Pop.Plugins

Pop.Plugins is a lightweight and extensible plugin framework for .NET 8+ that enables runtime discovery and loading of modular plugins (DLLs) into your .NET applications — including Console apps, Web APIs, or Background Services.

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📦 Packages & Dependencies

Package	Description
Pop.Plugins.Abstractions	Interfaces and base types required to implement plugins
Pop.Plugins.DependencyInjection.Abstractions	Abstractions for plugin DI container
Pop.Plugins.Logging	Logging configuration helpers for plugin-specific log categories
Pop.Plugins.Logging.Abstractions	Logging abstractions for plugin logging
Pop.Plugins.Runtime	Plugin loader and runtime manager for loading/unloading plugins

Required NuGet packages:

• Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory (for service resolution caching)
• Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection (for DI)
• Microsoft.Extensions.Options (for options/configuration)

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📝 Documentation

• All public and internal APIs are documented with XML comments (in English).
• See source code for inline documentation of types, methods, parameters, and return values.

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🚀 Getting Started

1. Register the PluginManager in your host application:

builder.Services.AddPluginManager(options =>
{
    options.PluginsFolder = Path.Combine(AppContext.BaseDirectory, "Plugins");
    options.PluginFilter = dllPath => Path.GetFileName(dllPath).Contains("Plugin.");
    options.AutoLoadPlugins = true;
},
configure: pluginManager =>
{
    pluginManager.RegisterSharedServices(services =>
    {
        services.AddSingleton<IMyService, MyService>();
    });
});

2. Create a Plugin

Create a class library project and reference Pop.Plugins.Abstractions. Then implement your plugin:

public class MyPlugin : PluginBase
{
    public MyPlugin(IPluginLoggingConfigurator pluginLoggerConfigurator, PluginSettings pluginSettings)
      : base(pluginLoggerConfigurator, pluginSettings)
    {
    }

    public override void ConfigurePluginServices()
    {
        Services.AddSingleton<IMyPluginService, MyPluginService>();
    }

    public override void ConfigureHostServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        services.AddTransient<IMyPluginService, MyPluginService>();
    }
}

3. Plugin Configuration

• Place a JSON settings file next to your plugin DLL (e.g., MyPlugin.settings.json).
• The framework will automatically load settings using PluginConfigurationLoader.

4. Deploy the Plugin

• Build your plugin project
• Copy the resulting .dll and .settings.json into the plugins/ folder of your host application
• On next run, it will be automatically loaded

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🔄 Features

• Automatic loading of plugin configuration from JSON
• Custom AssemblyLoadContext per plugin for isolation
• Optional shared service registration
• Per-plugin dependency injection container
• Plugin-scoped logging (ILogger<MyService> uses plugin category)
• Plugin unload support (experimental)
• Service resolution with caching (PluginServiceResolver)

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🧩 Plugin Development Guide

• Document your public APIs with XML comments
• Implement your plugin by inheriting from PluginBase or IPlugin
• Register host/shared services in ConfigureHostServices
• Register plugin-specific services in ConfigurePluginServices
• Use PluginSettings for configuration and PluginLoggingSettings for logging

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📚 API Reference

• All types, methods, and parameters are documented in source code with XML comments
• See source for details on:
  • IPlugin
  • IPluginManager
  • PluginBase
  • PluginConfigurationLoader
  • PluginLoadContext
  • PluginManager
  • PluginServiceResolver

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🤝 Contribution Guidelines

• Ensure all new code is covered by XML documentation
• Follow .NET coding conventions and document all public/internal APIs
• Fork the repository and create a feature branch
• Submit pull requests with clear descriptions

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📄 License

MIT License

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💬 Support / Contact

For issues, feature requests, or questions, open a GitHub issue or contact the maintainer.