install-visual-companions

name	install-visual-companions
description	Offer to install eight marketplace plugins that compose visual-authoring workflows around Illustrator (chart rendering, screenshot verification, whiteboard iteration, PR annotation). Consent-gated, per-plugin — never bundled without explicit heir approval. Use when the heir asks to enable visual-workflow tooling, or when the illustrator's chart / figure / print-SVG authoring produces artifacts that need runtime verification (multimodal vision loop). Companion to install-constellation in alex-act-core.
lastReviewed	2026-08-14T00:00:00.000Z

install-visual-companions

Eight marketplace plugins compose to deliver visual-authoring workflows around Illustrator: chart rendering, screenshot verification, whiteboard iteration, PR annotation, and the vision loop that closes what looks like a runtime-capability gap via composition rather than net-new authorship.

None are part of Illustrator's baseline install — heirs opt in per workload, one at a time. Delegate to Core's plugin-management skill for the mechanical copilot plugin install / marketplace add commands and safety rules.

When to fire

• Heir asks: "install visual companions" / "add screenshot tooling" / "enable chart-rendering plugins" / "install eyeball" / "install the vision loop"
• Heir invokes /alex-act-illustrator-plugin install-visual-companions
• Heir's declared workload involves any of:
  • Chart authoring, data storytelling, or dashboard rendering
  • Report / document generation that needs visual verification
  • PR review workflows with screenshots or annotations
  • Iterative chart design where seeing the render matters
• Illustrator's render-verify skill flags a claim that would benefit from screenshot audit

When NOT to fire

• Pure-code work, non-visual data pipelines, backend / infra without UI — the companions add zero cost when not installed but non-trivial install-time friction when installed
• The heir hasn't installed Illustrator yet — install Core + Illustrator first; visual companions layer on top

The eight companion plugins

Discovered and verified via the Steward GH-APP-SUPPORT feedback loop (private governance record) (4-round A/B test on user's brain, 2026-07-31; ledger row [GH-APP-FEEDBACK] closure). Ownership moved from alex-act-core's install-constellation Step 7 to this skill in Illustrator v0.6.0 (2026-08-01) so the visual-workflow shelf lives with the visual-authoring plugin that anchors it.

Plugin	Marketplace	Purpose	Round-4 verified?
chromium-control-canvas	awesome-copilot	Browser preview + screenshot	✅ (see caveats)
eyeball	awesome-copilot	Screenshot audit with claim-proof output doc	✅ (see caveats)
diagram-viewer	awesome-copilot	SVG / diagram drill-down preview	✅ clean install
napkin	awesome-copilot	Whiteboard for iterative chart design	⚪ Untested
image-annotations	alex-mall	PIL callouts + labels on screenshots. Optional: annotate-screenshot covers this in-plugin; reach for the companion only for automatic multi-label placement or pixel diffing	✅
chart-interpretation	alex-mall	Read charts, extract insights (reverse of authoring)	✅
visual-artifact-qa	alex-mall	Render-time verification (visual output that passes static checks can still fail to render)	✅
visual-pr	awesome-copilot	PR screenshot + annotation embed workflow	⚪ Skills-only, needs real PR to exercise

storytelling-requirements was the ninth companion until 2026-08-18. Its plugin was retired under Alex ACT Steward ADR-039 and its framing role is now owned in-plugin by chart-big-idea, so it needs no install.

Vision loop composition

Discovered via GH-APP-SUPPORT Round 3. The framing gate moved in-plugin on 2026-08-18, so the loop now needs three installs rather than four:

chart-big-idea  →  visual-artifact-qa  →  chart-interpretation  →  eyeball
 (framing gate,      (render check)        (read-back audit)      (claim proof)
  in-plugin)

Composes end-to-end with zero conflicts. Closes what looks like a runtime-capability gap (multimodal vision on agent output) via composition, not net-new authorship. The vision loop is why the "canonical bundle" for the loop is the 3 companions above plus in-plugin framing; the other 5 fill adjacent gaps.

Expert storytelling stages

These are task-triggered options, not one required bundle. Check availability before routing; a missing companion is healthy and does not make Illustrator incomplete.

Storytelling moment	Optional companion	Role
Requirements and audience	chart-big-idea (in-plugin)	Capture audience, Big Idea, questions, evidence, and delivery target. No install needed.
Spatial ideation	napkin	Sketch composition or sequence while the layout question is unresolved.
Independent reading	chart-interpretation	Read the candidate from the audience side; surface patterns, omissions, bias, and competing narratives.
Render QA	visual-artifact-qa	Add static output checks around the visual inspection boundary.
Evidence-rich review	eyeball	Pair factual claims with source screenshots when auditable visual evidence is required.
Critique and handoff	image-annotations, visual-pr	Mark specific defects and carry reviewed screenshots into a pull request.

Never install a companion silently. Route only to installed capabilities unless the heir explicitly invokes this skill and approves each requested plugin.

Consent flow

Step 1 — Confirm the workload

Print the 8-plugin table. Ask the heir:

"Which visual companions do you want? Reply 'vision loop' (visual-artifact-qa + chart-interpretation + eyeball, 3 plugins, the composition pattern from GH-APP-SUPPORT; the framing gate is already in-plugin as chart-big-idea), 'all eight', or name specific plugins. Reply 'skip' to install nothing."

