Plugin System

WolfStack’s plugin system lets you extend the platform with additional functionality. Plugins can add new pages to the UI, provide backend APIs, and integrate with WolfStack’s existing features.

Plugins are managed from Settings → Plugins in the WolfStack dashboard.

How Plugins Work

A plugin is a directory inside /etc/wolfstack/plugins/ containing a manifest and optional frontend/backend code:

/etc/wolfstack/plugins/my-plugin/
  manifest.json      — plugin metadata and configuration
  web/
    plugin.js        — frontend code (injected into the SPA)
    plugin.css       — styles (optional)
  bin/
    handler          — backend binary (optional)

On startup, WolfStack scans the plugins directory and loads each valid manifest. Frontend assets (JS/CSS) are automatically injected into the web UI, and API requests are proxied to the plugin’s backend process.

Plugin Manifest

Every plugin must include a manifest.json file describing its metadata, menu placement, and capabilities:

{
  "id": "advanced-monitoring",
  "name": "Advanced Monitoring",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Real-time metrics with Prometheus integration",
  "author": "Wolf Software Systems Ltd",
  "icon": "📊",
  "enabled": true,
  "menu": {
    "section": "datacenter",
    "label": "Monitoring",
    "view": "monitoring"
  },
  "api_port": 9100,
  "settings": [
    {
      "id": "prometheus_url",
      "label": "Prometheus URL",
      "input_type": "text",
      "default": "http://localhost:9090",
      "description": "URL of your Prometheus instance"
    }
  ]
}

Field	Required	Description
id	Yes	Unique plugin identifier (lowercase, hyphens allowed)
name	Yes	Display name shown in the UI
version	No	Semantic version (e.g. “1.2.3”)
description	No	Short description of what the plugin does
author	No	Plugin author or organisation
icon	No	Emoji icon for the sidebar and plugin list
enabled	No	Whether the plugin is active (default: true)
menu	No	Navigation menu placement (see below)
api_port	No	Port the plugin’s backend binary listens on (for API proxying)
settings	No	Array of configurable settings shown in the plugin’s settings panel

Menu Placement

The menu object controls where the plugin appears in the WolfStack sidebar navigation:

Field	Description
section	"datacenter" — appears in the datacenter-level navigation (visible to all nodes) "server" — appears under each server’s navigation "settings" — appears as a tab in the Settings page
label	Text shown in the sidebar (e.g. “Monitoring”)
view	View ID used internally — the plugin’s page container will be page-plugin-{view}

Frontend Plugin (plugin.js)

If your plugin includes web/plugin.js, it will be automatically loaded when WolfStack starts. The script has full access to the WolfStack SPA’s DOM and JavaScript functions.

Your plugin’s page container is created automatically at page-plugin-{view}. Populate it in your JS:

// web/plugin.js — Example: Advanced Monitoring plugin

// This runs when the plugin is loaded
(function() {
    const container = document.getElementById('plugin-monitoring-content');
    if (!container) return;

    // Render your plugin UI
    container.innerHTML = `
        <div class="card">
            <div class="card-header"><h3>Advanced Monitoring</h3></div>
            <div class="card-body" id="monitoring-data">Loading...</div>
        </div>
    `;

    // Fetch data from plugin backend
    loadMonitoringData();
})();

async function loadMonitoringData() {
    const resp = await fetch('/api/plugins/advanced-monitoring/api/metrics');
    const data = await resp.json();
    document.getElementById('monitoring-data').innerHTML =
        '<pre>' + JSON.stringify(data, null, 2) + '</pre>';
}

Available WolfStack functions you can call from plugin JS:

• showToast(message, type) — show a notification (type: ‘success’, ‘error’, ‘info’)
• apiUrl(path) — resolve an API URL (handles node proxying)
• escapeHtml(str) — HTML-escape a string for safe rendering
• formatBytes(n) — format bytes as human-readable (e.g. “4.2 GB”)
• selectView(view) — navigate to a datacenter-level page
• selectServerView(nodeId, view) — navigate to a server-level page

Backend Plugin (bin/handler)

If your plugin needs server-side logic, include a backend binary at bin/handler. WolfStack will proxy API requests to it:

• Requests to /api/plugins/{id}/api/* are forwarded to http://127.0.0.1:{api_port}/*
• All HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) are proxied
• Authentication is handled by WolfStack — only authenticated requests reach the plugin
• The backend receives PORT and PLUGIN_DIR environment variables

