diff --git a/plugins/EXTRACTING-A-PLUGIN.md b/plugins/EXTRACTING-A-PLUGIN.md
index 78ee10a6..8e24536e 100644
--- a/plugins/EXTRACTING-A-PLUGIN.md
+++ b/plugins/EXTRACTING-A-PLUGIN.md
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ web/panels.ts panels — REQUIRED with web/
web/layout.ts layout — REQUIRED with web/
```
+**A host binary is the one exception, and it goes in the manifest** — the tree cannot say it. Declare
+`osDependencies` when your plugin shells out to something: the binary to probe on PATH, why it is needed,
+and a package name per package manager. Absent means self-sufficient, which offscale and example are.
+Music added the field; see its PLUGIN.md for what it is guarding against.
+
`appName` is the **directory name**. The sidecar runtime is the **file extension**.
**Nothing may branch on provenance** except `mountPrefix()`. First-party and third-party differing
@@ -121,6 +126,10 @@ A normal refresh is enough; the shell is `no-store`. When the log's last line ap
- **Moving a `*.test.ts` into `plugins/` used to stop it running, silently.** `[test] root` was `./src`
until music; it is now `.`. If that ever goes back, every extraction quietly shrinks the suite. Compare
the FILE COUNT across a run, not just pass/fail — that is the only thing that shows it.
+- **A manifest is read once per server process.** Discovery does `await import(manifest.ts)`, and the
+ module cache holds it for the lifetime of the process — so editing a manifest while developing changes
+ nothing until `pm2 restart officer`. Costs ten minutes the first time, because the plugins page keeps
+ cheerfully showing the old values. `outdated` cannot notice a version bump without a restart either.
- **A plugin importing platform code is fine (`@@/…`); the reverse is not.** If something in `src/` imports
from your feature and cannot move — a widget, a relay — that piece stays, and the boundary goes around
it. Find those before you plan the split; they decide it for you.
diff --git a/plugins/music/PLUGIN.md b/plugins/music/PLUGIN.md
index f263655a..6f3b020a 100644
--- a/plugins/music/PLUGIN.md
+++ b/plugins/music/PLUGIN.md
@@ -133,14 +133,44 @@ change inside `db/queries.ts`, not a flag on the manifest.
---
-## Host dependencies a manifest cannot declare
+## Host dependencies — the field music created
-`ffmpeg` and `ffprobe`, for tag reading, cover compression and video poster frames. There is no field for
-a host binary and inventing one for this would be a field nothing else reads.
+`ffmpeg` and `ffprobe`. Offscale needed nothing, so until music there was no reason to build this and no
+way to say it; the first draft of this document said "there is no field for a host binary" and left it at
+that. That was the wrong answer, because of HOW music fails without them.
-**Neither is installed on this machine** (verified 2026-08-15). The sidecar starts and serves fine — the
-`X-Audio-Duration` header simply does not appear, and indexing would produce no tags or covers. Nothing
-breaks today because there is no library: `~/Music` did not exist either.
+It does not fail. `ffprobe` missing means the indexer catches the spawn error and returns a track carrying
+its filename and nothing else — no title, artist, album, duration or embedded lyrics — then walks the
+whole library, writes a complete cache tree and reports success. Five swallowed catches in
+`indexer.ts` and `stream-audio.ts`, no log, no counter. The only tell is `coversSaved: 0` in a report
+nobody reads. A refusal wearing the costume of a normal result.
+
+So `osDependencies` is a manifest field now (`servers/plugins/manifest.ts`, `servers/plugins/os-deps.ts`):
+
+```ts
+osDependencies: [
+ { binary: 'ffprobe', reason: '…', packages: { apt: 'ffmpeg', pacman: 'ffmpeg', dnf: 'ffmpeg', brew: 'ffmpeg' } },
+ { binary: 'ffmpeg', reason: '…', packages: { … } },
+]
+```
+
+Both are declared even though one package provides both, because the platform probes BINARIES and these
+two fail differently — and the owner should be told which one they are missing. The installer dedupes to
+a single `ffmpeg` before anything reaches a command line.
+
+The shape is `scripts/setup-old/setup.sh`'s, not invented: probe the binary, map to a package name per
+manager. Probing the binary is what makes "built-in on this OS" free — if it is on PATH the package map
+is never consulted. Per-manager names rather than canonical-with-overrides because `packages.sh` already
+recorded why that indirection was rejected.
