Table of Contents

1.1.5 Extension Manifest

RDCore extensions are discovered by the environment host during the composition of the host environment. An extension is discovered from its extension manifest, extension.manifest.json.

The extension manifest is a small text file in a human-readable JSON serialized format. It describes the extension to the platform.

By default, the environment host may restrict capabilities requested by unsigned or untrusted extensions. Users may override these default restrictions through configuration or development modes.

Important

Extension packages must include a signed manifest that binds metadata to the distributed artifacts (the extension server executable).

1.1.5.1 Schema

{
    "Name": "string",
    "Title": "string",
    "Version": "version-string",
    "Publisher": "string",
    "PublisherWebUrl": "url-string",
    "Description": "string",
    "Signature": "string",
    "Capabilities": [ { "Name": "string", "IsSupported": true } ]
}
Attribute Description
Name The file name of the extension executable (.exe). The executable is located in the same folder as the manifest file.
Title The friendly name, or title, of the extension. It must match the name of the folder the manifest is located in.
Version A semantic version string minimally identifying the Major.Minor.Build version of the extension. It must match the assembly file version of the extension executable (.exe) file.
Publisher The name of the publisher (copyright holder) of the extension.
PublisherWebUrl A reasonably short website URL provided by the publisher.
Description A short description of the extension.
Signature The Base64-encoded SHA512 file-hash signature of the extension executable (.exe) file. It must be identical to the file hash of the discovered extension executable (.exe).
Capabilities The platform capabilities the extension advertises, recorded by rdc.exe describe-ext. Each entry names a capability (Name) and whether it is supported (IsSupported, true by default). The host ignores an entry whose IsSupported is false.

An extension declares a capability so that rdc.exe describe-ext records it in the extension's manifest:

Capability Purpose See
CliCommand The extension contributes rdc.exe command-mode verbs. RD-VBAL §2.0.2 Client/Server Capabilities
DiagnoseDocument The extension is a diagnostics provider. RD-VBAL §2.6.5 Diagnostics Pipeline

1.1.5.2 Validation

An extension manifest discovered under the platform's ./extensions folder must be validated by the host before the extension can be authorized to execute. Validation occurs in layers, and helps ensure that only trusted extensions are allowed to run.

Condition Validation flag
The platform extension configuration does not explicitly list the extension's Title as Allowed. NotAllowed
The platform extension configuration explicitly lists the extension's Title as Blocked. Blocked
The Title in the extension manifest mismatches the folder location the manifest was discovered in. LocationMismatch
The extension executable (.exe) named in the manifest is not found in the same folder as the manifest file. FileNotFound
The SHA512 file-hash signature in the manifest mismatches the SHA512 file-hash signature of the extension executable (.exe). SignatureMismatch

The validation flags are documented by ExtensionValidationFlags.

The environment host may prompt to allow discovered extensions that do not appear in the platform extension configuration. Whether the host prompts to allow, or automatically blocks, non-configured extensions depends on the host implementation.

If the validation result is NoFlags, the host may:

  1. configure a client host for the extension server;
  2. start the extension server's executable process;
  3. initiate the LSP connection handshake and capabilities exchange with the extension server (see RD-VBAL §2.0.2 Client/Server Capabilities).
Tip

To facilitate building platform extensions, the rdc.exe host may be configured to allow unsigned extension builds using the --unsafe-dev-mode command-line flag.

⏮️ RD-VBAL §1.1.4 Core Diagnostics | ⏭️ RD-VBAL §1.1.6 Capabilities Provider

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