Plugin anatomy

A plugin combines a manifest, a frontend entry, and optionally a backend. The scaffold gives each part a place in a regular Node.js project.

What a plugin contains

The manifest.json identifies the plugin, selects widget or page, points to its entry, and declares permissions and any backend commands. The frontend entry exports createInstance(container, ctx). The host calls it with a DOM container and PluginContext; it returns a PluginInstance with unmount() and optional onResize() for widgets. See the frontend lifecycle guide.

A backend is optional. Shell and Go backends expose declared routes through the typed ctx.backend client; device management calls use ctx.rciManager through the host. Read the shell backend guide and RCI API guide for those boundaries.

What the host provides

PluginContext is passed to createInstance and exposes host services:

• rciManager queues device operations; backend is present when the manifest declares a backend. See the RCI API guide and shell backend guide.
• storage and sharedStorage store plugin data; deviceInfo provides a device snapshot.
• theme, locale, and palette provide current values and observable updates through theme$, locale$, and palette$; i18n provides localized messages. See the frontend lifecycle guide.
• telemetry fetches projected data; events is optional and appears when the manifest declares event permissions.
• overlay presents modals and drawers, and createTicker() creates a host-managed ticker.
• pageRoute provides navigation within page plugins; setTileTitle sets a widget's host tile title.

The SDK reference documents the complete PluginContext contract.

A plugin's path

Edit the source and manifest, run mndw pack to build frontend assets and stage runtime files in dist/, then run mndw zip to create the upload archive. Upload the ZIP through the dashboard's plugin management flow. A plugin with a backend requires approval before it can run; a plugin without one installs directly. The validation and packaging guide covers the archive, and install mndw covers the dashboard setup. On the router, mndwd serves plugin files and runs or proxies the declared backend.

Scaffold tree

This is the hello-widget scaffold with a shell backend:

hello-widget/
  backend/
    main.sh
  i18n/
    en.json
    ru.json
  manifest.json
  package.json
  src/
    App.svelte
    TableNameCell.svelte
    index.ts
    l10n.test.ts
    table.test.ts
  vitest.config.ts

• backend/main.sh handles the scaffold's shell route.
• i18n/en.json and i18n/ru.json hold the English and Russian catalogs.
• manifest.json declares the plugin identity, entry, and backend route.
• package.json is the plugin npm package manifest; it lists @mndw/sdk, @mndw/ui, the framework wrapper such as @mndw/ui-svelte, and the build and test tools.
• src/App.svelte implements the widget view.
• src/TableNameCell.svelte renders a table cell used by the scaffold.
• src/index.ts exports the frontend plugin entry.
• src/l10n.test.ts and src/table.test.ts cover the generated view and table cell.
• vitest.config.ts configures the scaffold's test runner.

Example plugins

Built-in plugins in plugins/builtin/ include device-info-widget, cpu-temp-widget, tx-rx-chart-widget, terminal-page, clock-widget, dns-lookup-widget, mws-page, clients-widget, and system-log-page. Uploadable examples in plugins/examples/ include backend-echo, demo-page, device-traffic-widget, and ping-widget.