+
+**Verified end to end on 2026-08-15.** Both binaries were absent on this machine all evening. The plugins
+page showed `ffprobe missing — ffmpeg` and `ffmpeg missing — ffmpeg` with the exact root command it would
+run; installing streamed `dependencies: installing ffmpeg with apt` → `dependencies: ffprobe, ffmpeg now
+on PATH`, and `X-Audio-Duration: 7.026939` appeared on a stream response for the first time. The refusal
+path was exercised separately against a temporary probe dependency: HTTP 400, `steps: []`, and the reason
+named — nothing had happened, so there was nothing to undo.
+
+`~/Music` still does not exist, so there is no library to index.
`cliamp`, `parec`, `pulseaudio` and `pactl` stayed behind with cliamp. The sidecar logs
`pulseaudio not installed, skipping audio setup` and carries on, which is the right shape.
diff --git a/plugins/music/manifest.ts b/plugins/music/manifest.ts
index 28fd94e3..8d9f07a3 100644
--- a/plugins/music/manifest.ts
+++ b/plugins/music/manifest.ts
@@ -39,10 +39,10 @@ import type { PluginManifest } from '@@/plugins/manifest';
// install and gone at uninstall. So the seam switches itself off with the plugin, with no code path
// that knows why.
//
-// ── Host dependencies a manifest cannot declare ──
+// ── Host dependencies ──
//
-// `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` must be on PATH: tag reading, cover compression and video poster frames. There
-// is no field for a host binary and inventing one for this would be a field nothing else reads.
+// Music is the plugin that made `osDependencies` exist. Offscale was self-sufficient, so until this one
+// there was nothing to declare and no reason to build the field — see ./PLUGIN.md.
export const manifest: PluginManifest = {
publisher: 'officerdev',
version: '1.0.0',
@@ -82,4 +82,25 @@ export const manifest: PluginManifest = {
readOnlyWrites: ['/favorites', '/now-playing', '/playlists', '/queue'],
},
],
+
+ // Both come from one package everywhere, which is luck rather than a rule — hence a name per manager
+ // rather than one canonical name. `packages.sh` records why that indirection was rejected.
+ //
+ // They are declared SEPARATELY even so, because the platform probes binaries and these two fail
+ // differently. Losing `ffprobe` is the quiet one: the indexer catches the spawn error and returns a
+ // track carrying its filename and nothing else — no title, artist, album, duration or embedded
+ // lyrics — then reports success. Losing `ffmpeg` costs cover art and video poster frames, which is at
+ // least visible. Naming both means the owner is told which of the two they are missing.
+ osDependencies: [
+ {
+ binary: 'ffprobe',
+ reason: 'Reads tags, duration and embedded lyrics. Without it every track indexes as a bare filename.',
+ packages: { apt: 'ffmpeg', pacman: 'ffmpeg', dnf: 'ffmpeg', brew: 'ffmpeg' },
+ },
+ {
+ binary: 'ffmpeg',
+ reason: 'Compresses cover art for phones and grabs poster frames from videos.',
+ packages: { apt: 'ffmpeg', pacman: 'ffmpeg', dnf: 'ffmpeg', brew: 'ffmpeg' },
+ },
+ ],
};
diff --git a/src/servers/api/plugins/router.ts b/src/servers/api/plugins/router.ts
index 01daa38b..9106153a 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/plugins/router.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/plugins/router.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import * as errors from '../../custom-errors';
import { isSuperAdmin } from '../../super-admin';
import { mountPrefix } from '../../plugins/manifest';
import { snapshotPlugins } from '../../plugins/mount';
+import { manualInstallHint, reportDependencies } from '../../plugins/os-deps';
import {
installPlugin,
pluginProcessStatus,
@@ -43,6 +44,20 @@ pluginsRouter.get('/', async (ctx) => {
// ask about. A plugin that is installed and enabled but whose process is not online is the state worth
// rendering differently — it is the difference between "off" and "broken".
const statuses = await Promise.all(states.map(({ plugin }) => pluginProcessStatus(plugin)));
+ // Synchronous and cheap — `Bun.which` per declared binary, and most plugins declare none. The one
+ // genuinely slow call in here is the `sudo -n` probe, which only runs when something is missing.
+ const dependencyReports = states.map(({ plugin }) => {
+ const report = reportDependencies(plugin);
+ return {
+ manager: report.manager,
+ items: report.dependencies,
+ satisfied: report.missing.length === 0,
+ canInstall: report.canInstall,
+ blockedReason: report.blockedReason,
+ packagesToInstall: report.packagesToInstall,
+ manualHint: manualInstallHint(report.manager, report.packagesToInstall),
+ };
+ });
return ctx.json({
plugins: states.map(({ plugin, install, outdated }, i) => ({
appName: plugin.appName,
@@ -67,6 +82,13 @@ pluginsRouter.get('/', async (ctx) => {
installedVersion: install?.version ?? null,
outdated,
processStatus: statuses[i] ?? null,
+ // Probed live, against this machine's PATH, on every read.
