Plugin Authoring

This guide covers building external plugins for Osaurus. Plugins are native binaries (.dylib) distributed with a manifest.json, providing tools that AI agents call via MCP.

For sandbox plugins (JSON recipes that run inside the Linux VM, no compilation), see Sandbox Internals → Plugin recipes.

You'll need the osaurus CLI on your PATH — install it from Settings… (⌘,) → Server → Overview → Command Line Tool → Install CLI.

Quick Start (Swift)

1. Scaffold a Plugin

osaurus tools create MyPlugin --language swift
cd MyPlugin

This creates:

MyPlugin/
├── Package.swift
├── osaurus-plugin.json     # plugin_id + version used by `osaurus tools dev`
├── web/                    # optional static frontend
├── .github/workflows/release.yml
└── Sources/
    └── MyPlugin/
        └── Plugin.swift    # full v2-ABI plugin with host API mirror

The plugin's capability manifest (tools, routes, config) is returned by get_manifest() in Plugin.swift; osaurus-plugin.json only stores project metadata for the CLI.

2. Build the Plugin

swift build -c release

# Copy the built dylib
cp .build/release/libMyPlugin.dylib ./libMyPlugin.dylib

3. Code Sign (Required for Distribution)

codesign -s "Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)" ./libMyPlugin.dylib

Code Signing Required

macOS Gatekeeper blocks unsigned .dylib files downloaded from the internet. For local development, ad-hoc signing works, but distribution requires a valid Developer ID certificate.

4. Install Locally

osaurus tools install .

The plugin is installed to:

~/.osaurus/Tools/<plugin_id>/<version>/

Plugin Structure

manifest.json

The manifest describes your plugin's capabilities:

{
  "plugin_id": "com.example.mytool",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "My awesome tool",
  "capabilities": {
    "tools": [
      {
        "id": "my_tool",
        "description": "Does something useful",
        "parameters": {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "input": {
              "type": "string",
              "description": "The input to process"
            }
          },
          "required": ["input"]
        },
        "requirements": [],
        "permission_policy": "ask"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Tool Definition Fields

Field	Required	Description
id	Yes	Unique identifier for the tool. Must not collide with a built-in tool name — a plugin tool named like a built-in Apple Apps tool (calendar_events, notes_create, messages_send, …) is logged and dropped.
description	Yes	Human-readable description shown to users and AI
parameters	Yes	JSON Schema defining input parameters
requirements	No	System permissions needed (see below)
permission_policy	No	"ask", "auto", or "deny" (default: "ask")

System Requirements

Some tools need macOS system permissions:

Requirement	Description
automation	AppleScript/Apple Events—allows controlling other applications
accessibility	Accessibility API—allows UI interaction and input simulation

Example tool requiring automation:

{
  "id": "run_applescript",
  "description": "Execute AppleScript commands",
  "parameters": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "script": { "type": "string" }
    },
    "required": ["script"]
  },
  "requirements": ["automation"],
  "permission_policy": "ask"
}

ABI Overview

Plugins expose a C-compatible interface. The header is available at:

Packages/OsaurusCore/Tools/PluginABI/osaurus_plugin.h

Entry Point

Current plugins export:

const osr_plugin_api* osaurus_plugin_entry_v2(const osr_host_api* host);

Osaurus tries osaurus_plugin_entry_v2 first and passes in the host API (callbacks for config, storage, inference, HTTP, logging, dispatch). Legacy v1 plugins that export only osaurus_plugin_entry(void) still load — with a deprecation log — but get no host callbacks.

Either entry point returns a pointer to an osr_plugin_api struct whose fields are function pointers (these are struct fields, not exported symbols):

Function	Description
init()	Called once on load. Returns an opaque context pointer.
destroy(ctx)	Called on unload. Clean up resources.
get_manifest(ctx)	Returns JSON string describing capabilities.
invoke(ctx, type, id, payload)	Execute a capability. Returns JSON result.
free_string(s)	Called by host to free strings returned by plugin.

Invocation

When Osaurus executes a tool, it calls invoke with:

• type: Capability type (e.g., "tool")
• id: Tool identifier (e.g., "my_tool")
• payload: JSON string with arguments (e.g., {"input": "hello"})

Return a JSON string with the result. The host calls free_string to release it.

