fusion/docs/PLUGIN_AUTHORING.md

Plugin Authoring Guide

A comprehensive guide to creating Fusion plugins that extend the task board with custom tools, routes, and lifecycle hooks.

Table of Contents

1. Getting Started
2. Plugin Manifest Reference
3. Plugin Settings Schema
4. Available Hooks and Signatures
5. Registering Tools
6. Registering Routes
7. Registering UI Slots
8. Plugin Context API Reference
9. Plugin Lifecycle States
10. Testing Plugins
11. Publishing Plugins
12. Example Plugins

---

1. Getting Started

What Are Fusion Plugins?

Fusion plugins extend the task board with custom functionality:

• Lifecycle Hooks: React to task creation, movement, completion, and errors
• AI Agent Tools: Add custom tools that AI agents can use during task execution
• Custom API Routes: Create dashboard API endpoints for frontend integration
• Settings: Accept user configuration via typed settings schemas

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• TypeScript familiarity
• A Fusion project with the plugin system installed

Quick Start

Create a new plugin using the scaffold command:

fn plugin create my-first-plugin
cd my-first-plugin
pnpm install
pnpm test

Plugin Project Structure

my-plugin/
├── package.json          # Plugin metadata + "fusion-plugin" keyword
├── tsconfig.json         # TypeScript configuration
├── vitest.config.ts      # Test configuration
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts         # Plugin entry point (exports default FusionPlugin)
│   └── __tests__/
│       └── index.test.ts # Plugin tests
└── README.md            # Plugin documentation

---

2. Plugin Manifest Reference

The manifest defines your plugin's metadata and capabilities:

import type { PluginManifest } from "@fusion/plugin-sdk";

const manifest: PluginManifest = {
  id: "my-custom-plugin",           // Unique identifier (kebab-case)
  name: "My Custom Plugin",          // Human-readable name
  version: "1.0.0",                  // Semver version
  description: "Does something useful",
  author: "Your Name",
  homepage: "https://github.com/you/plugin",
  fusionVersion: ">=1.0.0",         // Optional: minimum Fusion version
  dependencies: [],                   // Optional: plugin IDs this depends on
  settingsSchema: { /* ... */ },    // Optional: configuration schema
};

Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
id	string	Yes	Unique identifier (kebab-case, validated)
name	string	Yes	Human-readable display name
version	string	Yes	Semver version (e.g., "1.0.0")
description	string	No	Short description
author	string	No	Author name or organization
homepage	string	No	URL to documentation or repository
fusionVersion	string	No	Minimum Fusion version required
dependencies	string[]	No	IDs of plugins this depends on
settingsSchema	Record<string, PluginSettingSchema>	No	Configuration schema

---

3. Plugin Settings Schema

Settings allow users to configure your plugin through the dashboard:

import type { PluginSettingSchema } from "@fusion/plugin-sdk";

const settingsSchema: Record<string, PluginSettingSchema> = {
  webhookUrl: {
    type: "string",
    label: "Webhook URL",
    description: "URL to send notifications to",
    required: true,
  },
  maxRetries: {
    type: "number",
    label: "Max Retries",
    description: "Maximum number of retry attempts",
    defaultValue: 3,
  },
  enabled: {
    type: "boolean",
    label: "Enable Feature",
    description: "Toggle the feature on/off",
    defaultValue: true,
  },
  severity: {
    type: "enum",
    label: "Log Severity",
    description: "Minimum severity level to log",
    enumValues: ["debug", "info", "warn", "error"],
    defaultValue: "info",
  },
};

Setting Types

Type	Description	Extra Fields
"string"	Text input	multiline?: boolean (renders textarea)
"number"	Numeric input	—
"boolean"	Toggle switch	—
"enum"	Dropdown select	enumValues: string[]
"password"	Password input (hidden)	—
"array"	Dynamic list with add/remove	itemType: "string" | "number"

Example: All Setting Types

const settingsSchema: Record<string, PluginSettingSchema> = {
  // Simple string input
  username: {
    type: "string",
    label: "Username",
    description: "Your username",
  },
  
