# plugin_system - Functional Specification

**Version**: v1.2.3 | **Status**: Active | **Last Updated**: March 2026

## Purpose

Enables dynamic extension of the platform. It handles plugin discovery, loading, validation, and lifecycle management.

## Design Principles

- **Isolation**: Plugins should not crash the host.
- **Security**: Strict validation of plugin metadata and code (`PluginValidator`).

## Functional Requirements

1. **Discovery**: Find plugins in specified directories.
2. **Lifecycle**: Load, Initialize, Shutdown hooks.
3. **Registry**: Maintain database of installed plugins.

## Interface Contracts

- `PluginManager`: Central coordinator for discovery, validation, and loading.
- `PluginRegistry`: Manages registered plugins (now uses `register()` instead of `register_plugin()`).
- `PluginValidator`: Security and metadata validation (now returns unified `ValidationResult` objects with a `.valid` attribute).
- `Plugin`: Base class for all extensions.

## Navigation

- **Human Documentation**: [README.md](README.md)
- **Technical Documentation**: [AGENTS.md](AGENTS.md)
- **Parent**: [../SPEC.md](../SPEC.md)

## Detailed Architecture and Implementation

The implementation follows the Unified Streamline principles (v0.1.0), removing backward compatibility aliases in favor of a modern, standardized API.

### Design Principles

1. **Strict Modularity**: Each component is isolated and communicates via well-defined APIs.
2. **Security-First**: Mandatory validation via `PluginValidator` before loading.
3. **Performance Optimization**: Implementation leverages lazy loading and intelligent caching.
4. **API Consistency**: Unified return types (e.g., `ValidationResult`) across all validation methods.

### Technical Implementation

The codebase utilizes Python 3.10+ dataclasses and type hinting. Interaction patterns are documented in the corresponding `AGENTS.md` and `SPEC.md` files.

## Testing

```bash
uv run python -m pytest src/codomyrmex/tests/ -k plugin_system -v
```