+ //
+ // Deliberately here rather than only inside the installer: the owner decides whether to let the
+ // server run `apt-get install` as root, and that decision needs the answer BEFORE the button, not
+ // in the log afterwards. It also lets them install the packages by hand first and watch this flip
+ // to present, which is the escape hatch for a machine with no passwordless sudo.
+ dependencies: dependencyReports[i]!,
})),
broken,
});
diff --git a/src/servers/plugins/install.ts b/src/servers/plugins/install.ts
index e85dfe0f..d60463b4 100644
--- a/src/servers/plugins/install.ts
+++ b/src/servers/plugins/install.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { addPluginToEcosystem, pluginProcessName, removePluginFromEcosystem } fr
import { discoverPlugins } from './discover';
import { refreshPluginMounts, snapshotPlugins } from './mount';
import { generatePluginSchemas, pushSchema } from './schema';
+import { installDependencies, manualInstallHint, reportDependencies, stillMissing } from './os-deps';
import type { DiscoveredPlugin } from './manifest';
// The install runner: the four verbs, each as a short ordered list of effects.
@@ -19,11 +20,15 @@ import type { DiscoveredPlugin } from './manifest';
//
// ── What each verb touches ──
//
-// ecosystem PM2 row mounts tables
-// install add start upsert rebuild (see below)
-// uninstall remove delete delete rebuild untouched
-// enable — start enabled=t rebuild untouched
-// disable — stop enabled=f rebuild untouched
+// host deps ecosystem PM2 row mounts tables
+// install install add start upsert rebuild (see below)
+// uninstall untouched remove delete delete rebuild untouched
+// enable untouched — start enabled=t rebuild untouched
+// disable untouched — stop enabled=f rebuild untouched
+//
+// Host dependencies are installed and never removed. A package is a machine-wide resource that other
+// things may have started depending on the moment it appeared, so uninstalling a plugin has no business
+// deciding that `ffmpeg` should go — the same reasoning as tables, one level down.
//
// Nothing here drops a table, ever. Uninstall means "stop running this", and for a plugin holding a
// user's data the two are unrecoverably different — see `plugin_installs` schema.
@@ -94,6 +99,59 @@ export async function installPlugin(appName: string, onStep?: OnStep): Promise
d.binary).join(', ')}, which ${deps.missing.length === 1 ? 'is' : 'are'} not installed. ` +
+ `${deps.blockedReason ?? ''}${hint ? ` Run: ${hint}` : ''}`.trim(),
+ };
+ }
+
+ await step(steps, onStep, `dependencies: installing ${deps.packagesToInstall.join(', ')} with ${deps.manager}`);
+ const installed = await installDependencies(deps.manager!, deps.packagesToInstall);
+ if (!installed.ok) {
+ return {
+ ok: false,
+ appName,
+ steps,
+ error: `dependency install failed: ${installed.error ?? installed.output}`,
+ };
+ }
+
+ // Observed, not inferred. A package manager exiting 0 having installed something that does not
+ // provide the binary the plugin spawns is exactly the failure this whole check exists to catch,
+ // and trusting the exit code would reproduce it one layer up.
+ const absent = stillMissing(plugin);
+ if (absent.length) {
+ return {
+ ok: false,
+ appName,
+ steps,
+ error: `installed ${deps.packagesToInstall.join(', ')}, but ${absent.join(', ')} still ${absent.length === 1 ? 'is' : 'are'} not on PATH`,
+ };
+ }
+ await step(steps, onStep, `dependencies: ${deps.missing.map((d) => d.binary).join(', ')} now on PATH`);
+ } else if (deps.dependencies.length) {
+ // Said out loud rather than skipped silently: "it was already there" and "we never looked" are
+ // different facts, and only one of them is reassuring.
+ await step(steps, onStep, `dependencies: ${deps.dependencies.map((d) => d.binary).join(', ')} already present`);
+ }
+
if (plugin.schema) {
// The barrel first, then the push. It is generated from the DIRECTORIES on disk rather than from
// what is installed — see schema.ts for why that difference is the whole safety property.
diff --git a/src/servers/plugins/manifest.ts b/src/servers/plugins/manifest.ts
index 39f10b57..aeca7f3a 100644
--- a/src/servers/plugins/manifest.ts
+++ b/src/servers/plugins/manifest.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,46 @@ export type PluginPermission = {
readOnlyWrites?: string[];
};
+/** The package managers the platform knows how to drive. Mirrors `PM` in machine-setup's lib/base.sh. */
+export type PackageManager = 'apt' | 'pacman' | 'dnf' | 'brew';
+
+/**
+ * A host binary the plugin shells out to, and how to get it.