  // Multiline text area
  message: {
    type: "string",
    label: "Message",
    description: "Multi-line message",
    multiline: true,
    defaultValue: "Hello!",
  },
  
  // Password input (hidden)
  apiSecret: {
    type: "password",
    label: "API Secret",
    description: "Your secret key",
  },
  
  // Number input
  maxRetries: {
    type: "number",
    label: "Max Retries",
    defaultValue: 3,
  },
  
  // Boolean toggle
  enabled: {
    type: "boolean",
    label: "Enable Feature",
    defaultValue: true,
  },
  
  // Dropdown select
  severity: {
    type: "enum",
    label: "Severity",
    enumValues: ["debug", "info", "warn", "error"],
    defaultValue: "info",
  },
  
  // Array of strings
  tags: {
    type: "array",
    label: "Tags",
    description: "Tags to track",
    itemType: "string",
    defaultValue: ["bug", "feature"],
  },
  
  // Array of numbers
  thresholds: {
    type: "array",
    label: "Thresholds",
    itemType: "number",
    defaultValue: [10, 20, 30],
  },
};

Accessing Settings

Settings are available in hooks via ctx.settings:

hooks: {
  onLoad: (ctx) => {
    const webhookUrl = ctx.settings.webhookUrl as string;
    if (!webhookUrl) {
      ctx.logger.warn("No webhook URL configured");
    }
  },
},

---

4. Available Hooks and Signatures

Hooks let your plugin react to events in the Fusion system:

import type { FusionPlugin, PluginContext } from "@fusion/plugin-sdk";

const plugin: FusionPlugin = {
  manifest: { /* ... */ },
  state: "installed",
  hooks: {
    onLoad: async (ctx) => {
      ctx.logger.info("Plugin loaded!");
    },
    onTaskCreated: async (task, ctx) => {
      ctx.logger.info(`New task: ${task.title}`);
    },
    // ... other hooks
  },
};

Hook Reference

Hook	Signature	When It Fires
onLoad	(ctx: PluginContext) => Promise<void> | void	Plugin first loaded and started
onUnload	() => Promise<void> | void	Plugin stopped/shutdown
onTaskCreated	(task: Task, ctx: PluginContext) => Promise<void> | void	New task created
onTaskMoved	(task: Task, fromColumn: string, toColumn: string, ctx: PluginContext) => Promise<void> | void	Task moved between columns
onTaskCompleted	(task: Task, ctx: PluginContext) => Promise<void> | void	Task reached "done"
onError	(error: Error, ctx: PluginContext) => Promise<void> | void	Error occurred in plugin execution

Hook Behavior

• Timeout: 5 seconds per invocation (logged and skipped if exceeded)
• Error Isolation: Hook failures never block the host system
• Optional: Only define the hooks you need

Example: Notification on Task Completion

hooks: {
  onTaskCompleted: async (task, ctx) => {
    const webhookUrl = ctx.settings.webhookUrl as string;
    if (!webhookUrl) return;

    await fetch(webhookUrl, {
      method: "POST",
      headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        text: `✅ Task completed: ${task.title || task.id}`,
      }),
    });
  },
},

---

5. Registering Tools

Tools extend AI agents with custom capabilities:

import type { FusionPlugin, PluginToolDefinition, PluginToolResult } from "@fusion/plugin-sdk";

const myTool: PluginToolDefinition = {
  name: "my_custom_tool",
  description: "Does something useful with input text",
  parameters: {
    type: "object",
    properties: {
      input: {
        type: "string",
        description: "The text to process",
      },
    },
    required: ["input"],
  },
  execute: async (params, ctx) => {
    const input = params.input as string;

    // Do something useful...
    const result = input.toUpperCase();

    return {
      content: [{ type: "text", text: result }],
    };
  },
};

const plugin: FusionPlugin = {
  manifest: { /* ... */ },
  state: "installed",
  tools: [myTool],
};

