Plugin system

Understand plugin delivery, profile scope, desktop integration, and recovery.

Harness plugins can extend the host runtime, contribute tools, and add UI integrations. The desktop app adds lifecycle management and a controlled bridge to native features.

Responsibilities

Component	Responsibility
Harness host plugin	Registers tools, routes, system context, and lifecycle hooks
Client plugin	Adds panels or UI behavior to the Harness web application
Tauri bridge plugin	Exposes approved desktop commands and events to the embedded client
Desktop manager	Installs, upgrades, removes, repairs, and reports plugin state
Profile	Owns its plugin declarations and configuration

Internal plugin lifecycle

Before Harness starts, the desktop workflow ensures required first-party integrations exist in the active profile. Missing or inconsistent declarations are restored from the copies bundled with the application. This makes native settings and panel features available even after an interrupted update.

Optional preset and community plugins follow normal install, upgrade, and uninstall flows. The Windows Minimal repair plugin is fetched from GitHub when selected; it is not bundled source.

Communication path

1. The embedded Harness client invokes an integration exposed by its client plugin.
2. The plugin sends a structured request through the desktop bridge.
3. Tauri command handlers validate the operation and call the responsible Rust service.
4. Results or lifecycle events return to the client and update its panel state.

Plugin installation is code installation. Profile scoping prevents configuration collisions, not malicious filesystem, process, credential, or network access. Review third-party source and pin trusted versions where possible.

For user-facing operations, see Plugins.