Swift Implementation

The scaffold from osaurus tools create is the reference implementation — it ships a byte-compatible Swift mirror of the osr_host_api struct, host-API helper wrappers, and a fully wired osr_plugin_api. The skeleton looks like this (abbreviated — run the scaffold for the complete, current version):

import Foundation

// Byte-compatible Swift mirrors of the C structs from osaurus_plugin.h
private struct osr_host_api { /* version + host callback pointers */ }
private struct osr_plugin_api { /* version + plugin function pointers */ }

private var hostAPI: UnsafePointer<osr_host_api>?

// The static API struct. Fields are C function pointers implemented as
// Swift closures: init / destroy / get_manifest / invoke / free_string,
// plus optional v2+ callbacks (handle_route, on_config_changed, on_task_event).
private var api: osr_plugin_api = {
    var api = osr_plugin_api()
    api.version = 2
    api.get_manifest = { ctx in
        strdup(#"{"plugin_id":"com.example.echo","version":"1.0.0","capabilities":{"tools":[{"id":"echo","description":"Echoes back input","parameters":{"type":"object","properties":{"message":{"type":"string"}},"required":["message"],"additionalProperties":false}}]}}"#)
    }
    api.invoke = { ctx, type, id, payload in
        // Parse the payload JSON, do the work, return a Tool Contract envelope
        strdup(#"{"ok":true,"tool":"echo","result":{"text":"Echo!"}}"#)
    }
    // ... init, destroy, free_string ...
    return api
}()

// Primary entry point: receives the host API
@_cdecl("osaurus_plugin_entry_v2")
public func osaurus_plugin_entry_v2(_ host: UnsafePointer<osr_host_api>?) -> UnsafeRawPointer? {
    hostAPI = host
    return UnsafeRawPointer(&api)
}

// Legacy fallback for old hosts
@_cdecl("osaurus_plugin_entry")
public func osaurus_plugin_entry() -> UnsafeRawPointer? {
    return UnsafeRawPointer(&api)
}

Rust Implementation

Scaffold a Rust plugin with osaurus tools create MyPlugin --language rust. The generated cdylib follows the same shape — a #[repr(C)] mirror of the ABI structs and both entry points:

// Abbreviated — the scaffold generates the full, current version.

#[repr(C)]
pub struct OsrHostApi { /* version + host callback pointers */ }

#[repr(C)]
pub struct OsrPluginApi {
    pub version: u32,
    pub init: Option<extern "C" fn() -> *mut c_void>,
    pub destroy: Option<extern "C" fn(*mut c_void)>,
    pub get_manifest: Option<extern "C" fn(*mut c_void) -> *const c_char>,
    pub invoke: Option<extern "C" fn(*mut c_void, *const c_char, *const c_char, *const c_char) -> *const c_char>,
    pub free_string: Option<extern "C" fn(*const c_char)>,
    // v2+ optional callbacks: handle_route, on_config_changed, on_task_event
}

static mut HOST: *const OsrHostApi = std::ptr::null();
static mut API: OsrPluginApi = OsrPluginApi { /* wired to the fns above */ };

#[no_mangle]
pub unsafe extern "C" fn osaurus_plugin_entry_v2(host: *const OsrHostApi) -> *const OsrPluginApi {
    HOST = host;
    &raw const API
}

#[no_mangle]
pub unsafe extern "C" fn osaurus_plugin_entry() -> *const OsrPluginApi {
    &raw const API
}

v2 Plugin ABI

The v2 ABI adds full host API access. Where v1 plugins only define and handle tools, v2 plugins can interact with the entire Osaurus runtime.

The host API is append-only: v2 established the full base set, and v3–v6 each appended one optional capability without changing the existing struct layout — so a plugin built against any version keeps loading on a newer host.