Tool Naming

• Use a unique name prefixed with your plugin ID (e.g., my-plugin_action)
• Avoid conflicts with built-in tools

Tool Result Format

interface PluginToolResult {
  content: Array<{ type: "text"; text: string }>;
  isError?: boolean;
  details?: Record<string, unknown>;
}

---

6. Registering Routes

Routes create custom API endpoints in the dashboard:

import type { FusionPlugin, PluginRouteDefinition } from "@fusion/plugin-sdk";

const routes: PluginRouteDefinition[] = [
  {
    method: "GET",
    path: "/status",
    description: "Get plugin status",
    handler: async (req, ctx) => {
      return { status: "ok", uptime: process.uptime() };
    },
  },
  {
    method: "POST",
    path: "/action",
    description: "Perform an action",
    handler: async (req, ctx) => {
      // Access request body
      const body = req as { action?: string };
      ctx.logger.info(`Action: ${body.action}`);
      return { success: true };
    },
  },
];

const plugin: FusionPlugin = {
  manifest: { /* ... */ },
  state: "installed",
  routes,
};

Route Mounting

Routes are mounted at /api/plugins/{pluginId}/{path}:

• Plugin ID: fusion-plugin-notification
• Route path: /status
• Full URL: /api/plugins/fusion-plugin-notification/status

Supported Methods

• GET
• POST
• PUT
• DELETE

---

7. Registering UI Slots

UI slots are mount points in the Fusion dashboard where plugins can inject custom UI components. Each slot is identified by a unique slotId that corresponds to a specific location in the dashboard UI.

How UI Slots Work

Plugins declare uiSlots in their FusionPlugin definition. The dashboard discovers all registered UI slots via GET /api/plugins/ui-slots and renders matching components at each mount point.

Available Slot IDs

Slot ID	Location	Description	Status
task-detail-tab	Task detail modal	Tab added to the task detail view	Available
header-action	Dashboard header	Action button in the header toolbar	Available
settings-section	Settings modal	Section added to the settings panel	Available
task-card-badge	Task card on the board	Small badge displayed on task cards (e.g., CI status indicator)	Planned
board-column-footer	Board column	Footer area below the last card in a column	Planned

Note: Slots marked "Planned" are defined in the type system but dashboard rendering is not yet implemented. You can register for these slots now and they will render once the dashboard integration is complete.

Defining UI Slots

Add uiSlots to your FusionPlugin definition:

import type { FusionPlugin, PluginUiSlotDefinition } from "@fusion/plugin-sdk";

const uiSlots: PluginUiSlotDefinition[] = [
  {
    slotId: "task-detail-tab",
    label: "CI History",
    icon: "history",
    componentPath: "./components/ci-tab.js",
  },
  {
    slotId: "task-card-badge",
    label: "CI Status",
    icon: "circle-check",
    componentPath: "./components/ci-badge.js",
  },
];

const plugin: FusionPlugin = {
  manifest: { /* ... */ },
  state: "installed",
  uiSlots,
  hooks: { /* ... */ },
};

PluginUiSlotDefinition Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
slotId	string	Yes	One of the known slot IDs (e.g., "task-detail-tab", "header-action")
label	string	Yes	Human-readable label for the slot
icon	string	No	Lucide icon name for visual identification
componentPath	string	Yes	Path to the JS module exporting the component, relative to the plugin root

Component Module Format

The componentPath should point to a JS module that exports the component. For the current implementation, the dashboard renders placeholder div elements with data-plugin-slot, data-slot-id, data-plugin-id, and data-component-path attributes. Full dynamic component loading will be added in a future iteration.

