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Overview

PlugHub is an enterprise-grade, modular plugin orchestration framework built in pure C#. It empowers you to build, manage, and deploy robust cross-platform desktop applications—without the usual boilerplate or platform-specific headaches.

Designed for developers who value stability, type safety, and maintainability, PlugHub provides a clean, opinionated foundation for crafting complex applications. Say goodbye to tech debt and tangled integrations—PlugHub lets you focus on what makes your software unique.

Key Features

• Modern, maintainable, and extensible plugin management
• Cross-platform desktop support (Windows, Linux, macOS) via Avalonia UI and FluentAvalonia
• Strict C#-only plugin model for type safety and reliability
• Plugin validation, compatibility checks, and dependency management at both compile and runtime
• Secure plugin discovery and inspection without code instantiation
• Well-defined interfaces for integration (e.g., IPlugin, IPluginServiceProvider, IPluginPage)
• Built for professionals, enterprises, and ambitious hobbyists

Why PlugHub?

PlugHub stands apart from traditional plugin frameworks and orchestration systems by focusing on what experienced developers and organizations actually need: a stable, type-safe, and maintainable foundation for building complex, cross-platform applications. Here’s why PlugHub is the right choice for your next project:

• Purpose-Built for Professionals: Unlike generic plugin systems that prioritize broad compatibility at the expense of reliability, PlugHub is designed for C# developers who demand type safety, predictability, and clean architecture. This results in less tech debt and fewer integration headaches.

• Composable, Actionable Ecosystem: PlugHub is more than a plugin loader—it’s a curated ecosystem where thousands of specialized plugins can be combined, profiled, and branded to create powerful, tailored solutions. Think “Nexus Mods for enterprise apps,” not just another code package manager.

• Plugin-Driven Branding and UI: With interfaces like IPluginBranded, even the application’s look and feel can be defined by plugins. This enables true white-labeling and deep customization, letting you deliver unique branded experiences from a single codebase.

• Security and Stability by Design: Plugins are discovered and validated through static IL metadata, not runtime reflection or scripting. This minimizes tampering risk and ensures that compatibility and dependency issues are caught early—before they impact your users.

• Curated Profiles for Rapid Deployment: PlugHub supports profiles—predefined collections of plugins and branding—allowing teams to instantly deploy purpose-built environments or share best-practice stacks across projects and organizations.

• Modern, Cross-Platform Stack: Built with Avalonia UI, FluentAvalonia, and .NET 8.0 LTS, PlugHub delivers a consistent, elegant user experience on Windows, Linux, and macOS, without unnecessary dependencies.

• Open to All Use Cases: The LGPL license ensures PlugHub is suitable for both open-source and commercial projects, empowering you to build, brand, and distribute without licensing headaches.

Choose PlugHub if you want to:

• Build robust, extensible desktop applications without reinventing the wheel
• Compose and share complex functionality from a growing ecosystem of plugins
• Maintain full control over branding, user experience, and deployment profiles
• Rely on a secure, type-safe, and enterprise-grade foundation for your software

PlugHub is not just another plugin framework—it’s the backbone for your next generation of applications.

Core Principles

• Foundational Stability: Every plugin is anchored to a robust, stable host, ensuring a seamless user experience and minimizing integration risks.
• Security & Isolation: Plugins are discovered and inspected via static metadata, reducing tampering and runtime risk. PlugHub aspires to enterprise-grade security for even the most sensitive workflows.
• Extensibility: Rapidly add new capabilities by building plugins that integrate cleanly, with clear separation of concerns and minimal friction.
• Type-Safe Workflows: Most issues are caught at compile time, enabling confident, large-scale application development.

How It Works

• Place plugins in a designated folder—PlugHub discovers and inspects them using static IL metadata, ensuring secure, non-invasive integration.
• Validation is two-layered: static (load order and versioning via GUIDs) and runtime (dependency and conflict checks).
• Out-of-the-box interfaces for plugin integration and service injection, with more extensibility points planned.
• Runs on .NET 8.0 LTS, Avalonia UI, and Microsoft’s DI and Logging services—no unnecessary dependencies, just a modern, efficient stack.

Vision

PlugHub aims to foster a thriving, curated ecosystem where plugins are not just add-ons, but foundational building blocks for applications. Imagine the choice and combinatorial power of Nexus Mods—where thousands of small, specialized plugins can be stacked, composed, and curated into powerful, tailored solutions. In PlugHub, the “cream rises to the top”: high-quality plugins, interface abstractions, and even meta-plugins (that help other plugins work better) can be discovered, shared, and reused.

Unlike NuGet, which delivers code and interfaces, PlugHub bridges the gap to actionable functionality—your plugin stack can be as granular or as ambitious as needed, with each plugin contributing focused value. Profiles, akin to Nexus Mods collections, will let users or organizations define and share curated sets of plugins and branding, enabling instant deployment of purpose-built environments.

With interfaces like IPluginBranded, even the host’s look and feel is plugin-driven—allowing projects like RPG Designer to brand and configure PlugHub for their unique needs. This flexibility extends to commercial and open-source use alike, thanks to LGPL licensing.

PlugHub’s vision is broad: to empower developers, teams, and organizations to compose, brand, and distribute robust applications from a rich, ever-growing marketplace of plugins and curated profiles.

Typical Use Case

Clone PlugHub, start building plugins, and let the framework handle validation, packaging, and cross-platform deployment. Focus on your vision, not infrastructure. PlugHub is the backbone for applications like RPG Designer and is ready to power your next big idea.