# Plugins Local plugins contribute daemon RPCs, native app surfaces, workspace panels, Command Center items, composer pills, app themes, and composer attachment sources from one `index.ts`. Paseo executes the server contribution in a subprocess and evaluates the client contribution in the app runtime. > **Trust every plugin you add.** `paseo plugin add` and `paseo plugin install` mean “I trust this codebase.” Plugins are unsandboxed: server code and Git preparation commands run with the daemon user's access on the daemon host, and client contributions run inside Paseo. The repository's dependencies and future updates are part of that trust decision. With `--host`, preparation runs on that remote daemon host. ## Install a directory source Create a typecheckable plugin project, install its development dependencies, then install it into the daemon. `init` only writes the project files; it does not run the package manager. ```bash paseo plugin init /absolute/path/to/my-plugin cd /absolute/path/to/my-plugin npm install npm run typecheck paseo plugin install /absolute/path/to/my-plugin paseo plugin install /absolute/path/to/my-plugin --id another-runtime-id paseo plugin ls ``` The daemon stores directory sources under the root `plugins` object: ```json { "pluginsEnabled": true, "plugins": { "my-plugin": { "source": "directory", "path": "/absolute/path/to/my-plugin", "enabled": true } } } ``` The plugin system is disabled unless `pluginsEnabled` is `true`. Changing that root field is runtime-safe: run `paseo reload` after editing `config.json`. Enabling starts every configured, enabled plugin; disabling tears them all down without restarting the daemon. Plugin source entries remain lifecycle-owned and do not reload from manual config edits. The directory contains an identity-only manifest, one entry point, and local typechecking support: ```text my-plugin/ paseo-plugin.json index.ts main.client.tsx package.json tsconfig.json ``` The generated `package.json` installs `@getpaseo/plugin` and the other host modules as development dependencies for local typechecking and tests. Paseo compiles TypeScript and TSX and supplies the runtime modules, so consumers do not install these packages when adding the plugin. ```json { "id": "my-plugin" } ``` The config key is the runtime plugin ID. The manifest ID is the default selected during install; `--id` overrides it. Existing configuration is not renamed when the manifest changes, and the runtime does not compare the two IDs. The same directory can be installed under several config keys. Never enable plugins on a user's behalf without explicit permission. Before asking, check the target daemon's current `pluginsEnabled` value. State that plugins are trusted, unsandboxed code: backend code can access the daemon machine, while client contributions run inside the Paseo app. Source changes are explicit. Run `paseo plugin reload ` to stop and fully tear down the old plugin before compiling and starting from disk. A failed reload stays failed; Paseo does not restore the old code. Use `enable`, `disable`, and `remove` to manage one plugin. Removing a directory source never deletes it. The global `pluginsEnabled` switch remains available. ## Install a Git source GitHub repositories use an `owner/repository` shorthand. Other hosts use a Git URL. An existing directory always wins over shorthand resolution. ```bash paseo plugin add owner/repository paseo plugin add https://gitlab.com/group/repository.git paseo plugin add https://git.example.com/owner/repository.git paseo plugin add owner/monorepo:plugins/review paseo plugin add owner/repository --ref main paseo plugin status paseo plugin update review paseo plugin update --all ``` Append `:relative/path` to the source when the plugin lives below the repository root. Omitting `--ref` tracks the remote's default branch. A branch passed with `--ref` also tracks; tags and commits stay pinned. `status` fetches tracked refs and reports the installed and available commits. Removing a Git source deletes Paseo's managed checkout. ### Declare Git preparation Most plugins should omit `build`. Use it only when the staged checkout must install a dependency that Paseo does not provide, generate source or assets, or perform another required preparation step: ```json { "id": "review", "build": [ ["npm", "ci"], ["npm", "run", "build"] ] } ``` `build` is an optional list of argv arrays. Each array must contain at least one non-empty string; shell command strings are rejected. Paseo starts the executable directly, without a shell, from the plugin directory in the staged checkout. It never detects lockfiles or chooses a package manager. On install and every update, Paseo resolves the exact Git revision and manifest, runs the declared commands, then validates, compiles, and activates the candidate. It logs each argv command and its output in the daemon log. If a command fails, the error includes its output, Paseo discards the candidate, and the existing installed and running version stays untouched. On a remote daemon, all of this happens on the remote daemon host. Server contributions can write to stdout and stderr with normal Node logging. Paseo adds `[paseo]` entries for loading, ready, stopping, and stopped transitions. Compilation and load failures are recorded as stderr entries before a subprocess exists. Inspect the recent in-memory tail from the host plugin settings or with `paseo plugin logs `. Git preparation commands are recorded in `$PASEO_HOME/daemon.log` before a plugin exists, rather than the plugin log tail. Reload, disable, and process failure retain the tail; removing the plugin clears it. Daemon restarts do not retain the tail, but structured copies remain in `$PASEO_HOME/daemon.log`. Plugin output can