Plugin authors should create the component file at the declared path so it's ready when dynamic loading is implemented:

// ./components/ci-badge.js
// Component file (dashboard placeholder rendering for now)
export default function CiBadge() {
  return null; // Placeholder — dynamic loading coming soon
}

---

8. Plugin Context API Reference

The context object is passed to hooks, tools, and route handlers:

interface PluginContext {
  pluginId: string;
  taskStore: TaskStore;
  settings: Record<string, unknown>;
  logger: PluginLogger;
  emitEvent: (event: string, data: unknown) => void;
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
pluginId	string	Your plugin's unique ID
taskStore	TaskStore	Access to task data (read-only)
settings	Record<string, unknown>	User configuration (merged with defaults)
logger	PluginLogger	Structured logging
emitEvent	(event, data) => void	Emit custom events

Logger Methods

interface PluginLogger {
  info(message: string, ...args: unknown[]): void;
  warn(message: string, ...args: unknown[]): void;
  error(message: string, ...args: unknown[]): void;
  debug(message: string, ...args: unknown[]): void;
}

Example: Using the Context

hooks: {
  onLoad: (ctx) => {
    ctx.logger.info("Plugin starting...");

    // Access settings
    const apiKey = ctx.settings.apiKey as string;

    // Emit custom event
    ctx.emitEvent("my-plugin:ready", { timestamp: Date.now() });
  },
},

---

9. Plugin Lifecycle States

Plugins transition through these states:

┌────────────┐
│ installed  │ (registered, not loaded)
└─────┬──────┘
      │ enable
      ▼
┌────────────┐
│  started   │ ←─────┐ (loaded, hooks active)
└─────┬──────┘       │
      │              │ load
      │ stop         │
      ▼              │
┌────────────┐       │
│  stopped   │ ──────┘
└────────────┘

Any state can transition to:
┌────────────┐
│   error    │ (load failure or runtime error)
└────────────┘

State Descriptions

State	Description
installed	Plugin registered but not yet loaded
started	Plugin loaded and hooks active
stopped	Plugin shut down gracefully
error	Plugin failed during load or execution

---

10. Testing Plugins

Use Vitest for unit testing your plugins:

Test Structure

// src/__tests__/index.test.ts
import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach } from "vitest";
import plugin from "../index.js";

describe("my plugin", () => {
  beforeEach(() => {
    vi.clearAllMocks();
  });

  it("should export a valid plugin", () => {
    expect(plugin.manifest.id).toBe("my-plugin");
    expect(plugin.manifest.name).toBeDefined();
  });

  it("should call onLoad hook", async () => {
    const mockCtx = {
      pluginId: "my-plugin",
      settings: {},
      logger: {
        info: vi.fn(),
        warn: vi.fn(),
        error: vi.fn(),
        debug: vi.fn(),
      },
      emitEvent: vi.fn(),
      taskStore: {},
    };

    await plugin.hooks.onLoad?.(mockCtx as any);
    expect(mockCtx.logger.info).toHaveBeenCalled();
  });
});

Testing Tools

it("should return correct result from tool", async () => {
  const tool = plugin.tools![0];
  const mockCtx = { /* ... */ };

  const result = await tool.execute({ input: "hello" }, mockCtx as any);

  expect(result.content[0].text).toBe("HELLO");
});

Testing Routes

it("should return status from GET /status", async () => {
  const route = plugin.routes!.find(r => r.path === "/status");
  const req = { params: {}, method: "GET", url: "/status" };
  const ctx = { /* ... */ };

  const result = await route.handler(req as any, ctx as any);

  expect(result).toHaveProperty("status");
});

Running Tests

pnpm test

---

11. Publishing Plugins

Package Requirements

{
  "name": "fusion-plugin-my-plugin",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "keywords": ["fusion-plugin"],
  "exports": {
    ".": {
      "types": "./src/index.ts",
      "import": "./dist/index.js"
    }
  },
  "peerDependencies": {
    "@fusion/core": "workspace:*"
  }
}

Publishing Steps

1. Update package.json:

   • Set name to fusion-plugin-* or @scope/fusion-plugin-*
   • Add "keywords": ["fusion-plugin"]
   • Set "private": false

2. Build the plugin:

   pnpm build
   

3. Publish to npm:

   npm publish --access public
   

Installation

Users can install your plugin via CLI:

fn plugin install fusion-plugin-my-plugin
# or
fn plugin install @scope/fusion-plugin-my-plugin

Or by copying to the plugins directory:

cp -r fusion-plugin-my-plugin ~/.fusion/plugins/

---

12. Example Plugins

Explore these reference implementations:

Notification Plugin

Sends webhook notifications on task lifecycle events (Slack, Discord, generic HTTP).

