Module Plugins 

Plugin Architecture

Responsibilities

This module provides a comprehensive plugin system for the Air daemon, enabling extensibility through dynamically loaded plugins that can enhance daemon functionality. The plugin system is responsible for:

• Plugin Discovery: Automatically discovering available plugins from configured directories
• Plugin Loading: Dynamically loading plugins into the daemon runtime
• Plugin Validation: Validating plugin metadata, dependencies, and compatibility
• Sandboxing: Isolating plugins to prevent crashes and security issues
• Lifecycle Management: Managing plugin states (load, start, stop, unload) with proper hooks
• API Registration: Extending the daemon API through plugin-provided commands and handlers
• Inter-Plugin Communication Enabling: plugins to communicate with each other via message passing
• Permission Management: Enforcing fine-grained permissions and capabilities for plugins
• Version Compatibility: Ensuring plugins are compatible with the daemon version
• Dependency Resolution: Resolving and validating plugin dependencies

VSCode Extension Architecture Patterns

This implementation draws inspiration from VSCode’s extension architecture:

• Reference: vs/platform/extensions/common/ extensionHostStarter.ts
• Reference: vs/server/node/ extensionHostConnection.ts
• Reference: vs/platform/remote/common/ remoteAgentConnection.ts

Patterns adopted from VSCode extensions:

• Separate extension host process for isolation and crash protection
• Activation events to trigger extension loading on-demand
• Contribution points for extending functionality
• Message-based communication between host and extensions
• State management and lifecycle hooks
• API versioning for backward compatibility
• Permission and capability descriptors

Integration with Cocoon Extension Host

The plugin system is designed to integrate with the Cocoon Extension Host (similar to VSCode’s extension host architecture). This provides:

• Isolated execution environments for plugins
• Crash recovery and resilience
• Resource management and limits
• Communication via IPC channels
• Hot reload capability without daemon restart

TODO: Future Enhancements

• Plugin Marketplace: Implement a central plugin marketplace for discovery and installation (similar to VSCode’s extension marketplace)
• Hot Reload Support: Implement live reloading of plugins without daemon restart
• Advanced Sandboxing: Add more sophisticated sandboxing with resource quotas, network isolation, and filesystem access controls
• Plugin Distribution: Implement plugin packaging, signing, and distribution mechanisms
• Automatic Updates: Add automatic plugin update checking and installation
• Telemetry Integration: Add plugin usage telemetry and reporting
• Plugin Profiles: Support multiple plugin configurations for different environments
• Security Audit: Implement comprehensive security audit and vulnerability scanning for plugins
• Performance Monitoring: Add detailed performance monitoring and profiling for plugins
• Plugin Debugging: Provide debugging tools and interfaces for plugin developers

Security and Isolation

• Plugins run in isolated processes to prevent daemon crashes
• Fine-grained permission system controls plugin capabilities
• API version compatibility checks prevent breaking changes
• Resource limits prevent plugin exhaustion attacks
• Plugin authentication and signing to prevent malicious plugins
• Filesystem and network access restrictions

Structs

ApiVersion

API version information

ApiVersionManager

API version manager

PluginCapability

Plugin capability and permission descriptor

PluginDependency

Plugin dependency specification

PluginDiscoveryResult

Plugin discovery result

PluginEventBus

Event bus for plugin events

PluginInfo

Plugin information for listing

PluginLoader

Plugin loader for discovering and loading plugins

PluginManager

Main plugin manager

PluginManifest

Plugin manifest

PluginMessage

Inter-plugin message

PluginMetadata

Plugin metadata

PluginRegistry

Plugin registry entry

PluginSandboxConfig

Plugin sandbox configuration

PluginSandboxManager

Plugin sandbox manager

Enums

PluginEvent

Plugin event types

PluginPermission

Plugin permission

PluginState

Plugin state tracking

PluginValidationResult

Plugin validation result

Traits

Plugin

Plugin interface trait

PluginEventHandler

Plugin event handler

PluginHooks

Plugin lifecycle hooks