+ *
+ * ── Why a BINARY plus per-manager package names, and not a package name ──
+ *
+ * Offscale needed nothing. Music needs `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe`, and without them its indexer does not
+ * fail — it writes a complete library where every track is a bare filename with no cover, and reports
+ * success. A refusal wearing the costume of a normal result, which is the failure shape this codebase
+ * keeps finding. So a plugin has to be able to say what it needs, and the platform has to check.
+ *
+ * The shape is taken from `scripts/setup-old/setup.sh`, which had already solved this:
+ *
+ * if has ; then skip; else
+ * case $PM in apt) …; pacman) …; brew) skip "built-in" ;; esac
+ * fi
+ *
+ * Probing the BINARY rather than the package is what makes that `brew) built-in` case free: if it is on
+ * PATH we never look at `packages` at all, so a manager needing no package simply has no entry.
+ *
+ * And the names are per manager rather than canonical-with-overrides, deliberately. `packages.sh` says
+ * why, having tried the alternative: `build-essential`/`base-devel`, `fd`/`fd-find`, and some things are
+ * not a package elsewhere at all. A translation table hides both behind indirection; a per-manager map
+ * says what each system actually gets.
+ */
+export type OsDependency = {
+ /** Looked up on PATH. The name the plugin's code actually spawns, not a package. */
+ binary: string;
+ /** Shown to the owner before they install. What breaks without it, in their words not a package's. */
+ reason: string;
+ /**
+ * Package to install per manager. A manager left out means "cannot be installed automatically here" —
+ * which for a binary that is present anyway is correct and silent, and otherwise becomes an instruction
+ * to the owner rather than a guess.
+ */
+ packages: Partial>;
+};
+
export type PluginManifest = {
/**
* Who published it. The ONLY input to `mountPrefix`, so first-party and third-party can never become two
@@ -63,6 +103,15 @@ export type PluginManifest = {
color: string;
permissions: PluginPermission[];
+
+ /**
+ * Host binaries this plugin needs. Absent means it is self-sufficient, which offscale and example are.
+ *
+ * Checked before anything else happens on install: present ones are never named on a command line, and
+ * a missing one that cannot be installed here refuses the install rather than proceeding to a plugin
+ * that runs and quietly produces nothing.
+ */
+ osDependencies?: OsDependency[];
};
/** What the platform knows about a plugin on disk: its manifest, plus everything the tree said. */
@@ -123,6 +172,65 @@ export function mountPrefix(plugin: { appName: string; manifest: { publisher: st
/** An app name has to be a URL segment, a SQL identifier prefix and a directory name at once. */
const APP_NAME_RE = /^[a-z][a-z0-9-]{0,38}$/;
+/** Every package manager the installer can drive. Anything else in a manifest is refused by name. */
+export const PACKAGE_MANAGERS: PackageManager[] = ['apt', 'pacman', 'dnf', 'brew'];
+
+/**
+ * What may appear in an `osDependencies` entry — and this is the strictest rule in the file, on purpose.
+ *
+ * These two strings are the only values in a manifest that reach a root command line. They are passed to
+ * `Bun.spawn` as an argv array and never through a shell, so a metacharacter could not be interpreted
+ * even if one got here — but "could not be interpreted by the shell we happen to use today" is not a
+ * property to rest a root install on. So the characters are not there to be interpreted.
+ *
+ * Deliberately narrower than what package managers actually accept. No `+`, no `~`, no `:` — so `apt`'s
+ * `pkg:arch` qualifier and any version pin are refused. A plugin that needs one wants a conversation,
+ * not a regex that already allows it.
+ */
+const BINARY_RE = /^[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9._-]{0,63}$/;
+const PACKAGE_RE = /^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9.+-]{0,63}$/;
+
+/** Reasons an `osDependencies` list is unusable. Empty when it is fine. */
+function osDependencyProblems(deps: unknown): string[] {
+ if (deps === undefined) return [];
+ if (!Array.isArray(deps)) return ['osDependencies must be an array when present'];
+
+ const problems: string[] = [];
+ for (const [i, dep] of deps.entries()) {
+ const at = `osDependencies[${i}]`;
+ if (!dep || typeof dep !== 'object') {
+ problems.push(`${at} must be an object`);
+ continue;
+ }
+ const { binary, reason, packages } = dep as Partial;
+
+ if (typeof binary !== 'string' || !BINARY_RE.test(binary)) {
+ problems.push(`${at}.binary must be a plain command name — letters, digits, dot, dash, underscore`);
+ }
+ // Required rather than optional: it is what the owner reads when deciding whether to let this
+ // machine install something as root, and "ffprobe" alone does not answer that question.
