# ๐ Plugins
**๐บ Contents โ [โน๏ธ About](#about) ยท [๐ฆ Installation](#installation) ยท [๐ค Contract](#technology) ยท [๐ฎ Future](#conventions)**
**[โฌ๏ธ Top-Level README](../../README.md)**
### ๐ง ๐ท **PLUGINS ARE EXPERIMENTAL AND NOT FINAL** ๐ ๐ง
_The contract and implementation are [likely to change](https://github.com/Stability-AI/StableStudio/issues/3)..._
# โน๏ธ About
In order to make StableStudio easier to extend, we've ripped out the "back-end" into a plugin system.
This means you can implement an entirely different inference stack, StableStudio doesn't care if it's local or a hosted API.
## โญ๏ธ First-Party Plugins
There are currently three first-party plugins which are maintained in this repository:
- [`stablestudio-plugin-stability`](../stablestudio-plugin-stability/src/index.ts) โ The default plugin which uses [Stability's API](https://platform.stability.ai) for inference.
```bash
yarn dev
```
- [`stablestudio-plugin-webui`](../stablestudio-plugin-webui/README.md) โ This plugin uses [`stable-diffusion-webui`](https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui) for inference.
```bash
yarn dev:use-webui-plugin
```
We are still figuring out a more scalable strategy for third-party plugins, [let us know what you think](https://github.com/Stability-AI/StableStudio/issues/3)!
## โก๏ธ Features
We're hoping this list expands [over time](#future), but here's what's available right now...
- **๐ Image Generation**
All aspects of image generation are handled by plugins including the default input, how styles are implemented, how to fetch existing images, etc.
- **๐ชช Plugin Manifest**
Plugins can provide a manifest with a markdown description, author details, version information, etc.
- **โ๏ธ Plugin Settings**
Plugins can declare settings which are available to the user in the settings menu.
## ๐งช Development
**If you want to play around with an example plugin which has nice developer tooling, check out the [example plugin](../stablestudio-plugin-example/src/index.ts).**
You can load the UI using example plugin instead of the default [Stability plugin](../stablestudio-plugin-stability/src/index.ts) by running...
```bash
yarn dev:use-example-plugin
```
Any changes you make within the [example plugin](../stablestudio-plugin-example/src/index.ts) will be hot-reloaded into StableStudio.
# ๐ฆ Installation
**This is mainly a feature intended for developers, we're [likely to change](https://github.com/Stability-AI/StableStudio/issues/3) how plugins work for end-users.**
_Never install plugins from untrusted sources!_
Although they are sand-boxed to the browser, a malicious actor could read through your image history or steal your API key if you're not careful.
To install a plugin, first enable "developer mode" in the settings menu...
Now you can point to any fetch-able JavaScript file which exports a plugin...
If loaded successfully, you'll see it in the settings menu...
โ
_**That's it!**_
As of now, you can only have one active plugin at a time.
The main purpose of plugins in their current form is to allow developers to experiment with different inference stacks.
# ๐ค Contract
**Check out the [TypeScript source](./src/Plugin.ts) to see full documentation of the API.**
Plugins are effectively just a bag of JavaScript functions.
StableStudio calls these functions for core functionality, such as `createStableDiffusionImages`, `getStableDiffusionStyles`, `getStableDiffusionDefaultInput`, etc.
Functionality degrades gracefully, for example, if you don't implement `getStableDiffusionStyles`, no styles will be shown in the UI.
# ๐ฎ Future
Plugins were mostly created to rip out calls to Stability's [gRPC API](https://platform.stability.ai), so their functionality is quite limited.
**Given the importance of a robust plugin system, we're really hoping to [gather feedback](https://github.com/Stability-AI/StableStudio/issues/3) on how we can improve the API.**
Here's what's on our mind when it comes to the future of StableStudio plugins...
- **๐ง More Inference Stacks**
The default [Stability plugin](../stablestudio-plugin-stability/src/index.ts) enables inference relying on [Stability's API](../stablestudio-plugin-stability/src/index.ts), but we're hoping to expand support for local inference.
We're particularly interested in creating a plugin for using [`stable-diffusion-webui`](https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui)'s [REST API](https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui/wiki/API).
Though it's not fully-ready, we're excited about the future of [WebGPU](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebGPU_API), and would love to support it via a plugin.
_We've stubbed out two empty packages to house these potential plugins..._
[`stablestudio-plugin-webui`](../stablestudio-plugin-webui/src/index.ts)
[`stablestudio-plugin-webgpu`](../stablestudio-plugin-webgpu/src/index.ts)
- **๐จ Deeper UI Extensibility**
Currently plugins can only change "back-end" functionality. We'd love to allow plugins to create entire new features or modify existing ones.
- **๐งฑ Multiple Plugins**
Only one plugin can be loaded at a time with our current implementation. Allowing multiple plugins to play nicely with each other would be a huge win.
- **๐ Plugin Library**
If there is enough interest and community momentum, we'd love to create a plugin library where users can easily install plugins from a curated list.