carapace-plugin-development

name	Carapace Plugin Development
description	Build, modify, or review Carapace plugins. Use when creating new plugins, implementing tool handlers, writing manifest.json files, creating container-side skill files, or debugging plugin loading issues. Covers the full plugin lifecycle: scaffold, implement handler, define manifest schema, write skill markdown, verify, and symlink for runtime discovery.

Carapace Plugin Development

Architecture

Each plugin is a pair spanning the trust boundary:

• Host-side handler (handler.ts) — TypeScript, holds credentials, executes tool logic. Runs on the host with full trust.
• Container-side skill (skills/{name}.md) — Markdown teaching Claude the available tools. Injected into the read-only container.

Plugins live in a separate repo (carapace-plugins/) and are symlinked into $CARAPACE_HOME/plugins/ for runtime discovery. The plugin loader scans for directories containing manifest.json, validates against a JSON Schema, dynamically imports handler.js (preferred) or handler.ts, and calls initialize() with a 10-second timeout.

Plugin Directory Layout

{plugin-name}/
  manifest.json           # Declares tools, channels, config
  handler.ts              # Host-side PluginHandler implementation
  skills/
    {plugin-name}.md      # Teaches Claude about the tools
  package.json            # @carapace/core via link:
  tsconfig.json           # ES2022 / NodeNext / strict

Workflow

1. Scaffold — Run scripts/scaffold-plugin.sh <name> <output-dir> to generate all boilerplate files with TODO placeholders
2. Define manifest — Fill in tools, schemas, risk levels. See references/manifest-schema.md
3. Implement handler — Write tool logic using the PluginHandler interface. See references/handler-api.md
4. Write skill file — Teach Claude how to invoke the tools from the container
5. Configure project — Set up package.json and tsconfig.json. See references/project-setup.md
6. Verify — Type-check, test, symlink, and confirm loading in server logs

Critical Rules

• additionalProperties: false is enforced at every manifest schema level
• Tool names must be globally unique across all loaded plugins
• MUST use as const on the ok field in ToolInvocationResult (discriminated union)
• Use link: (not file:) for @carapace/core in package.json
• Do NOT set outDir: "." in tsconfig (TypeScript excludes its own inputs)
• Never log or expose credential values
• Import types from @carapace/core/plugin subpath export

Common Mistakes

• Using file: instead of link: in package.json (breaks type resolution)
• Forgetting additionalProperties: false in argument schemas (validation fails)
• Using a reserved tool name (get_diagnostics, list_tools, get_session_info) or reserved plugin name (installer, memory, test-input, hello)
• Missing subscribes: [] in manifest (required even if empty)
• Missing provides.channels: [] (required even for tool-only plugins)
• Returning { ok: true } without as const — breaks discriminated union type narrowing
• Using export default { ... } satisfies PluginHandler without the type annotation

Reference Plugin

../carapace-plugins/hello-world/ demonstrates a minimal working plugin with one low-risk tool, default export handler, argument validation, and a skill file.