+ if (typeof reason !== 'string' || !reason.trim()) {
+ problems.push(`${at}.reason is required — say what stops working without it`);
+ }
+ if (!packages || typeof packages !== 'object') {
+ problems.push(`${at}.packages must be an object keyed by package manager`);
+ continue;
+ }
+ for (const [manager, name] of Object.entries(packages)) {
+ if (!PACKAGE_MANAGERS.includes(manager as PackageManager)) {
+ problems.push(
+ `${at}.packages has unknown package manager "${manager}" — one of ${PACKAGE_MANAGERS.join(', ')}`,
+ );
+ continue;
+ }
+ if (typeof name !== 'string' || !PACKAGE_RE.test(name)) {
+ problems.push(`${at}.packages.${manager} must be a plain package name — lowercase, digits, dot, plus, dash`);
+ }
+ }
+ }
+ return problems;
+}
+
/** A publisher shares the app name's constraints — it is a path segment too. */
const PUBLISHER_RE = /^[a-z][a-z0-9-]{0,38}$/;
@@ -161,5 +269,6 @@ export function manifestProblems(appName: string, manifest: Partial=1.0.0',
+ label: 'Probe',
+ summary: 'fixture',
+ icon: 'Puzzle',
+ color: '#000000',
+ permissions: [],
+};
+
+const withDeps = (osDependencies: unknown): PluginManifest =>
+ ({ ...base, osDependencies }) as unknown as PluginManifest;
+
+describe('osDependencies validation', () => {
+ test('a plugin declaring nothing is fine — offscale and example are self-sufficient', () => {
+ expect(manifestProblems('probe', base)).toEqual([]);
+ });
+
+ test('the shape music uses is accepted', () => {
+ const problems = manifestProblems(
+ 'probe',
+ withDeps([{ binary: 'ffprobe', reason: 'reads tags', packages: { apt: 'ffmpeg', brew: 'ffmpeg' } }]),
+ );
+ expect(problems).toEqual([]);
+ });
+
+ // The whole point of the field being narrow. These are argv entries in a command run as root, and the
+ // characters are refused rather than escaped — "our current spawn does not use a shell" is not a
+ // property to rest a root install on.
+ test.each([
+ ['ffmpeg; rm -rf /'],
+ ['ffmpeg && curl evil.sh'],
+ ['$(id)'],
+ ['`id`'],
+ ['ff|mpeg'],
+ ['../../bin/sh'],
+ ['ffmpeg\nrm'],
+ ['-rf'],
+ [''],
+ ])('refuses %j as a package name', (name) => {
+ const problems = manifestProblems('probe', withDeps([{ binary: 'ffprobe', reason: 'x', packages: { apt: name } }]));
+ expect(problems.some((p) => p.includes('packages.apt'))).toBe(true);
+ });
+
+ test.each([['ff mpeg'], ['/usr/bin/ffmpeg'], ['ff;probe'], ['']])('refuses %j as a binary name', (name) => {
+ const problems = manifestProblems('probe', withDeps([{ binary: name, reason: 'x', packages: { apt: 'ffmpeg' } }]));
+ expect(problems.some((p) => p.includes('binary'))).toBe(true);
+ });
+
+ test('refuses a package manager it cannot drive', () => {
+ const problems = manifestProblems('probe', withDeps([{ binary: 'x', reason: 'y', packages: { yum: 'x' } }]));
+ expect(problems.some((p) => p.includes('unknown package manager "yum"'))).toBe(true);
+ });
+
+ // `reason` is required because it is what the owner reads when deciding whether to let this machine
+ // install something as root. "ffprobe" alone does not answer that.
+ test('requires a reason', () => {
+ const problems = manifestProblems('probe', withDeps([{ binary: 'ffprobe', packages: { apt: 'ffmpeg' } }]));
+ expect(problems.some((p) => p.includes('reason is required'))).toBe(true);
+ });
+
+ test('reports every problem at once rather than the first', () => {
+ const problems = manifestProblems('probe', withDeps([{ binary: 'bad name', packages: { apt: 'bad;name' } }]));
+ expect(problems.length).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(3);
+ });
+});
+
+describe('installCommand', () => {
+ test('apt carries the non-interactive environment, matching lib/packages.sh', () => {
+ expect(installCommand('apt', ['ffmpeg'])).toEqual([
+ 'sudo',
+ '-n',
+ 'env',
+ 'DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive',
+ 'NEEDRESTART_MODE=a',
+ 'apt-get',
+ 'install',
+ '-y',
+ 'ffmpeg',
+ ]);
+ });
+
+ test('pacman uses --needed, so a package already there is not reinstalled', () => {
+ expect(installCommand('pacman', ['ffmpeg'])).toContain('--needed');
+ });
+
+ // Homebrew refuses to run as root, which is also why machine-setup never escalates on macOS.