contain secrets, so do not log credentials or tokens. ## Contribute behavior and UI Default export one contribution function from `index.ts`. Keep it to contribution wiring. Runtime code lives behind filename boundaries: | Suffix | Owns | | -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `*.client.tsx` | React, React Native, hooks, styles, surfaces, panels, and callbacks. | | `*.server.ts` | Node APIs, filesystem and process access, credentials, and handlers. | | `*.shared.ts` | Zod RPC contracts and plain values used by both runtimes. | Shared files import contracts from `@getpaseo/plugin/server`. Client files import Paseo UI from `@getpaseo/plugin/react-native`. Its `Icon` resolves a Lucide name using the client's installed icon set; an unknown name renders nothing so it cannot break the plugin surface. Its controlled modal keeps presentation metadata on `` and body UI in ``. Plugin UI runs on desktop and mobile across multiple themes: color every `Text` from `theme.colors.foreground` or `theme.colors.foregroundMuted`, and size layout from `layout.compact`. See `public-docs/plugins/reference.md`. | Module | Use it for | | ------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | `@getpaseo/plugin` | contribution contracts and client data hooks | | `@getpaseo/plugin/react-native` | Paseo React Native components and UI hooks | | `@getpaseo/plugin/server` | `defineRpc`, `defineAttachmentSource`, and handler types | The compiler removes client registrations and imports from the server entry point, and server registrations and imports from the client entry point. Importing a `*.server` module from a client module, or a `*.client` module from a server module, fails compilation. Top-level React Native calls such as `StyleSheet.create` belong in `*.client.tsx`; placing them in `index.ts` executes them in the server bundle. ```ts import type { PluginContext } from "@getpaseo/plugin"; import { Greeting } from "./greeting.client"; import { createGreeting } from "./greeting.server"; import { greetRpc } from "./greeting.shared"; export default function contribute(plugin: PluginContext) { plugin.handle(greetRpc, createGreeting); plugin.addSurface("main", Greeting); plugin.addSidebarItem({ id: "main", title: "Greeting", icon: "MessageCircle", surface: "main" }); return () => {}; } ``` The contribution function must return cleanup. Server cleanup may be async; Paseo waits for it when the plugin is reloaded, disabled, removed, disconnected, or shut down. Cleanup is for resources created by plugin code. Paseo removes registered contributions, unmounts surfaces, clears query state, rejects pending RPCs, closes the plugin's daemon session, and stops the subprocess. Cleanup errors are logged and do not interrupt host teardown. Paseo owns the route, screen header, Lucide icon validation, close action, theme DTO, layout facts, and render error boundary. The contributed component owns the complete body below the header. RPC contracts validate inputs and outputs in both the app and plugin subprocess. `useRpc` returns a typed async function. Use the host-provided `@tanstack/react-query` for request state and caching; Paseo gives each plugin installation its own query client. `usePaseo()` and the handler's `{ paseo }` context expose the same `PaseoApi`: projects, workspaces, agents, providers, and daemon config. They do not expose connection lifecycle. A surface borrows the selected host's existing connection; switching the screen's host changes both `usePaseo()` and `useRpc()` to that host. An offline selected host fails there and never falls through to another installation. A server handler owns an IPC-backed daemon session for the life of its subprocess. Use plugin RPC for plugin-specific backend behavior that is not a normal Paseo operation. Each subprocess gets an exclusively owned `plugin:` session. That identity is reserved from normal clients, never resumes another session, and is cleaned immediately on exit without reconnect grace. During daemon startup, plugin sessions may connect while application WebSockets remain paused; the daemon accepts clients only after configured plugins have settled and the initial catalog is complete. When the same plugin contribution exists on multiple hosts, Paseo shows it once in the sidebar and adds a host picker to the screen header. The selected host supplies the bundle, RPC transport, and query cache. Plugin code cannot address another host. Workspace panels and Command Center items remain client contributions. The daemon transports their compiled bundle without interpreting placement or callbacks. Panel props contain workspace and agent IDs. Required-selector hooks read normalized client state synchronously and use shallow equality, so a panel does not subscribe to fields it does not render. Command callbacks materialize their snapshots only when invoked. Contribution discovery and panel opening never fetch active context through plugin RPC. Snapshot DTOs are deeply readonly and frozen at runtime so plugin code cannot mutate normalized app state or a memoized selection. Panels use one persisted `plugin` workspace-tab target, so reload, disable, removal, and restoration resolve through the current installed-plugin catalog. A missing contribution renders unavailable inside the tab. Panels declare `locations: ["workspace", "explorer"]` to opt into Explorer hosting; omission means workspace only. Location controls hosting, not context. An agent panel target keeps its `agentId` when moved between hosts. Explorer configuration can create workspace-context panels and remove existing agent-context instances, but it cannot create an agent panel without an agent-aware command. Command Center callbacks use the selected host's existing `PaseoApi` for