API reference

The plugin API is the WIT package openidea:plugin@1.5.0 in wit/. The WIT files are the reference: each interface, type and function is documented in comments there. 1.5.0 is the version on main; the latest released version is 1.4.0, whose WIT is kept in sdk/rust/openidea-plugin/tests/api/released/.

A generated API reference is planned. Until then, use the WIT files below, cargo doc for the Rust SDK (sdk/rust/openidea-plugin), and the table mapping every SDK function to its WIT function and capability in plugins/README.md.

Worlds

plugin.wit defines the worlds: the base plugin world (every import, plus the lifecycle, commands and event-handler exports) and one optional world per extra export (plugin-providers, plugin-views, plugin-hover, …). See Architecture and sandbox.

Host interfaces (imports)

The plugin calls these. Most are gated by a capability.

Interface	File	Summary
`types`	types.wit	Shared types: positions (0-based lines, UTF-16 columns), ranges, errors, the `extension` carrier for later additions
`log`	host.wit	Writes to the IDE log, tagged with the plugin id
`ui`	host.wit	Notifications (also for one project, API 1.5), status bar items, context keys, pickers, input boxes, confirmations, folder chooser, clipboard, opening URLs, the UI language
`storage`	host.wit	The plugin’s persistent key-value storage (64 MiB)
`command-runner`	host.wit	Runs IDE actions and other plugins’ commands (API 1.4, `ide.commands`)
`output`	host.wit	Named, read-only Output tabs per plugin (API 1.4)
`workspace`	workspace.wit	Open projects: reading, writing, finding and searching files, symbols, the project of a path, opening a project
`editor`	workspace.wit	Text editors: document, selections, versioned edits, reveal; open editors and opening files
`invocation`	workspace.wit	Where a command or event came from: its project, editor and selected paths
`vcs`	workspace.wit	Git for a project’s repository: status, remotes, fetch, log, blame, diff
`fs`	fs.wit	Files outside the open projects (`fs.read:` / `fs.write:`) and the plugin’s private directory
`decorations`	decorations.wit	Editor annotations and project-tree badges (API 1.4)
`commit`	commit.wit	The commit being prepared and its message
`events`	events.wit	Subscribing to workbench events, optionally filtered by path
`tasks`	events.wit	Long-running work with a progress indicator and a longer time budget
`diagnostics`	io.wit	Publishing problems for files and reading the Problems view
`net`	io.wit	HTTP(S) requests (`net:` / `net.http:` / `net:ask`)
`secrets`	io.wit	Secrets in the OS keychain, used only through `{{secret:<name>}}` in requests
`process`	io.wit	Running approved programs once, with an environment, or behind a handle
`ipc`	io.wit	Local sockets and named pipes on the project machine (API 1.4)
`auth`	io.wit	OAuth loopback redirects received on the desktop (API 1.4)
`views`	views.wit	Refreshing and revealing views, messages to web views, terminals, content tabs, opening locations
`view-types`	views.wit	The declarative view model: trees, lists, forms, tables, messages, `html` bodies, view events
`settings`	views.wit	The plugin’s own settings, project over global, or the schema default
`run`	run.wit	Starting the plugin’s run configurations in the Run tool window (API 1.4)
`run-targets`	run-targets.wit	Project run targets that wrap commands, owned by the plugin (API 1.4)
`database`	database.wit	The plugin’s own project data sources and their credentials (API 1.4)
`mcp`	mcp.wit	The command line of the built-in MCP server’s stdio bridge, never its URL or token (API 1.4)
`detail-types`	details.wit	What the pane beside the Services tree shows for a plugin’s node

Plugin interfaces (exports)

The IDE calls these. The first three are in every code plugin; the rest are optional and each comes with its own world.

Interface	File	Summary
`lifecycle`	exports.wit	`activate` and `deactivate` of an instance
`commands`	exports.wit	Runs one of the plugin’s declared commands
`event-handler`	exports.wit	Receives batches of subscribed events
`syntax-provider`	exports.wit	Highlighting, outline and folding for plugin languages without a grammar
`run-target-validation`	exports.wit	Checks a launch through one of the plugin’s run targets before it starts (API 1.5)
`providers`	providers.wit	Completion, inline completion, code actions, navigation and line markers for declared languages
`language-features`	language-features.wit	Formatting, signature help, highlights, links, code lenses, folds, colours, symbols, gutter actions and more (API 1.4)
`injections`	injections.wit	Ranges of embedded languages inside a document (API 1.4)
`hover-provider`	hover.wit	Markdown added to the hover of any language
`inlay-hints-provider`	inlay.wit	Inline hints in any language
`semantic-tokens-provider`	semantic.wit	Semantic colouring in any language
`diagnostics-provider`	diagnostics.wit	Problems in the current, possibly unsaved document
`file-actions`	file-actions.wit	Quick fixes and refactorings that create, rename or delete files
`document-indexer`	indexing.wit	Cross-file definitions, references and gutter markers, indexed in the background
`endpoints-provider`	endpoints.wit	A project’s HTTP endpoints for Search Everywhere and the HTTP client
`view-provider`	views.wit	Content and events of declared views and custom editors
`detail-provider`	details.wit	The detail pane of the plugin’s nodes in the Services tool window
`commit-checker`	commit.wit	Before-commit checks
`run-configurations`	run.wit	Dynamic run configurations for a project (API 1.4)
`test-results`	run.wit	Parsing test output and selecting tests to rerun (API 1.4)
`mcp-provider`	mcp.wit	Tools the plugin contributes to the built-in MCP server (API 1.4)

Other languages

The SDK carries an identical copy of the WIT files in sdk/rust/openidea-plugin/wit. To write a plugin in another language, generate bindings for the plugin world (or an optional world) with your language’s component-model tooling, build the component, and validate it with openidea-plugin check.

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Reference

Worlds

Host interfaces (imports)

Plugin interfaces (exports)

Other languages

​Worlds

​Host interfaces (imports)

​Plugin interfaces (exports)

​Other languages

Worlds

Host interfaces (imports)

Plugin interfaces (exports)

Other languages