+ test('brew never escalates', () => {
+ expect(installCommand('brew', ['ffmpeg'])).toEqual(['brew', 'install', 'ffmpeg']);
+ });
+
+ test('-n on sudo, always — a password prompt under PM2 is a hang, not a slow path', () => {
+ for (const pm of ['apt', 'pacman', 'dnf'] as const) {
+ const argv = installCommand(pm, ['x']);
+ expect(argv.slice(0, 2)).toEqual(['sudo', '-n']);
+ }
+ });
+
+ // argv, not a string. A package name is one element however many spaces it might have contained.
+ test('every package is its own argv element', () => {
+ const argv = installCommand('dnf', ['ffmpeg', 'imagemagick']);
+ expect(argv).toContain('ffmpeg');
+ expect(argv).toContain('imagemagick');
+ expect(argv.some((a) => a.includes(' '))).toBe(false);
+ });
+});
+
+describe('manualInstallHint', () => {
+ // Shown when the platform cannot escalate. It drops `-n`, because a person at a terminal CAN answer a
+ // password prompt — the flag exists for the unattended case only.
+ test('is runnable by a human: no -n', () => {
+ expect(manualInstallHint('apt', ['ffmpeg'])).toBe(
+ 'sudo env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive NEEDRESTART_MODE=a apt-get install -y ffmpeg',
+ );
+ });
+
+ test('is null when there is nothing to install or no manager to do it', () => {
+ expect(manualInstallHint('apt', [])).toBeNull();
+ expect(manualInstallHint(null, ['ffmpeg'])).toBeNull();
+ });
+});
diff --git a/src/servers/plugins/os-deps.ts b/src/servers/plugins/os-deps.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..814091ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/servers/plugins/os-deps.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,219 @@
+import { PACKAGE_MANAGERS, type DiscoveredPlugin, type OsDependency, type PackageManager } from './manifest';
+
+// Host binaries a plugin needs, and getting them onto the machine.
+//
+// ── Why this exists ──
+//
+// Offscale was self-sufficient, so nothing here was missing until music. Music shells out to `ffmpeg` and
+// `ffprobe`, and without them its indexer does not fail: it walks the whole library, writes a complete
+// cache tree, reports success, and produces a library where every track is a bare filename with no cover.
+// Five swallowed catches, no log, no counter. The only tell is `coversSaved: 0` in a report nobody reads.
+//
+// That is the failure shape this codebase keeps finding — a refusal wearing the costume of a normal
+// result — and it is why the answer is a CHECK rather than a note in a README. The owner is told what is
+// missing before they install, and an install that cannot satisfy a dependency refuses instead of
+// producing that library.
+//
+// ── The one rule about running as root ──
+//
+// Package names from a manifest reach `apt-get install` as root. They are validated by a deliberately
+// narrow regex in manifest.ts and passed to `Bun.spawn` as an ARGV ARRAY — never a shell string, never
+// interpolated, never `sh -c`. Both halves are load-bearing: the regex means a metacharacter cannot get
+// here, and argv means it would be an argument rather than syntax if it did.
+//
+// Nothing is installed without the owner asking for it. This module is reached from the plugins API,
+// which is owner-only in its own right, and the missing packages are shown before the button is pressed.
+
+/**
+ * Which package manager this machine has.
+ *
+ * Mirrors `detect_os` in `scripts/setup/machine-setup/lib/base.sh`, and deliberately by the same means —
+ * looking for the binary rather than reading `/etc/os-release` — because that is the question actually
+ * being asked. A Fedora derivative with apt bolted on should get apt.
+ *
+ * Order matters on exactly one machine shape: Homebrew on Linux. `brew` last means a Linux box with
+ * Linuxbrew still uses its distribution's manager, which is what somebody running a system service
+ * wants.