normal Paseo operations. They use typed plugin RPC only for plugin-specific backend work. Surface and panel props expose optional client-owned agent and workspace navigation; its absence is the compatibility gate for older clients. Other navigation remains limited to registered global surfaces and workspace panels. Plugins do not receive Expo Router or workspace-layout store access. ## Contribute composer pills Register a headless client entrypoint, then add and remove targeted pills from that client lifecycle. `addClientSide` runs once per plugin installation in each connected app and never runs in the daemon subprocess. It can subscribe to the client API, call plugin RPCs, and own arbitrary client state without mounting a panel or surface. ```tsx export function contributeClient(client: PluginClientContext) { const pills = new Map void>(); const unsubscribe = client.paseo.agents.subscribe((update) => { if (update.kind !== "upsert" || !update.agent.workspaceId) return; const { id: agentId, workspaceId } = update.agent; pills.get(agentId)?.(); pills.set( agentId, client.addComposerPill({ id: "review", title: "Open review", workspaceId, agentId, Component: ReviewPill, async onPress() { await client.rpc(refreshReview, { agentId }); client.openPanel("review", { workspaceId, agentId }); }, }), ); }); return () => { unsubscribe(); for (const remove of pills.values()) remove(); }; } ``` Wire it from `index.ts` with `plugin.addClientSide(contributeClient)`. `addComposerPill` exists only on `PluginClientContext`; it returns an idempotent removal function. A pill appears only in the matching workspace and agent track bar alongside Tasks and Subagents. Paseo owns the pressable, shared chrome, pending state, error reporting, and placement. The component owns its icon and text; the callback is client code by construction. Removing the pill, reloading the plugin, disconnecting the host, or unloading the app tears down the contribution. ## Contribute timeline items Timeline transformers and renderers are client contributions. The daemon's canonical rows and built-in projection stay unchanged. The app transforms fetched projected history before building its render model. A matching live event requests a fresh projected tail, so lifecycle deltas are collapsed before the transformer replaces anything. `query.itemType` selects one public `AgentTimelineItem.type`. The callback owns any detailed recognition and returns plain plugin item objects. `undefined` keeps the source item, `items` replaces it, and an empty array removes it. Output `data` must be JSON-compatible. Paseo adds the runtime plugin ID, preserves the source timeline cursor, validates renderer data with its Zod schema, and mounts the component inside the normal plugin runtime and error boundary. Transformers run synchronously and must be deterministic. When several transformers match, the first one that returns a result owns that source item. Plugin and registration ordering is stable. See `plugin-examples/timeline-items` for the complete contract. ## Contribute composer attachments Register a declarative attachment source backed by a plugin RPC. Paseo owns the attachment menu, search picker, drafts, selected pill, and submission. The plugin returns complete text snapshots; credentials and vendor API calls stay in the daemon handler. ```ts import type { PluginContext } from "@getpaseo/plugin"; import { search } from "./issues.server"; import { issues, searchIssues } from "./issues.shared"; export default function contribute(plugin: PluginContext) { plugin.handle(searchIssues, search); plugin.addAttachmentSource(issues); return () => {}; } ``` Attachment sources stay scoped to the composer's host. Unlike sidebar contributions, equal sources on several hosts are not coalesced. The selected snapshot submits as a text attachment with neutral external-resource presentation, so it remains readable if the plugin is removed or an older peer drops the optional presentation fields. ## Contribute a theme `addTheme` takes a small light or dark palette and a display name. Paseo expands it through the same semantic builders as the built-in themes, so plugins do not depend on the complete app token contract. Unistyles needs every theme name at `StyleSheet.configure` time, so `packages/app/src/styles/theme.ts` reserves one light and one dark plugin slot. The appearance provider rewrites the matching slot when the selection changes. See [unistyles.md](unistyles.md) for the runtime-patching rules the appearance settings share. `addTheme` is a client registration, so the compiler strips it from the backend bundle. A daemon that predates it does not, and the plugin fails to start there. Daemons advertise `features.pluginThemes` in `server_info`; the plugin theme catalog is the one place the app reads it, and a host without it contributes no themes. The selection persists as `theme: "plugin"` plus a `pluginThemeId` of `/theme/`, so equal themes on several hosts coalesce the way sidebar contributions do. Two hosts can answer that id with different palettes, so picking a theme records its host through `rememberPluginContributionHost` and resolution prefers it; a peer connecting or dropping then does not repaint the app. Without a preference the sorted registry snapshot decides, so the result is stable rather than arrival-ordered. The app resolves that id against the installed catalog on every change; an id nothing contributes falls back to the default preference instead of painting the reserved slot's placeholder colors. See `plugin-examples/local-plugin` for a native surface, `plugin-examples/linear` for a complete attachment-source example, `plugin-examples/timeline-items` for timeline projection, and `plugin-examples/catppuccin` for a theme.