FAQ

Common questions from first-time plugin authors.

Last updated: 19 mai 2026

The questions we have seen first-time authors ask. Open a Discussion if yours is not here.

1. Do I need to install Dryade core to author a plugin?

No. The SDK is a pure-contract package. Install dryade-plugins-sdk from PyPI, run pytest, and your plugin is ready to package. The dryade_plugins_sdk.testing subpackage ships in-memory mocks (FakeHost, MockKV, MockConfig, MockLLM) so you can unit-test without spinning up the platform.

2. Why structural Protocols instead of base classes?

Three reasons:

  1. No inheritance coupling — you can satisfy Plugin from an existing class without rewriting it.
  2. IDE accuracy — typing.Protocol lets mypy / pylance type-check conformance at edit time.
  3. Host has zero leverage on your imports — you can build a plugin that only imports from dryade_plugins_sdk and stdlib.

3. What’s required_tier for?

It tells the host’s allowlist what privilege class your plugin needs. Valid values: starter, team, enterprise. The host enforces tier limits (max_users, custom_plugin_slots) from the signed allowlist; the SDK refuses community at every level.

4. Can I bypass the hash check for development?

No. The CLI is fail-closed. The host accepts plugins whose on-disk hash matches the manifest-embedded hash, full stop. For local iteration, re-run dryade plugin package after every code change — it takes <1s and produces a fresh hash.

5. How do I share state between plugin invocations?

Two options:

  1. KV — TTL-aware key-value store, host-namespaced to your plugin. See Cookbook §4.
  2. DB — the host injects a SQLAlchemy session bound to a per-plugin schema. Use this for relational data your plugin owns.

Module-level globals work, but they reset on plugin reload. Avoid for anything you would not be happy to lose.

6. Where do plugin tools run?

Inside the plugin’s Leash sandbox. Live levels are NONE, PROCESS, and LANGUAGE (bwrap/firejail user namespace). CONTAINER and GVISOR are declared but fail-closed at the host until the corresponding sandbox lands. Authors should pick the strictest level their tool can survive in.

7. What’s the difference between the SDK and the host?

  • SDK (dryade-plugins-sdk) — pure-contract package on PyPI. Defines Protocols + manifest schema + packaging primitives. Zero core.* imports.
  • Host (Dryade platform) — the runtime that loads plugins, enforces the signed allowlist, mounts UI bundles, routes tool calls. Proprietary commercial software; download at dryade.ai/download.

Authors only interact with the SDK. The host implements the SDK’s Protocols, not the other way around.

8. Why is community rejected as a tier?

The Dryade platform has no community tier — community users have no Plugin Manager and no plugins at all. Plugins ship to paying customers (starter / team / enterprise). This is enforced at every scaffold / validate / package step.

9. How do I get my plugin into the marketplace?

Submit the .dryadepkg produced by dryade plugin package to the marketplace at https://dryade.ai/marketplace. The marketplace verifies your dev signature, re-signs with its dual Ed25519 + ML-DSA-65 production keys, and publishes in the signed allowlist that customer installs pull.

10. Can I distribute plugins outside the marketplace?

Yes — share the .dryadepkg directly. Customers can install with dryade-pm install <path> (the Plugin Manager binary, separate from the authoring CLI). The signed allowlist still gates the plugin at load time on the customer’s Dryade install, so the customer’s PM must explicitly allow your dev signing key.