+ */
+let cachedManager: PackageManager | null | undefined;
+
+export function detectPackageManager(): PackageManager | null {
+ if (cachedManager !== undefined) return cachedManager;
+ cachedManager = PACKAGE_MANAGERS.find((pm) => !!Bun.which(pm)) ?? null;
+ return cachedManager;
+}
+
+/** Reset the memoised lookup. Tests only — a real machine does not gain a package manager while running. */
+export function resetPackageManagerCache(): void {
+ cachedManager = undefined;
+}
+
+export type DependencyStatus = {
+ binary: string;
+ reason: string;
+ /** Absolute path when it is on PATH, null when it is not. The whole question, answered per binary. */
+ path: string | null;
+ present: boolean;
+ /** What would be installed on THIS machine, or null when this manager has no entry for it. */
+ packageName: string | null;
+};
+
+/** Probe one dependency against the live PATH. */
+function probe(dep: OsDependency, manager: PackageManager | null): DependencyStatus {
+ const path = Bun.which(dep.binary);
+ return {
+ binary: dep.binary,
+ reason: dep.reason,
+ path,
+ present: !!path,
+ packageName: (manager && dep.packages[manager]) || null,
+ };
+}
+
+export type DependencyReport = {
+ manager: PackageManager | null;
+ dependencies: DependencyStatus[];
+ missing: DependencyStatus[];
+ /** Distinct packages to install — deduped, because one package usually provides several binaries. */
+ packagesToInstall: string[];
+ /**
+ * Missing, and this machine has no way to install them: no package manager, or no entry for the one it
+ * has. These are the owner's to resolve by hand, and the install says so rather than guessing.
+ */
+ unresolvable: DependencyStatus[];
+ /** Can the platform actually run the install — passwordless sudo, or a manager that never needs it. */
+ canInstall: boolean;
+ /** Why not, when it cannot. Written to be shown to a person. */
+ blockedReason: string | null;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Whether the platform may install packages without a human at a terminal.
+ *
+ * `sudo -n` is "non-interactive": it succeeds only when a password would not be asked for, and fails
+ * immediately otherwise rather than blocking on a prompt no one can answer. The server runs unattended
+ * under PM2, so a prompt is not a slow path — it is a hang.
+ *
+ * Homebrew is the exception and needs no escalation: it refuses to run as root outright, which is also
+ * why machine-setup never escalates on macOS.
+ */
+function sudoAvailable(): boolean {
+ if (!Bun.which('sudo')) return false;
+ try {
+ return Bun.spawnSync(['sudo', '-n', 'true'], { stdout: 'ignore', stderr: 'ignore' }).exitCode === 0;
+ } catch {
+ return false;
+ }
+}
+
+/** Everything the UI and the installer need to know about one plugin's host dependencies. */
+export function reportDependencies(plugin: DiscoveredPlugin): DependencyReport {
+ const declared = plugin.manifest.osDependencies ?? [];
+ const manager = detectPackageManager();
+ const dependencies = declared.map((dep) => probe(dep, manager));
+ const missing = dependencies.filter((d) => !d.present);
+ const unresolvable = missing.filter((d) => !d.packageName);
+
+ // Deduped and sorted: ffmpeg and ffprobe are one apt package, and naming it twice on the command line
+ // is the sort of thing that reads as a bug in a log even though apt does not care.
+ const packagesToInstall = [...new Set(missing.map((d) => d.packageName).filter((n): n is string => !!n))].sort();
+
+ let canInstall = true;
+ let blockedReason: string | null = null;
+
+ if (missing.length === 0) {
+ // Nothing to do, so nothing can block it. Said explicitly because the checks below would otherwise
+ // report "no package manager" on a machine that needs nothing — true, and useless.
+ } else if (!manager) {
+ canInstall = false;
+ blockedReason = `No supported package manager found (${PACKAGE_MANAGERS.join(', ')}).`;
+ } else if (unresolvable.length) {
+ canInstall = false;
+ blockedReason =
+ `${unresolvable.map((d) => d.binary).join(', ')} — this plugin declares no ${manager} package for ` +
+ `${unresolvable.length === 1 ? 'it' : 'them'}.`;
+ } else if (manager !== 'brew' && !sudoAvailable()) {
+ canInstall = false;
+ blockedReason =
+ 'Officer cannot escalate: passwordless sudo is not configured for the user it runs as. ' +
+ 'Install the packages yourself and then install the plugin.';
+ }
+
+ return { manager, dependencies, missing, packagesToInstall, unresolvable, canInstall, blockedReason };
+}
+
+/** The command that would be run, as argv. Exported so the UI can SHOW it — the owner should see it. */
+export function installCommand(manager: PackageManager, packages: string[]): string[] {
+ const escalate = manager === 'brew' ? [] : ['sudo', '-n'];
+ switch (manager) {
+ // Matches lib/packages.sh's `pkg_install_now` exactly, including the environment apt needs to stay
+ // non-interactive. A second spelling of "install a package" that drifted from the setup script's
+ // would be a bug nobody finds until a machine behaves differently from the one it was set up on.
