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Plugin Configuration

PackagingTools probes multiple locations for plugin manifests so desktop, CLI, and SDK hosts behave consistently.

Probing Order

  1. Runtime overrides
    • PackagingClientOptions.PluginDirectories (SDK/global)
    • PackagingRunOptions.PluginDirectories (per execution; relative to the project file)
  2. Project metadata — plugins.directories, editable from the Avalonia workspace (one path per line) or directly in the JSON project.
  3. Environment variable — set PACKAGINGTOOLS_PLUGIN_PATHS to a path-separated list for machine-specific locations.
  4. Defaults — <application base>/plugins and %APPDATA%/PackagingTools/plugins (or the macOS/Linux equivalents).

Each directory is scanned for *.json manifests shaped like:

{
  "assemblyPath": "SamplePlugin.dll",
  "pluginType": "Contoso.SamplePlugin",
  "disabled": false
}

Relative paths inside manifests are resolved against the manifest directory. Disabled manifests remain on disk but are skipped.

GUI Workflow

The workspace view exposes a Plugin Directories editor (one path per line). When the project is saved, values are stored in plugins.directories, and the CLI/SDK resolve them automatically.

CLI / SDK Tips

  • Ship customer plugins alongside the CLI in a plugins folder; they are picked up automatically.
  • Use PACKAGINGTOOLS_PLUGIN_PATHS on build agents to point at shared plugin bundles.
  • In code, call:
var client = PackagingClient.CreateDefault(options =>
{
    options.PluginDirectories.Add("/opt/plugins");
});

to ensure bespoke locations are considered for every run.