• Demonstrates: onLoad, onTaskCompleted, onTaskMoved, onError hooks
• Features: Settings schema, webhook formatting, event filtering

Auto-Label Plugin

Automatically labels tasks based on description content using keyword matching.

• Demonstrates: onTaskCreated hook, AI agent tools
• Features: Text classification, event emission, tool registration

CI Status Plugin

Polls CI status for branches and provides custom API endpoints.

• Demonstrates: Custom routes, periodic background work, route handlers, UI slot registration
• Features: onLoad/onUnload lifecycle, setInterval polling, REST API, UI slots for task cards and task detail tabs

Settings Demo Plugin

Example plugin demonstrating settings schema and runtime configuration with all four setting types.

• Demonstrates: Settings schema (string, number, boolean, enum), hooks that read settings, tools with settings-driven output
• Features: Configurable greeting message, tag limit, logging toggle, log level selector
• Install from Settings: Designed to be installed via the dashboard Settings → Plugins UI

Installing Example Plugins from Settings

All example plugins can be installed via the dashboard Settings → Plugins UI:

1. Open Fusion dashboard and navigate to Settings (gear icon in header)
2. Click Plugins in the sidebar
3. Click the Install button
4. Enter the absolute path to the plugin directory (e.g., /path/to/fusion/plugins/examples/fusion-plugin-settings-demo)
5. Click Install to register the plugin
6. Enable the plugin using the toggle switch
7. Configure settings via the settings (gear) icon
8. The plugin will reload automatically with new settings

---

Quick Reference

Minimal Plugin

import { definePlugin } from "@fusion/plugin-sdk";

export default definePlugin({
  manifest: {
    id: "my-plugin",
    name: "My Plugin",
    version: "1.0.0",
  },
  state: "installed",
  hooks: {
    onLoad: (ctx) => {
      ctx.logger.info("Hello from my plugin!");
    },
  },
});

Full Plugin Example

import { definePlugin } from "@fusion/plugin-sdk";
import type { FusionPlugin, PluginContext, PluginUiSlotDefinition } from "@fusion/plugin-sdk";

// UI slots for custom dashboard components
const uiSlots: PluginUiSlotDefinition[] = [
  {
    slotId: "task-card-badge",
    label: "CI Status",
    icon: "circle-check",
    componentPath: "./components/ci-badge.js",
  },
  {
    slotId: "task-detail-tab",
    label: "CI History",
    icon: "history",
    componentPath: "./components/ci-history-tab.js",
  },
];

export default definePlugin({
  manifest: {
    id: "my-full-plugin",
    name: "My Full Plugin",
    version: "1.0.0",
    description: "A complete example with hooks, tools, routes, and UI slots",
    settingsSchema: {
      apiKey: {
        type: "string",
        label: "API Key",
        required: true,
      },
    },
  },
  state: "installed",
  tools: [
    {
      name: "my_tool",
      description: "Does something useful",
      parameters: {
        type: "object",
        properties: {
          input: { type: "string" },
        },
        required: ["input"],
      },
      execute: async (params, ctx) => {
        const result = process(params.input as string);
        return { content: [{ type: "text", text: result }] };
      },
    },
  ],
  routes: [
    {
      method: "GET",
      path: "/status",
      handler: async () => ({ status: "ok" }),
    },
  ],
  uiSlots,
  hooks: {
    onLoad: (ctx) => ctx.logger.info("Loaded!"),
    onTaskCreated: (task, ctx) => {
      ctx.logger.info(`Task created: ${task.id}`);
    },
    onUnload: () => {
      // Cleanup
    },
  },
} satisfies FusionPlugin);

---

For more information, see the Plugin SDK Reference.