+ case 'apt':
+ return [
+ ...escalate,
+ 'env',
+ 'DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive',
+ 'NEEDRESTART_MODE=a',
+ 'apt-get',
+ 'install',
+ '-y',
+ ...packages,
+ ];
+ case 'pacman':
+ return [...escalate, 'pacman', '-S', '--noconfirm', '--needed', ...packages];
+ case 'dnf':
+ return [...escalate, 'dnf', 'install', '-y', ...packages];
+ case 'brew':
+ return ['brew', 'install', ...packages];
+ }
+}
+
+/** What the owner should run by hand when the platform cannot. Display only — never executed. */
+export function manualInstallHint(manager: PackageManager | null, packages: string[]): string | null {
+ if (!manager || !packages.length) return null;
+ const argv = installCommand(manager, packages).filter((a) => a !== '-n');
+ return argv.join(' ');
+}
+
+export type InstallDependenciesResult = { ok: boolean; installed: string[]; output: string; error?: string };
+
+/**
+ * Install the missing packages.
+ *
+ * Only ever called with `report.packagesToInstall`, so a binary already on PATH is never named on a
+ * command line — `packages.sh`'s rule, and it matters for the same reason: `apt-get install `
+ * is not a no-op, it upgrades. A plugin install must not move a version the owner chose.
+ */
+export async function installDependencies(
+ manager: PackageManager,
+ packages: string[],
+): Promise {
+ if (!packages.length) return { ok: true, installed: [], output: '' };
+
+ try {
+ const proc = Bun.spawn(installCommand(manager, packages), { stdout: 'pipe', stderr: 'pipe' });
+ const [out, err] = await Promise.all([new Response(proc.stdout).text(), new Response(proc.stderr).text()]);
+ const code = await proc.exited;
+ const output = `${out}${err}`.trim().slice(-600);
+ if (code !== 0) return { ok: false, installed: [], output, error: output || `exited ${code}` };
+ return { ok: true, installed: packages, output };
+ } catch (err) {
+ return { ok: false, installed: [], output: '', error: err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err) };
+ }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Re-probe after installing, so success is observed rather than inferred from an exit code.
+ *
+ * `apt-get` returning 0 having installed a package that does not provide the binary the plugin actually
+ * spawns is precisely the sort of thing this whole module exists to catch, and trusting the exit code
+ * would reproduce it one layer up.
+ */
+export function stillMissing(plugin: DiscoveredPlugin): string[] {
+ const manager = detectPackageManager();
+ return (plugin.manifest.osDependencies ?? [])
+ .map((dep) => probe(dep, manager))
+ .filter((d) => !d.present)
+ .map((d) => d.binary);
+}
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Plugins/PluginDetail.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Plugins/PluginDetail.tsx
index d7097f67..0b26b47e 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Plugins/PluginDetail.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Plugins/PluginDetail.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
import { Link, useSearchParams } from 'react-router';
-import { usePlugins, type PluginItem } from './usePlugins';
+import { usePlugins, type PluginDependencies, type PluginItem } from './usePlugins';
// The right panel: one plugin, and the four verbs.
//
@@ -52,6 +52,61 @@ const Parts = ({ has }: { has: PluginItem['has'] }) => {
return <>{present.length ? present.join(' · ') : 'manifest only'}>;
};
+/**
+ * Host binaries, per binary, before anything is installed.
+ *
+ * The whole point is that this is visible BEFORE the button. Music needs `ffprobe`, and without it the
+ * indexer does not fail — it writes a library where every track is a bare filename and reports success.
+ * So "what does this need, and does this machine have it" is a question the owner answers first, not
+ * something they find out from a log.
+ *
+ * Rendered only when the plugin declares something. Most declare nothing, and a permanently empty
+ * "Requires: nothing" row is noise on every other plugin's page.
+ */
+const Dependencies = ({ deps }: { deps: PluginDependencies }) => {
+ if (!deps.items.length) return null;
+
+ return (
+
+
+ {/* Three states, and they need different words. Satisfied says nothing further. Installable says
+ exactly what will be run as root, because that is what is being consented to. Blocked gives the
+ command to run by hand, which is the whole escape hatch on a machine without passwordless sudo. */}
+ {deps.satisfied ? null : deps.canInstall ? (
+
+ Installing this plugin will run{' '}
+
+ {deps.manager} install {deps.packagesToInstall.join(' ')}
+ {' '}
+ as root first.
+
+ ) : (
+
+
{deps.blockedReason ?? 'These cannot be installed automatically.'}
+ {deps.manualHint ? {deps.manualHint} : null}
+
+ )}
+
+ );
+};
+
export const PluginDetail = () => {
const { plugins, steps, result, running, run } = usePlugins();
const [params] = useSearchParams();
@@ -105,6 +160,8 @@ export const PluginDetail = () => {
+
+
{/* The way in, when there is one.
Only while installed AND enabled: a link to a route that is not mounted is a link to the home
page, since the shell redirects an unknown path — which reads as the link being broken rather
@@ -122,7 +179,14 @@ export const PluginDetail = () => {