shopdb-flask/docs/CONTRACT-STABILITY.md

Path to contract 1.0

This page is an honest read of how stable the plugin contract is today, for a sister site deciding how much to build on it. It is derived from the ADRs and the live code, not aspiration. The authoritative hook reference is PLUGIN-HOOKS.md; the versioning rules are in ADR-002.

Current version

The plugin contract version is declared in shopdb/__init__.py as __contract_version__, and the current value is in PROJECT-MAP.md, which is generated. It is pre-1.0, which under semver means any 0.x minor bump is allowed to break the contract, and this project has used that latitude - see 0.19.0 below.

The product release version (__version__) is a separate series with its own bump rules; see ADR-007. Do not pin against it for compatibility - pin against __contract_version__.

0.x history

Recorded in the comment block in shopdb/__init__.py:

Version	Change	Kind
0.3.0	shopdb.api expanded to the full plugin import surface (db, cache, model bases, core models, response + pagination helpers, employee_connection) so plugins stop importing internal core paths	additive (minor)
0.4.0	Removed the never-implemented get_searchable_fields hook (search is a core concern over the asset model) and wired get_dashboard_widgets to a real consumer (/api/dashboard/widgets)	pre-1.0 contract reduction
0.6.0	Added the get_reports hook, consumed by GET /api/reports to merge plugin report cards into the Reports hub	additive optional hook (minor)
0.7.0	Added the four ADR-010 frontend-contribution hooks (get_settings_cards, get_asset_panels, get_map_overlays, get_asset_presentation), consumed by the GET /api/pluginui/* endpoints	additive optional hooks (minor)
0.9.0	Exposed the dualpath pair-resolution helpers on shopdb.api for the machines plugin	additive surface (minor)
0.10.0	Added the get_permissions hook so plugins declare their own RBAC permissions; the catalog is resolved dynamically from core + enabled plugins	additive optional hook (minor)
0.11.0	Added service_token_authorized(scope) to shopdb.api so a plugin's unattended endpoints (e.g. the GE-Enforce fetch API) can authorize a scoped managed service token without importing core token internals	additive surface (minor)
0.12.0	Added the mailer helpers (send_email, send_alert) to shopdb.api	additive surface (minor)
0.13.0	Added the User model to the shopdb.api surface	additive surface (minor)
0.14.0	Added send_webhook to the shopdb.api surface	additive surface (minor)
0.15.0	Added authorized_service_token / the SupportTeam model to the shopdb.api surface	additive surface (minor)
0.16.0	Added the get_settings_defaults hook so a plugin declares the Setting rows it owns; the framework seeds them at install, at enable, and on flask plugin upgrade-all, files a first-time write under the declared category, and honours public: True for pages that render before login	additive optional hook (minor)
0.17.0	Added DashboardDefault to the shopdb.api surface, so a plugin can resolve a display without reaching into core	additive surface (minor)
0.18.0	Added DISPLAY_ROLES, DISPLAY_ROLE_PATHS and normalize_display_role, and finally exported DashboardDefault, which 0.17.0 imported but left out of __all__. The role vocabulary became the kiosk's own - Dashboard, Lobby, 3DPrintRoom - so a plugin holding its own copy of that map reads core's instead of drifting from it	additive surface (minor)
0.19.0	BREAKING. get_dashboard_widgets returns DATA AND SHAPE, not a component name. The old shape (name + component + size) named a Vue component per widget, which cannot survive a lean build - a plugin's component may never be staged into the frontend bundle (ADR-013) - and five plugins were declaring widgets that pointed at components nobody had written. A card now declares id / title / endpoint / render / severity / permission / empty / position; see PLUGIN-HOOKS.md. Also added send_upload so a plugin serving user-supplied bytes gets the headers that keep an SVG from running as script	contract change (minor, pre-1.0)
0.20.0	The Asset model gained levelid (which floor plan its mapx/mapy are pixels of) and mapverifiedat; Location gained levelid too, and resolve_asset_position now returns the levelid belonging to whichever source supplied the coordinates. A plugin that writes a map position MUST write the level with it - a position without one renders as "level unknown" rather than being drawn on the default drawing, because a marker on the wrong floor plan looks correct (ADR-017)	additive surface (minor)