ABI	Adds on top of the previous version
v3	complete_cancel(stream_id) — cancel an in-flight streaming completion from any thread
v4	get_active_agent_id() — learn which agent invoked the current callback; the host also enforces agent scope on plugin-initiated work
v5	log_structured(level, message, payload) — emit JSON fields that become searchable in Insights
v6	free_string(ptr) — a host-owned, allocator-stable free path for strings the host returned

complete_cancel is non-blocking and cancels the active host task directly, even while the stream is still waiting for its first event; it doesn't wait for another delta. Your downstream work must cooperate with task cancellation before cleanup finishes. It's safe to call from on_chunk, and if concurrent calls reuse a stream_id, cancellation reaches every active call with that ID.

Plugin tool calls follow the shared ToolRegistry timeout policy (streaming-aware tools like shell_run and sandbox_exec keep their own lifecycle instead of a wall-clock cap), and plugin inference has the host bridge's overall 30-minute deadline.

The host validates the plugin's osr_plugin_api table before calling init: every populated function slot must resolve to a loaded image, or the plugin is rejected with a message naming the bad slots. A struct layout that doesn't match the header fails here instead of crashing the app.

Because a newer slot is NULL on an older host, always guard a newer call against host->version:

if (host->version >= 5 && host->log_structured) {
    host->log_structured(2, "event", "{\"key\":\"value\"}");
} else {
    host->log(2, "event {key=value}");  // fallback
}

v2 Capabilities

Capability	Manifest key	Description
Tools	capabilities.tools	AI-callable functions (also v1)
HTTP Routes	capabilities.routes	Register custom HTTP endpoints on the Osaurus server (OAuth, webhooks, APIs)
Web Apps	capabilities.web	Serve embedded static frontends with context injection
Config UI	capabilities.config	Native settings UI rendered from the plugin's card in Settings… → Tools & MCP → Plugins, with validation
SQLite Storage	host API	Per-plugin sandboxed SQLite database via PluginHostAPI (100 MiB cap; SQLCipher-encrypted when the user turns on encryption under Settings… → General → Advanced → Data & Storage)
Agent Dispatch	host API	Programmatically dispatch tasks to other agents
Inference	host API	Call chat completions through any configured model provider
Events	host API	Emit and subscribe to cross-plugin events
Docs	docs	README, changelog, external links rendered in the plugin detail view

Conversation grouping (session_id)

When your plugin dispatches an agent task (e.g. for an inbound Telegram message, Slack DM, GitHub webhook), pass session_id so subsequent dispatches with the same key reattach to the same chat session instead of creating a new row each time. (The legacy external_session_key field name is no longer accepted.)

{
  "agent_id": "...",
  "task": "Reply to: Hi!",
  "session_id": "telegram:chat:12345",
  "source_plugin_id": "com.example.telegram"
}

The key is an arbitrary string scoped per-plugin. Use it for any external thread that should grow into a single auditable session row (Telegram chat ID, GitHub issue number, Slack thread TS).

The dispatch task ID and the persisted session ID are intentionally the same UUID, so HTTP pollers, plugins, and the chat sidebar deep-link to the same row.

Choosing an ABI Version

• Use v1 for simple tools that respond to invocations — file utilities, API wrappers, data transformers
• Use v2 when your plugin needs persistent state, background processing, web UIs, or cross-agent communication
• Target a higher version (v3–v6) only for the specific slot you need — streaming cancellation (v3), agent-context introspection (v4), structured logging (v5), or the host-side free_string (v6) — and keep a defensive host->version check so your plugin still runs on older hosts

For the complete callback reference and migration notes, see the upstream Host API and ABI Versioning docs.

There is no "abi" manifest key — the ABI version comes from the binary itself: which entry symbol you export and the version field you set on your osr_plugin_api struct.

Hot Reload Development

Use osaurus tools dev for rapid iteration during plugin development:

osaurus tools dev com.example.myplugin

This watches your plugin directory and reloads the plugin when files change — no manual reinstall required.

