Overview

Silky's plugin system allows you to load additional modules from external assemblies at runtime, without compiling them into the main host project. This enables:

• Hot-loadable extension packs
• Optional feature modules
• Separation of concerns in large codebases
• Third-party extensions

Plugin Configuration

Specify plugin directories in appsettings.json:

{
  "plugin": {
    "path": "plugins",
    "enable": true
  }
}

At startup, Silky scans the specified directory for plugin assemblies and loads all valid SilkyModule subclasses found.

Creating a Plugin

1. Create a Class Library

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Silky.Core" Version="3.9.2" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

2. Define the Plugin Module

using Silky.Core.Modularity;

public class AnalyticsPluginModule : SilkyModule
{
    public override void ConfigureServices(ServiceConfigurationContext context)
    {
        context.Services.AddSingleton<IAnalyticsService, DefaultAnalyticsService>();
        context.Services.AddHostedService<AnalyticsBackgroundService>();
    }
}

3. Implement Plugin Services

public class DefaultAnalyticsService : IAnalyticsService, ISingletonDependency
{
    public void TrackEvent(string eventName, IDictionary<string, object> properties)
    {
        // ...
    }
}

Deploying a Plugin

1. Build the plugin project:

   dotnet publish -c Release -o ./publish/plugins/Analytics
   

2. Copy the output to the host's plugin directory:

   {host-root}/
     plugins/
       Analytics/
         AnalyticsPlugin.dll
         AnalyticsPlugin.deps.json
   

3. Restart the host — the plugin is picked up automatically.

Plugin Dependencies

Plugin assemblies are loaded in isolation. If a plugin depends on packages already loaded by the host, those are shared. If a dependency is unique to the plugin, it must be included in the plugin directory.

Use Cases