0.21.0	Added the get_guest_grantable_permissions hook: a plugin names the WRITE permissions a site may grant to the seeded guest role, which is who anyone without a token now holds. Reads (.view/.read) are grantable without a plugin saying anything; anything else is refused. Also exposed require_any_permission on shopdb.api for a read two different rights should reach	additive optional hook + surface (minor)
0.22.0	Added the register_import_hook surface: a plugin owns a VIRTUAL COLUMN on an importable CSV table - a header the bulk importer accepts but never writes - plus a post-write row hook that turns the value into a plugin concept. The computers plugin uses it for machineassetnumber on computers.csv, which builds the PC->machine controls link, so a site writes the machine number in the PC's own row instead of hand-building a separate relationships sheet. Core never learns what the column means. RowWarning is exported with it so a hook can report a soft failure without aborting the import	additive surface (minor)
0.23.0	Added mint_service_token, list_service_tokens and revoke_service_tokens so a plugin can provision, list and revoke a single-scope managed service token without importing core token internals. The endpoints plugin uses them for a UI-managed, regenerable agent key scoped to collector.ingest.endpoints alone - narrow on purpose, so rotating or revoking it cannot disturb the computers or GE-Enforce collectors, and revocation is an instant kill switch on agent ingest	additive surface (minor)
0.24.0	Added collector_authorized(pluginname) so a plugin can gate an agent-facing route that lives OUTSIDE the generic collector blueprint on the same per-plugin key and kill switch the ingest route uses. The endpoints command channel needs it: the agent long-polls /api/endpoints/commands/next and posts results back, and those are agent callbacks rather than JWT routes. Without it a plugin would reach into core collector internals to authorize them	additive surface (minor)
0.25.0	Added caller_holds(permission), which answers whether the current caller holds a permission WITHOUT refusing the request - the complement to require_permission for a route that serves everyone but should only offer what the caller can act on. The endpoints services panel is the case: it emitted Start/Stop row actions to every reader, because the emission never consulted the caller. Clicking them was always refused server-side, so nothing was exploitable, but offering a read-only viewer controls over a shop-floor PC is the wrong signal, and it becomes a real problem once a site grants that panel to guests. Guests are included in the answer, since a signed-out visitor holds whatever the guest role was granted	additive surface (minor)
0.26.0	Dashboard cards may declare shortname. The dashboard merged its per-source cards into one worst-first queue, and a card's title is written as a heading ("Endpoints with crashes or shutdowns") which as a row badge ran wider than the hostname it qualified. Optional, defaults to the title, so a plugin that does not declare one is unaffected	additive field (minor)
0.27.0	Added Script so a plugin can read the ShopDB-hosted script library that backs endpoint run_script delivery without importing core model internals. The endpoints plugin resolves a delivered script by name and serves its body by digest to the agent	additive surface (minor)
0.29.0	Added an optional group to get_asset_panels, naming which detail-page tab a panel belongs to: details (the default) / software / metrics / actions / activity. The detail pages are tabbed, and a page that placed panels by knowing their ids would defeat the hook. Additive: an absent or unrecognised group resolves to details server-side, so every existing plugin keeps working with no change	additive surface (minor)
0.28.0	Added client_ip and strip_port so a plugin does not hand-roll caller-IP extraction. Two plugins had, and both read the first X-Forwarded-For hop, which the caller supplies - so a rate limit keyed on it was defeated by rotating the header. The helper resolves from remote_addr, which ProxyFix has already filled from the header when TRUSTED_PROXY_COUNT says a proxy is really in front	additive surface (minor)

