#Plugin quickstart

Experimental: Plugins are intended for personal, local use and are not designed for distribution yet. The plugin API is still evolving, so expect breaking changes and updates to your plugins as Paseo evolves.

See the plugin roadmap for planned contribution surfaces and their current status.

Paseo plugins add native workspace panels, Command Center items, global surfaces, daemon behavior, and composer attachment sources. They run on every Paseo client connected to the host, including mobile.

Plugins are trusted local code. Install only code you trust: backend code runs unsandboxed with access to the daemon machine, and client contributions run inside the Paseo app.

On the target host, open Settings → Plugins and turn on Enable plugins. This is the global switch for every configured plugin on that daemon.

You can also change the root pluginsEnabled field in the daemon's config.json, then apply it without restarting:

paseo reload --json

Enabling starts configured plugins; disabling tears them down. Automation must inspect the current value first and obtain your explicit permission before changing a disabled or omitted value to true.

#Create a plugin

Use an absolute path on the daemon machine:

paseo plugin init /absolute/path/to/workspace-plugin
cd /absolute/path/to/workspace-plugin
npm install

init creates a strict TypeScript project. It does not run the package manager. index.ts registers contributions; client UI lives in *.client.tsx files.

Plugins run on desktop, browser, iOS, and Android. Paseo ships several themes. Color every Text from theme.colors.foreground or theme.colors.foregroundMuted, and size layout from layout.compact. Hardcoded black text fails in dark themes.

Replace main.client.tsx with:

import { type PluginWorkspacePanelProps, useWorkspace } from "@getpaseo/plugin";
import { useMemo } from "react";
import { Text, View } from "react-native";

export function WorkspaceOverview({ theme, layout, workspaceId }: PluginWorkspacePanelProps) {
  const workspace = useWorkspace(workspaceId, ({ name, directory }) => ({
    name,
    directory,
  }));
  const styles = useMemo(
    () => ({
      screen: {
        flex: 1,
        padding: layout.compact ? 16 : 24,
        gap: layout.compact ? 8 : 12,
        backgroundColor: theme.colors.surface0,
      },
      title: { color: theme.colors.foreground, fontSize: layout.compact ? 20 : 24 },
      label: { color: theme.colors.foregroundMuted },
      detail: { color: theme.colors.foreground },
    }),
    [theme, layout.compact],
  );

  return (
    <View style={styles.screen}>
      <Text style={styles.title}>{workspace?.name}</Text>
      <Text style={styles.label}>Directory</Text>
      <Text style={styles.detail}>{workspace?.directory}</Text>
    </View>
  );
}

Replace index.ts with:

import type { PluginContext } from "@getpaseo/plugin";
import { WorkspaceOverview } from "./main.client";

export default function contribute(plugin: PluginContext) {
  plugin.addWorkspacePanel({
    id: "overview",
    title: "Workspace overview",
    icon: "PanelsTopLeft",
    context: "workspace",
    Component: WorkspaceOverview,
  });
  plugin.addCommandCenterItem({
    id: "open-overview",
    title: "Open workspace overview",
    icon: "PanelsTopLeft",
    context: "workspace",
    onSelect({ openPanel }) {
      openPanel("overview");
    },
  });
  return () => {};
}

The icon is a Lucide icon name. *.client.tsx files can use React Native runtime APIs; Paseo excludes them from the daemon bundle. Panel props contain stable IDs; useWorkspace selects the cached fields the component needs without fetching through RPC or re-rendering for unrelated workspace changes. See Theme and layout for the required tokens.

#Check and install it

npm run typecheck
paseo plugin install /absolute/path/to/workspace-plugin
paseo plugin ls

Open a workspace, press ⌘K on macOS or Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux, and choose Open workspace overview. It opens as a normal workspace tab. If the item does not appear, confirm that Enable plugins is on, the plugin status is running in paseo plugin ls, and the client is viewing the host where you installed it.

#Edit and reload

Source changes are explicit:

npm run typecheck
paseo plugin reload workspace-plugin

A reload stops the old plugin, runs its cleanup, compiles the current source, and starts it again. A failed reload stays failed and reports its load error; fix the source and reload again.

#Debug backend output

Use normal Node logging in daemon-side handlers and cleanup:

console.log("Refreshing issues");
console.error("Issue refresh failed", error);

Read recent stdout and stderr from Settings → Plugins → Logs or the CLI:

paseo plugin logs workspace-plugin
paseo plugin logs workspace-plugin --json

The log tail includes [paseo] loading, ready, stopping, and stopped entries, plus compilation and load failures. It survives reloads and crashes. Inspect it when a plugin fails to start or an RPC rejects. See Debug backend output for retention and security behavior.

#Next

• Plugin reference, add daemon behavior, use the Paseo SDK, contribute attachments, and manage lifecycle.
• TypeScript SDK, the workspace, agent, provider, and config API exposed inside plugins.