Default to no action if the heir says "skip" or does not respond. Never install without an explicit consent list per plugin.

Step 2 — Verify each exists in its marketplace

Anti-hallucination discipline per Core's plugin-management skill § Safety rules. Marketplaces evolve, and plugin names discovered via description-match are LLM-inferred — must be verified before install.

For each plugin the heir named:

copilot plugin marketplace browse <marketplace>

Scan the output for the plugin name. If not found, report to the heir and drop it from the install list. Continue with the rest.

Step 3 — Marketplace registration

Both awesome-copilot and alex-mall need to be registered in ~/.copilot/settings.json extraKnownMarketplaces:

• awesome-copilot → typically pre-registered by Copilot CLI; verify with copilot plugin marketplace list
• alex-mall → copilot plugin marketplace add fabioc-aloha/Alex_Skill_Mall if not registered

Step 4 — Install commands

Run the install commands in the heir's chosen order:

copilot plugin install <name>@<marketplace>

Example — install the vision-loop bundle:

copilot plugin install visual-artifact-qa@alex-mall
copilot plugin install chart-interpretation@alex-mall
copilot plugin install eyeball@awesome-copilot

Per-plugin, one at a time. If any install fails, report it to the heir and continue with the others (installs are independent).

Step 5 — Install-time caveats

After the install commands complete, print the heir the caveats for the plugins they installed:

chromium-control-canvas — Needs 3 manual post-install steps:

1. cd to the extension dir + npm install
2. npx playwright install chromium (~112 MiB download)
3. A python -m http.server workaround for file:// URLs (upstream limitation)

Node Playwright is required.

This file:// limitation belongs to chromium-control-canvas's own bundled Chromium, not to the host. VS Code's integrated browser opens file:// directly. Do not install this plugin merely to view a local file \u2014 see render-verify \u00a7 When file:// is not enough.

eyeball — Needs 2 manual post-install steps:

1. pip install playwright
2. python -m playwright install chromium (~100 MiB, independent from Node Playwright — installing one does not satisfy the other, per upstream recommendation 5 in GH-APP-SUPPORT)

Also: default output path is ~/Desktop, which is OneDrive-redirected on many Windows setups. If audit artifacts must not sync to corporate OneDrive, override the output path.

napkin and visual-pr — Also Playwright-based; may hit the same first-launch friction pattern as chromium-control-canvas.

Both browser-based plugins — Re-download Chromium (~100 MiB each) rather than sharing a common install (upstream recommendation 6 in GH-APP-SUPPORT).

Step 6 — Report

Print a summary:

• Plugins installed (with marketplace + version)
• Plugins skipped (with reason: marketplace-browse failed / heir declined / already installed)
• Manual post-install steps outstanding (per caveats above; the heir must run them)
• Vision loop status: if all 3 external vision-loop companions are installed, tell the heir "vision loop is complete — you can invoke the composition end-to-end via any of the render-verify workflows"

Anti-patterns

Anti-pattern	Correction
Bundle all 8 without asking	Consent-gated, per-plugin. The 8 are heir-workload-dependent.
Install without verifying marketplace-browse	Per Core's plugin-management Safety rule — plugin names can be LLM-hallucinated. Verify first.
Skip the caveats step	Chromium download + Python Playwright + OneDrive-redirect trip most heirs on first use. Print them proactively.
Install into .github/copilot/settings.json at repo scope	Visual companions are heir-scoped tools, not project-scoped. User scope only.
Offer visual companions to a heir doing pure backend work	Zero-cost when not installed, but not free. Only offer when the workload calls for them.

Composes with

• render-verify — Illustrator's own visual-output audit skill; the vision loop extends this with cross-plugin composition
• chart-big-idea — owns the framing gate at the input side of the vision loop since 2026-08-18, replacing the retired storytelling-requirements companion
• Core's install-constellation — installs the four constellation plugins; this skill installs the visual companions after Illustrator is available
• Core's plugin-management — delegated for all mechanical plugin operations + Safety rules

Falsifiability

This skill is decorative if by 2026-11-01 (90 days):

• Heirs never invoke /alex-act-illustrator-plugin install-visual-companions and always install companions ad-hoc
• The 8-plugin catalog goes stale (a plugin is retired or moved to a different marketplace) and is not refreshed
• The vision-loop composition pattern proves brittle in practice (Round 4 verified it on 2026-07-31, but sustained use may surface issues)
• The move from Core Step 7 to Illustrator produces reader confusion about where the install offer lives — heirs keep asking Core to install visual companions

Track outcomes in Steward's curation-log (private governance record) tagged [INSTALL-VISUAL-COMPANIONS].

Origin

Ownership moved from alex-act-core's install-constellation Step 7 to this skill in Illustrator v0.6.0 (2026-08-01) per Fabio directive: "The visual companions should be bundled with the illustrator." Reverses the 2026-07-31 Option A (route-only) decision in Steward's illustrator/plan.md (private governance record) because "visual-workflow ownership belongs with the visual-authoring plugin" is a stronger fit than "constellation-installer offers all downstream companions".