The source comment block documents 0.3.0, 0.4.0, 0.6.0, 0.7.0, 0.9.0, 0.10.0, 0.11.0, 0.16.0, 0.18.0 and 0.19.0; 0.12.0 through 0.15.0 and 0.17.0 are recorded in this table only.

0.19.0 is the one to read before pinning. It is the only entry in this series that took something away, and it shipped before it was recorded here - which is precisely the reason to pin tight rather than to trust that a minor bump is safe. Earlier points (0.1.x / 0.2.x) predate that recorded rationale; PluginMeta's fallback core_version default of >=0.2.0,<1.0.0 is the only remaining trace of the 0.2 baseline.

Settled surface

These are unlikely to break before 1.0. A plugin can depend on them with reasonable confidence; a breaking change to any would be a major bump and would land with a new or amended ADR.

Surface	What it is
meta / manifest schema	PluginMeta fields and manifest.json (ADR-002 single source of truth)
get_blueprint	Flask Blueprint registration at the manifest api_prefix
get_models	SQLAlchemy model classes the plugin owns
init_app	Custom init after blueprint + models are known
get_cli_commands	Click commands added to the Flask CLI
get_services	Named service classes, consumed by plugin_manager.get_service
Lifecycle hooks	on_install, on_uninstall, on_enable, on_disable
get_navigation_items	Sidebar menu entries
get_dashboard_widgets	Dashboard widgets, consumed by /api/dashboard/widgets
get_reports	Report cards, consumed by /api/reports (added 0.6.0)
get_permissions	Plugin RBAC permissions, merged into the catalog for roles and token scopes (added 0.10.0)
Frontend-contribution hooks	get_settings_cards, get_asset_panels, get_map_overlays, get_asset_presentation, consumed by /api/pluginui/* (added 0.7.0, ADR-010)
Collector pair	get_collector_schema + apply_collector_payload per ADR-006
Settings helpers	get_setting / set_setting, namespaced to the plugin
get_provisioning_note	Setup-wizard transparency note for extra tables
get_config_schema	Setup-wizard config field declarations
shopdb.api import surface	The only core module plugins may import (plus shopdb.plugins.base); adding a name is minor, removing one is major

The asset model itself - Asset, AssetType, AssetStatus, AssetRelationship, and the shared reference models - is the platform contract locked in ADR-001.

Expected churn before 1.0

Known-unstable areas. Building on these means expecting rework.

Area	Status	Reference
Frontend renderers (residual)	The four data-only hooks and their /api/pluginui/* consumers are settled (0.7.0). The generic core renderers are landing incrementally: the settings-cards rail/landing renderer ships with 0.7.0; the asset-panel, map-overlay, and search-presentation renderers are wired opt-in per the ADR adoption plan. Real component-backed panels (bespoke charts, custom overlays) remain deferred to Option C (build-time glob discovery).	ADR-010 (ACCEPTED)
Per-plugin migrations	Brand new. The per-plugin Alembic engine exists and every bundled plugin now carries a chain, but the pattern has one release of production mileage, not years.	ADR-008 (2026-07-10)
Pip distribution	Deferred to v2. External plugins install by clone / submodule / symlink; there is no entry-point discovery and no automatic update path yet.	ADR-003

Bump rules

From ADR-002, applied to __contract_version__:

Bump	Trigger
major	Breaking change to the BasePlugin ABC, the PluginMeta schema, or any model in the platform contract (Asset, AssetType, AssetStatus, AssetRelationship, Vendor, Location, BusinessUnit, Model, OperatingSystem). Removing a name from shopdb.api is major.
minor	Additive change: a new optional hook, a new field on a contract model with a default, a new name added to shopdb.api.
patch	Bug fix with no change to the contract surface.

Deprecation policy

ADR-002 defines the bump classification above but is silent on any deprecation window or notice period for pre-1.0 removals. In practice a removal is simply a major (or, pre-1.0, a breaking minor) bump: the hook or name is gone, and the loader fails loud in dev or excludes the mismatched plugin in prod (see the load-time table in PLUGIN-EXTERNAL-REPO.md). Because the ADR says nothing about a grace period, this document proposes none; the honest guidance for sister sites is the mitigation that already exists - pin a tight core_version range and re-test before widening it.

Criteria for declaring 1.0

Provisional. This is the maintainer's working list, not a committed checklist, and it will move. ADR-002's own open question ("When does the framework declare 1.0.0?") ties 1.0 to the Machine retirement from ADR-001 and the framework being "ready for sister sites"; the items below expand that intent.

• Frontend hook contract defined via its own ADR (asset-detail panels, map markers, search results), closing the biggest churn item above.
• Machine / legacy-model retirement complete per ADR-001, so the asset model is the only contract.
• At least two external plugins running in production at a second site - the bar ADR-003 already sets before pip distribution and sister-site readiness are considered justified.
• The per-plugin migration pattern (ADR-008) proven across real upgrades, not just fresh installs.
• No contract bump needed for N consecutive product releases (N to be fixed when the list is firmed up), showing the surface has actually settled.

Until then: pre-1.0, pin tight, re-test on every framework bump.