Publishing to the Registry

1. Prepare Your Plugin

Ensure your manifest.json contains publishing metadata:

{
  "plugin_id": "com.yourcompany.mytool",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "My tool description",
  "homepage": "https://github.com/yourcompany/mytool",
  "license": "MIT",
  "authors": ["Your Name"],
  "capabilities": { ... }
}

2. Create Release Artifacts

# Build release binary
swift build -c release

# Create distribution directory
mkdir -p dist
cp .build/release/libMyTool.dylib dist/
cp manifest.json dist/

# Code sign
codesign --force --options runtime --timestamp \
  --sign "Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)" \
  dist/libMyTool.dylib

# Package
cd dist && zip -r ../mytool-macos-arm64.zip . && cd ..

# Generate checksum
shasum -a 256 mytool-macos-arm64.zip

3. Sign with Minisign (Recommended)

# Install Minisign
brew install minisign

# Generate key pair (once)
minisign -G -p minisign.pub -s minisign.key

# Sign the zip
minisign -S -s minisign.key -m mytool-macos-arm64.zip

4. Publish Release

1. Upload mytool-macos-arm64.zip to GitHub Releases
2. Fork osaurus-tools
3. Create plugins/com.yourcompany.mytool.json:

{
  "plugin_id": "com.yourcompany.mytool",
  "name": "My Tool",
  "homepage": "https://github.com/yourcompany/mytool",
  "license": "MIT",
  "authors": ["Your Name"],
  "capabilities": {
    "tools": [{ "name": "my_tool", "description": "Does something" }]
  },
  "public_keys": {
    "minisign": "RWxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
  },
  "versions": [
    {
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "release_date": "2025-01-15",
      "notes": "Initial release",
      "requires": { "osaurus_min_version": "0.5.0" },
      "artifacts": [
        {
          "os": "macos",
          "arch": "arm64",
          "url": "https://github.com/yourcompany/mytool/releases/download/v1.0.0/mytool-macos-arm64.zip",
          "sha256": "e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855",
          "minisign": {
            "signature": "RWxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
            "key_id": "xxxxxxxx"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

4. Submit a Pull Request—CI validates your JSON automatically

Example: osaurus-emacs

The osaurus-emacs plugin is a real-world example of a community tool:

manifest.json:

{
  "plugin_id": "osaurus.emacs",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "description": "Execute Emacs Lisp code in a running Emacs instance",
  "capabilities": {
    "tools": [
      {
        "id": "execute_emacs_lisp_code",
        "description": "Execute Emacs Lisp code via emacsclient",
        "parameters": {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "code": {
              "type": "string",
              "description": "The Emacs Lisp code to execute"
            },
            "emacsclient_path": {
              "type": "string",
              "description": "Optional path to emacsclient binary"
            }
          },
          "required": ["code"]
        },
        "requirements": [],
        "permission_policy": "ask"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Best Practices

1. Keep tools focused — One tool should do one thing well
2. Validate inputs — Check parameters before execution
3. Return Tool Contract envelopes — Use the success/failure shape from Tool Contract so chat UI rendering and the agent's self-correction work right
4. Document parameters — Clear descriptions help capabilities_discover find your tool
5. Set additionalProperties: false on every tool's parameter schema (the schema validator enforces this and rejects unknown args with a friendly invalid_args envelope)
6. Handle cleanup — Free resources in destroy() and handle signals
7. Test with osaurus tools dev — Hot reload makes iteration fast

Troubleshooting

Plugin won't load

• Check code signature: codesign -v libMyPlugin.dylib
• Verify manifest.json is valid JSON
• Check the plugin card's error, then Settings… → Insights: pick the Tools scope for Plugin call rows, and enable Filter → Show plugin console logs to see Plugin log lines. Retry from the plugin detail page.

Plugin shows "Built into Osaurus"

The Apple app plugins (osaurus.calendar, osaurus.reminders, osaurus.contacts, osaurus.notes, osaurus.mail, osaurus.messages, osaurus.maps, osaurus.music) are superseded by built-in Apple Apps tools. Installed copies are skipped at load and never dlopen'd; uninstall them whenever you like.

Tool not appearing

• Verify plugin_id matches between manifest and binary
• Ensure get_manifest returns valid JSON
• Restart Osaurus after installing

Execution errors

• Check parameter types match schema
• Verify all required parameters are present
• Test invoke with sample payloads

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Related:

• Tools & Plugins — using existing tools
• Tool Contract — envelope shape every tool returns
• Sandbox Internals — JSON-recipe plugins for the Linux VM
• Tools Registry — submit yours via PR