PLUGIN_PLATFORM.md¶

Document type: Product design specification (target state). Not a shipped feature list. See ROADMAP_MAPPING.md for release mapping and SHIPPED.md for what works today.

OntoCode Plugin Platform Specification¶

Purpose¶

The Plugin Platform transforms OntoCode into an ecosystem via Capability Providers — typed extension interfaces for reasoning, query, AI, refactoring, and more.

Architecture: platform/CAPABILITY_PROVIDERS.md · Engineering spec: design/PLUGIN_SPEC.md · Status: planned v0.14

Every major capability should be implemented as a Capability Provider or exposed through the same APIs available to third-party developers.

Everything Extensible¶

Extension points exist for:

Workspaces
Entity editors
Inspector cards
Explorer nodes
Graph overlays
Query languages
AI providers
Reasoners
Refactorings
Diagnostics
Documentation generators
Import/export formats
Commands
Themes
Icons
Keybindings

Stable APIs¶

Public APIs should be versioned and semantically stable.

Breaking changes are minimized and communicated well in advance.

Sandbox by Default¶

Plugins execute in isolated environments with explicit permissions.

Permissions include:

Read workspace
Modify ontology
Execute queries
Invoke AI
Access filesystem
Network access

Users can review and revoke permissions.

Architecture¶

+------------------------------------------------------+
|                 OntoCode Platform                    |
+------------------------------------------------------+
| Workspace API | Graph API | Query API | AI API       |
| Reasoning API | UI API    | Events    | Storage API  |
+------------------------------------------------------+
| Plugin Runtime                                      |
+------------------------------------------------------+
| Installed Plugins                                   |
+------------------------------------------------------+

Plugin Types¶

Workspace Plugins¶

Add new workspaces such as:

Architecture
Review
Analytics

UI Plugins¶

Contribute:

Inspector cards
Toolbars
Panels
Status indicators

Language Plugins¶

Support additional semantic languages:

RDF
SHACL
SKOS
Custom DSLs

Reasoning Plugins¶

Provide:

Reasoners
Validators
Explanation engines

AI Plugins¶

Contribute:

Models
Prompt libraries
Agents
Review assistants

Visualization Plugins¶

Add:

Charts
Graph layouts
Maps
Timelines

Plugin Lifecycle¶

Discover
Install
Validate
Activate
Run
Suspend
Update
Uninstall

Plugins may activate lazily based on workspace context.

Workspace Integration¶

Plugins interact through Workspace APIs.

They consume:

Current Focus
Workspace State
Navigation
Events

They should never duplicate global state.

Event System¶

Plugins subscribe to events such as:

EntitySelected
WorkspaceOpened
QueryExecuted
ReasoningCompleted
DiagnosticsUpdated
AICompleted

They may publish their own events.

Commands¶

Plugins register commands discoverable through:

Command Palette
Context menus
Toolbars
Keyboard shortcuts

Commands should support undo where applicable.

UI Contribution Model¶

Plugins may contribute:

Explorer sections
Workspace tabs
Inspector cards
Dock tools
Context menus
Graph decorations
Entity badges
Status bar items

All UI must use the shared design system.

Storage¶

Provide isolated plugin storage for:

Settings
Caches
Templates
Session data

No plugin should manipulate another plugin's data directly.

Marketplace¶

Future marketplace features:

Ratings
Reviews
Verified publishers
Dependency resolution
Automatic updates
Compatibility checks

Security¶

Requirements:

Signed plugins
Permission prompts
API isolation
Secure updates
Crash isolation

Unsafe plugins should not compromise the IDE.

Performance¶

Targets:

Startup impact \<100 ms per active plugin
Lazy loading by default
Background initialization
Memory budgeting
Profiling tools

Developer Experience¶

Provide:

SDK
Templates
CLI
Testing framework
Hot reload
Documentation
Sample plugins

Building plugins should be approachable.

Example Plugins¶

Ontology metrics dashboard
Biomedical ontology toolkit
OBO Foundry utilities
SHACL validator
ROBOT/OWLMake integration
GitHub review assistant
Mermaid exporter
Architecture explorer

Success Criteria¶

The Plugin Platform succeeds when the community can extend OntoCode in ways the core team never anticipated while preserving a consistent user experience. Every plugin should feel native, performant, secure, and deeply integrated with the semantic workspace rather than bolted onto the side of the application.