main.go (registry construction), .github/workflows/release.yml and Server/Dockerfile (build flags), Server/plugin/examples/hello/README.md (ABI and toolchain). A change to any of those that alters a row above updates this document in the same PR. The release-notes paragraph is quoted verbatim by the beta release; change it here first.