The backend can be written in any language — it just needs to be a standalone HTTP server. Example in Python:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# bin/handler — simple plugin backend
import os, json
from http.server import HTTPServer, BaseHTTPRequestHandler

PORT = int(os.environ.get('PORT', 9100))

class Handler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    def do_GET(self):
        self.send_response(200)
        self.send_header('Content-Type', 'application/json')
        self.end_headers()
        self.wfile.write(json.dumps({"status": "ok"}).encode())

HTTPServer(('127.0.0.1', PORT), Handler).serve_forever()

Plugin Store

WolfStack includes a built-in Plugin Store accessible from Settings → Plugins → Plugin Store. Browse available plugins and install them with a single click — no manual downloads or file management required.

• One-click install — Select a plugin from the store and click Install. WolfStack downloads, extracts, and activates it automatically.
• Automatic updates — Reinstalling a plugin that is already installed automatically updates it. WolfStack stops the existing plugin process, replaces the files, and starts the new version.
• Currently available — The Plugin Store ships with WolfCustom (white-label branding). WolfHost (web hosting platform) is now built into WolfStack — no install needed.

Installing Plugins

Plugins can be installed in three ways:

From the Plugin Store

Go to Settings → Plugins → Plugin Store and click Install on any available plugin. This is the easiest method and handles everything automatically.

From the UI

Go to Settings → Plugins → Install Plugin and paste the URL of a .tar.gz archive containing the plugin directory. WolfStack downloads and extracts it automatically.

From the command line

# Download and extract to the plugins directory
curl -fsSL https://example.com/my-plugin.tar.gz | sudo tar xzf - -C /etc/wolfstack/plugins/

# Restart WolfStack to load the plugin
sudo systemctl restart wolfstack

Manual installation

# Create the plugin directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/wolfstack/plugins/my-plugin

# Copy your plugin files
sudo cp manifest.json /etc/wolfstack/plugins/my-plugin/
sudo cp -r web/ /etc/wolfstack/plugins/my-plugin/
sudo cp -r bin/ /etc/wolfstack/plugins/my-plugin/

# Restart
sudo systemctl restart wolfstack

Managing Plugins

From Settings → Plugins you can:

• Enable/Disable — toggle a plugin on or off without uninstalling it
• Uninstall — remove the plugin and all its files
• Refresh — rescan the plugins directory for new or changed plugins

Plugin status indicators:

• active — plugin is loaded and running
• disabled — plugin is installed but not active
• requires_license — enterprise-only plugin, needs a valid license
• error — plugin failed to load (check manifest.json)

Enterprise License Required

The plugin system as a whole is an Enterprise feature. All plugins — first-party or third-party — require a valid WolfStack Enterprise license to load.

Without a license, plugins dropped into /etc/wolfstack/plugins/ are still listed in Settings → Plugins, but their status is shown as requires_license and they remain inactive:

• Plugin frontend JS and CSS are not served
• Backend handler proxies return 403 Forbidden
• Plugin menu entries do not appear in the sidebar
• Plugin installation via URL is blocked

See Enterprise Licensing for details on obtaining a license. This gating allows the WolfStack core to remain fully open-source while protecting the plugin ecosystem as part of the Enterprise offering.

Plugin API Reference

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/plugins	List all installed plugins with status
POST	/api/plugins/install	Install a plugin from a URL
POST	/api/plugins/reload	Rescan the plugins directory
DELETE	/api/plugins/{id}	Uninstall a plugin
POST	/api/plugins/{id}/toggle	Enable or disable a plugin
GET	/api/plugins/{id}/file/{path}	Serve plugin web assets (JS, CSS, images)
*	/api/plugins/{id}/api/{path}	Proxy requests to the plugin’s backend
GET	/api/plugins/{id}/data/config	Read plugin config JSON from data directory
POST	/api/plugins/{id}/data/config	Write plugin config JSON to data directory
POST	/api/plugins/{id}/data/upload/{file}	Upload a file to the plugin’s data directory
GET	/api/plugins/{id}/data/file/{file}	Serve an uploaded file from the plugin’s data directory

The /data/ endpoints allow plugins to store configuration and uploaded files (logos, images) in /etc/wolfstack/plugins/{id}/data/ without needing a backend binary.

Available Plugins

Official plugins developed by Wolf Software Systems Ltd: