feedBack/docs/capability-domains.md

Capability Domains

Capability domains are Slopsmith-wide coordination surfaces for core, bundled first-party plugins, external plugins, and future adapters. Plugins declare the runtime surfaces they use in plugin.json; core declares and owns host workflows directly in the runtime. These declarations let diagnostics and support tools reason about behavior without relying on private globals.

Standards

Migrated plugins should declare standards explicitly:

{
  "standards": ["capability-pipelines.v1", "plugin-runtime-idempotent.v1"]
}

Only declare plugin-runtime-idempotent.v1 when repeated script hydration cannot duplicate wrappers, listeners, timers, DOM roots, diagnostics contributors, jobs, media nodes, or capability participants.

UI Contributions

Legacy nav, screen, and settings fields still work through the existing plugin loader. PR1 keeps UI capability domains out of the runtime graph, so migrated plugins should not treat ui.navigation, ui.plugin-screens, or settings as active capability contracts yet. Their candidate manifest shape is reserved for a future UI-host PR:

{
  "ui": {
    "ui.navigation": [{ "id": "my-plugin-nav", "region": "plugins", "label": "My Plugin" }],
    "ui.plugin-screens": [{ "id": "my-plugin-screen", "region": "plugin-screens", "label": "My Plugin" }],
    "settings": [{ "id": "my-plugin-settings", "region": "plugin-settings", "label": "My Plugin" }]
  }
}

Core continues to load legacy UI fields normally. It does not emit PR1 compatibility shim entries for UI placement or visualization type; the PR that promotes those domains will own their shim accounting and tests.

Runtime Domains

Declare non-UI runtime surfaces under domains or runtime_domains:

{
  "domains": {
    "library": { "role": "provider" }
  }
}

If a plugin still uses routes, the backend loader continues to load routes.py normally. PR1 does not expose that legacy surface as backend.routes; the backend route domain is deferred until a future PR has a concrete route/provider workflow and privilege review.

Plugins that call context["register_library_provider"](...) are attributed to the loading plugin id in /api/library/providers as owner_plugin_id. The browser library capability module at static/capabilities/library.js owns the library domain as a provider-coordinator: it refreshes /api/library/providers, registers the built-in local provider as core.library.local, and registers plugin-backed providers under their owner_plugin_id when one is known. Provider manifests should still declare the library capability so diagnostics and the bundled inspector can show intended relationships before the backend route code runs.

Route-only external plugins that participate in library workflows without registering a browsable provider should declare requester/observer intent instead of provider ownership when they adopt this contract in their own repositories. This PR documents the generic shape only: such plugins use library requester/observer requests and observes declarations and do not appear as providers, owners, or separate backend.routes domains.

{
  "capabilities": {
    "library": {
      "roles": ["provider"],
      "operations": ["query-page", "query-artists", "query-stats", "tuning-names", "get-art", "sync-song"],
      "description": "Adds a browsable library source and optional song sync.",
      "mode": "active",
      "compatibility": "none",
      "safety": "safe"
    }
  }
}

The frontend exposes the current source list through window.slopsmith.capabilities.command('library', 'list-providers'). Public owner commands (list-providers, refresh-providers, get-current, select-provider, sync-song, inspect) are distinct from provider operations (query-page, query-artists, query-stats, tuning-names, get-art, sync-song). The app-owned handler delegates to the existing provider registry and source selector, so plugins should not scrape the #lib-provider dropdown.

Capability declarations may include a short description. The bundled Capability Inspector shows that text on expanded domain owner cards; when it is omitted, the inspector falls back to a compact generated owner summary.

Audio Graph/Session Domains

The audio graph/session slice promotes four player-audio domains into the runtime graph: audio-mix, audio-input, audio-monitoring, and stems. The browser module at static/capabilities/audio-session.js owns the active session boundary, contributes diagnostics under slopsmith.audio_session.diagnostics.v1, and records compatibility bridge hits for legacy audio surfaces.

audio-mix, audio-input, and audio-monitoring are core-owned provider-coordinator domains. They expose bounded inspect/register/start/stop style commands, redaction-safe diagnostics, and bridge accounting for legacy fader, analyser, input, and monitoring handshakes.

For audio-mix, native fader providers register mix participants with stable participantId, kind, sourceMode, optional logicalFaderKey, and fader metadata. The public command surface is inspect, list-faders, get-fader-value, set-fader-value, inspect-route, inspect-analyser, register-participant, and unregister-participant; provider operations are fader.get-value, fader.set-value, route.get-current, and analyser.get-summary. Providers own persistence for plugin faders and must return committed values from set operations so the player mixer can display the value that actually applied.

Legacy window.slopsmith.audio.registerFader(...) remains supported as an audio-mix compatibility bridge. The bridge registers a compatibility-backed participant, wraps legacy getValue/setValue callbacks as provider operations, and preserves window.slopsmith.audio.getFaders() for external callers. If a native participant and a legacy fader share the same logical fader key, the native participant owns the visible control; the legacy participant is retained for diagnostics with supersededBy and an overshadowed bridge hit. Removal gates for the bridge are: native providers cover bundled mixer integrations, diagnostics show no unexpected legacy hits in normal playback, and repeated plugin hydration does not create duplicate faders.

Audio-mix diagnostics live under slopsmith.audio_session.diagnostics.v1. The audio-mix domain snapshot includes session state, participants, visible fader summaries, required participant-kind coverage, route summary, analyser summary, bridge hits, and bounded recent outcomes. Fader outcomes include operation name, participant id, fader id, status such as committed, normalized, unavailable, or timeout, and a bounded reason. Diagnostics must not include raw audio buffers, FFT arrays, device labels, stable hardware identifiers, secrets, or unredacted local paths; route/analyser payloads are summaries only.

For audio-input, native providers register source summaries with sourceId, providerId, logicalSourceKey, kind, redaction-safe label/pseudonym, availability, channelSummary, sourceMode, and provider operations. The public command surface is inspect, list-sources, register-source, unregister-source, select-source, open-source, and close-source; provider operations are source.enumerate, source.describe, source.open, and source.close. inspect, list-sources, and select-source are prompt-free and never open live input or call enumeration. source.enumerate runs only when explicitly requested by provider/user discovery. open-source is the permission boundary: it routes to source.open, attributes the requester, checks the selected source and requested channel shape, and records handled, denied, degraded, failed, no-owner, no-handler, unsupported-command, or incompatible-version outcomes.

Selected input is persisted by logicalSourceKey when browser storage is available. If storage is unavailable, the in-memory selection remains usable for the current session and diagnostics report the storage status. Start/stop/song switches preserve selected input independently of playback transport while clearing live open sessions. Compatible requesters share one open session per logical source and channel shape; requester references are released via close-source, and the provider receives source.close only after the last requester releases.

Compatibility-backed input sources should record sourceMode: "compatibility" plus compatibilitySource and, when applicable, an audio-input.legacy-source bridge hit. If a native provider and a compatibility-backed source share the same logical source key, the native source owns the visible source list and the compatibility source is retained in diagnostics with supersededBy. Removal gates for input bridges are: native providers cover bundled source discovery/open flows, diagnostics show no unexpected compatibility hits in normal playback, denied/unavailable/failure outcomes are distinguishable, repeated hydration does not create duplicate sources, and support snapshots contain no raw device labels, hardware ids, paths, secrets, live handles, buffers, samples, or waveform data.

For audio-monitoring, native providers register monitoring summaries with providerId, logicalMonitoringKey, redaction-safe label/pseudonym, availability, sourceMode, provider operations, directMonitor, and latencySummary. The public command surface is inspect, list-providers, register-provider, unregister-provider, select-provider, start, stop, and set-direct-monitor; provider operations are monitoring.start, monitoring.stop, monitoring.status, and monitoring.set-direct-monitor. inspect, list-providers, select-provider, and monitoring.status are prompt-free and must not open audio input or start monitoring.

Fresh monitoring start is a user-action boundary. A requester that calls start without authorization: "user-action" receives user-action-required unless it can attach to an already-active compatible monitoring session. Start dispatch opens the selected audio-input source through the audio-input domain, checks the requested channel shape, and then calls the provider's monitoring.start with a redaction-safe sourceRef, requester id, required channel shape, direct-monitor preference, and optional requester requirement. Outcomes distinguish handled, degraded, denied, unavailable, failed, no-owner, no-handler, unsupported-command, incompatible, incompatible-version, provider-selection-required, and user-action-required.

Monitoring sessions are keyed by provider, selected source, required channel shape, and direct-monitor policy. Compatible requesters share an active session without re-calling monitoring.start; each requester later calls stop, and the provider receives monitoring.stop only after the final requester releases it. Song switches and playback stops preserve active monitoring sessions for the current browser runtime, while page reload restores only the selected provider and direct-monitor preference; live monitoring stays stopped until a new explicit start.

Direct-monitor state is user-authoritative. set-direct-monitor updates the user's/default preference and applies provider control to active sessions only when the provider supports it. Requester directMonitorRequirement values are advisory constraints: when they conflict with the user's preference or provider support, the requester/session is marked degraded or unsupported, but the stored user/default preference is not changed.

Compatibility-backed monitoring providers should record sourceMode: "compatibility" plus compatibilitySource (which becomes the bridge id, defaulting to audio-monitoring.legacy-provider when unset) and, when applicable, the audio-monitoring.audio-barrier startup-barrier bridge hit. If a native provider and compatibility-backed provider share a logical monitoring key, the native provider owns the visible provider list and the compatibility provider is retained in diagnostics with supersededBy. Removal gates for monitoring bridges are: native providers cover bundled start/stop/status/direct-monitor flows, normal playback shows no unexpected legacy hits, background requesters cannot silently start live monitoring, repeated hydration does not duplicate providers or sessions, and support snapshots contain no raw device labels, hardware ids, paths, secrets, live handles, buffers, samples, waveform data, recordings, or provider-private payloads.

stems is different: core.audio.session is a coordinator, not the semantic owner of stem playback. The Stems plugin, or another active stem provider, remains the provider/owner of actual stem state, mute/restore mechanics, and per-song availability. The session coordinator records the active provider via registerStemOwner(...), brokers claim/override/orphan diagnostics, and returns no-owner when no stem provider is available.

New bundled audio code should use the session host or native capability dispatch instead of adding new globals, private stem-state reads, direct analyser ownership, or plugin-specific handshakes. Existing legacy paths remain supported through named compatibility bridges until their migration notes and removal gates are satisfied.

Audio Effects Domain

The audio-effects slice promotes audio-effects as a core-owned provider-coordinator domain implemented by static/capabilities/audio-effects.js. The host owns provider selection, compatible executor selection, route state, fallback accounting, redaction-safe diagnostics, and the constrained chain-plan schema. Providers do not call executors. Provider code proposes plans and, for execution requests, returns a provider-private trusted asset map to the host; the host immediately hands that private request to a compatible executor such as trusted Desktop native audio or NAM Tone's browser/WASM executor.

The public command surface is inspect, list-providers, list-executors, register-provider, unregister-provider, register-executor, unregister-executor, select-chain, resolve-plan, load-plan, inspect-route, list-mappings, upsert-mapping, delete-mapping, activate-mapping, clear-active-mapping, bypass, restore, fallback, activate-segment, set-stage-bypass, set-stage-parameter, and record-bridge-hit. Provider operations are chain.resolve, chain.inspect, mapping.list, mapping.upsert, mapping.delete, mapping.activate, mapping.clear-active, segment.activate, stage.set-bypass, stage.set-parameter, route.bypass, and route.restore; executor operations are loadChainPlan, activateSegment, setStageBypass, and setStageParameter. Fresh chain selection and route bypass/restore require authorization: "user-action" or authorization: "restore-selection"; physical loading through load-plan requires authorization: "user-action", authorization: "restore-selection", or authorization: "playback-session". Background requesters may inspect the current route and resolve an already selected compatible provider.

Core also owns the durable public mapping index at /api/audio-effects/mappings. A mapping answers "for this song/tone, this provider has an addressable effect plan"; it does not contain the provider's preset or chain data. Rows are keyed by song_key + tone_key + provider_id, carry an opaque provider_ref, and may be marked as the active mapping for that song/tone. Providers CRUD their own rows through the audio-effects host and resolve provider_ref inside their own storage when chain.resolve runs. This lets NAM Tone and Rig Builder coexist for the same song/tone while core owns arbitration and fallback order. song_key should be the playback domain's redaction-safe settings key when available; filename is optional legacy/debug context for migration and display.

Providers register stable providerId, pluginId, routeKey, priority, availability, source mode, operations, and operation handlers. Executors register stable executorId, pluginId, routeKey, priority, availability, source mode, supported provider ids, supported stage kinds, optional maximum stage count, operations, and handlers. The host chooses the highest-priority enabled provider for a route unless the caller requests a specific provider, then chooses the highest-priority compatible executor for that provider and resolved plan. Compatibility means both provider-compatible and plan-compatible: a browser/WASM NAM executor can advertise providerIds: ["nam-tone"], supportedKinds: ["nam", "ir"], and maxStages: 2, so it will not be asked to execute a Rig Builder VST/full-chain plan. If a selected provider has no compatible executor and the caller supplies a fallback provider, the host may fall back to that provider; if the caller explicitly requested the original provider, the host reports unavailable instead of silently changing providers. The initial default route is desktop-main, matching the desktop native executor path planned for full-chain NAM/IR/VST playback while still allowing browser executors for non-Desktop runtimes.

chain.resolve returns schema slopsmith.audio_effects.chain_plan.v1. A valid plan includes planId, routeKey, providerId, stages, optional segments, and optional redaction-safe summaries. Each stage exposes only stable opaque stageId, kind (nam, ir, vst, utility, or bypass), role (pre-pedal, amp, cab, rack, master-pre, etc.), opaque assetRef, optional opaque stateRef, bypass state, gain summary, and safe summary metadata. Raw file paths, URLs, model filenames, IR filenames, VST state blobs, native preset JSON, callbacks, handles, DOM nodes, audio buffers, samples, and waveform data are rejected or omitted.

Diagnostics live under slopsmith.audio_effects.diagnostics.v1. The snapshot includes provider summaries, executor summaries, route summaries, bridge hits, bounded recent outcomes, limits, and redaction notes. It intentionally omits full chain plans, stage asset references, provider-private mapping payloads, raw filenames, and song keys; diagnostics should explain which provider/executor/route failed without leaking local library structure or licensed asset names. Legacy NAM Tone/Rig Builder fetch interception, direct Desktop loadPreset calls, legacy tone controls, old nam_tone.db tone_mappings access, and MIDI/external effect handoffs are attributed through audio-effects.legacy-nam-routing, audio-effects.legacy-native-load, audio-effects.legacy-tone-controls, audio-effects.legacy-tone-db, and audio-effects.legacy-midi-amp bridge records while providers migrate.

Playback Control Plane

The playback slice promotes playback as a core-owned command domain implemented by static/capabilities/playback.js. The public command surface is inspect, start, pause, resume, stop, seek, set-loop, clear-loop, register-requester, and register-observer. The domain emits playback:* lifecycle events for requests, loading, ready/start/pause/resume/seek/stop/end, route transitions, loop changes, failures/degraded states, superseded sessions, and compatibility bridge hits.

static/app.js remains the transport data plane. It registers a private playback adapter that can start songs, pause/resume/stop, seek, and manage loops, but the capability snapshot never exposes the <audio> element, JUCE player object, raw audio buffers, native route handles, samples, waveforms, recordings, local file paths, or URL payloads. Exported diagnostics use pseudonymous target-* ids for arrangement-scoped identity and hashed settings-* keys for per-song plugin settings; the local Capability Inspector may show visible title, artist, and arrangement labels for the active song.

Legacy playback surfaces remain supported during migration and are attributed through bridges such as playback.window-play-song, playback.song-events, playback.window-slopsmith-transport, playback.loop-api, and native route handoff records. Fresh audible start commands require authorization: "user-action"; background requesters may inspect or control an existing session, but user-priority pause/stop decisions block lower-priority automation until a user action resumes or starts a new session.

Progression Domain

The progression slice (spec 010) promotes progression as a core-owned command domain implemented by static/v3/progression-core.js. Core owns the player's mastery rank (onboarding calibration + instrument-path levels), the challenge/quest engine, the Decibels wallet, and the cosmetics shop; all definitions are bundled content under data/progression/ so new paths, levels, challenges, quests, and shop items are JSON edits, never code.

The public command surface is inspect, record-event, list-shop, buy-item, and equip-item. record-event accepts only whitelisted externally-postable event types (minigame_run in v1); song_completed is server-derived inside /api/stats so scored-session authority stays in one place and is denied at this surface. buy-item and equip-item require authorization: "user-action". Backend plugins use the symmetric plugin-context hook record_progression_event (the minigames hub reports runs through it), which trusts backend code and skips the HTTP whitelist.

The domain emits challenge-completed, quest-completed, path-level-up, rank-changed, db-changed, calibration-completed, and cosmetic-equipped on the capability surface, mirrored as progression:* events on window.slopsmith for non-capability consumers. Diagnostics live under slopsmith.progression.diag.v1 and contain content-load warnings, rank/path-level/quest counts, and wallet totals only — no song filenames or display names.

Decibels are earned exclusively by playing (songs, minigame runs, quest rewards); there is no real-money acquisition path and none may be added. The wallet tracks spend separately from the monotonic lifetime-earned total, so per-source XP resets and db_earned goals stay correct. A deferred release slice adds a contributor role so plugins can ship their own challenge/quest content (e.g. a drums plugin contributing drums challenges); content stays core-bundled until then.

Visualization Domain

The visualization slice (cap:6) promotes visualization as a core-owned provider-coordinator implemented by static/capabilities/visualization.js. Viz plugins are providers of the highway renderer surface; the core picker/auto-match machinery in static/app.js stays the selection workflow and attributes every renderer change into the domain.

The public command surface is inspect, list-providers, select-renderer, and clear-renderer. Selection delegates to the existing picker (setViz) so localStorage persistence, WebGL2 gating, and fallback semantics have exactly one implementation. The domain emits providers-refreshed, renderer-changed (with a source of auto-match, user-select, fallback, or command:<requester>), renderer-ready, and renderer-failed.

Provider discovery is still the legacy surface — type: "visualization" manifests populate the picker and window.slopsmithViz_* factory globals carry the renderer contract — and both are registered as compatibility shims (visualization:type-visualization-manifest, visualization:window.slopsmithViz_*) with hit accounting, so the Inspector shows exactly how much of the domain still rides the bridge. Plugins migrate by declaring a visualization provider capability in their manifests; the renderer factory contract (init/draw/resize/destroy, contextType, matchesArrangement) is unchanged.

Per-instance provider settings (#849). A provider may declare a settings array on its visualization capability — generic control descriptors ({ key, label, type: "toggle" | "range" | "select", default, min/max/step, options }) the capability-pipelines schema validates on any domain (the field lives on the shared capabilityDeclaration, not a visualization-only spot — see docs/plugin-manifest.schema.json). Descriptors flow through the generic participant model: the backend validates them for /api/plugins (plugins/__init__.py), static/capabilities.js normalizes + preserves them on the registered participant (so generic inspect('visualization') carries them), and the visualization owner reads them back from the participant by id — no app.js/picker side channel. They surface in the list-providers snapshot (each provider's settings, deep-frozen) plus a provider_policy.hasSettings flag in diagnostics, so a consuming host — splitscreen's per-panel control popover — can render the controls generically without per-plugin hardcoding. The visualization domain's apply contract: a provider that declares settings MUST implement applySetting(key, value) on its renderer instance (the host calls it on the specific per-panel instance, which is inherently per-panel — no canvas→panel resolution, no shared global keys); getSetting(key) is optional (the host falls back to the declared default). The host owns persistence. This core slice lands the declarative surface + participant plumbing only — no bundled provider declares settings yet (highway_3d still ships the legacy factory.panelControls static). The highway_3d migration and the splitscreen generic consumer are the remaining #849 follow-ups.

Diagnostics live under slopsmith.visualization_capability.v1 and contain provider ids/labels/context types, the active renderer id and its selection source, the last auto-match outcome (resolved id + whether any predicate claimed the song), and the last failure (provider id + reason) — never song filenames, titles, or arrangement names. Per-panel selection (splitscreen #90) and per-panel provider settings (#849) are tracked follow-ups; the domain currently models the primary highway surface.

Note-Detection Domain

The note-detection slice (spec 009, issues #727/#728) promotes note-detection as a core-owned provider-coordinator implemented by static/capabilities/note-detection.js. Doctrine per specs/009-note-detection-domain/spec.md: the domain exposes detection PRIMITIVES through requester-owned, context-scoped bindings — a monophonic pitch estimate and a polyphonic "is this note set ringing now?" verification — and consumers own all judgment semantics (hit windows, streaks, accuracy, tiers). Hit/miss/verdict results flow through the domain as observability events, never as domain-owned scoring.

The public command surface is inspect, register-provider, unregister-provider, open-binding, close-binding, set-target, and clear-target. Providers declare a kind — midi (a digital instrument producing exact verdicts, e.g. the keys highway's Web-MIDI input), engine (the desktop JUCE verifier), or js (the browser harmonic-comb / YIN fallback) — and the primitives they serve (pitch.estimate, verify.target). Each binding carries its requester's own redacted context summary (arrangement kind, string count, capo, MIDI range), independent of whatever song the host highway has loaded; concurrent bindings never perturb one another (spec 009 FR-003). With no provider registered, open-binding reports unavailable — consumers degrade, never block.

The legacy chart-coupled surface — highway.setNoteStateProvider(fn), the single-global-detector path spec 009 retires — keeps working unchanged and is wrapped for compatibility-shim hit accounting (note-detection:highway.setNoteStateProvider). Migrating the chart note_detect consumer, Step Mode verify, minigames YIN scoring, and the setVerifyTarget bridge onto real bindings — and wiring per-binding tuning contexts into the engine verifier — is the remainder of the spec-009 slice and lands behind the Spec 003 migration gate.

Diagnostics live under slopsmith.note_detection_capability.v1 and contain provider ids/labels/kinds, binding summaries (requester, provider, redacted context, target size), availability, and the last bounded outcome (event, binding, provider, MIDI number, hit flag) — never raw audio buffers, sample data, device labels, or song identity.

MIDI-Input Domain

The MIDI-input slice (spec 012, issues #873/#880) promotes midi-input as a core-owned provider-coordinator implemented by static/capabilities/midi-input.js — the MIDI analog of audio-input. It is deliberately separate from audio-input (whose source/open contract is audio-frame-centric: channel shapes, sample buffers) because MIDI carries discrete messages, not audio; and it is not owned by any feature plugin, so the device-access boundary outlives the input-setup wizard (exactly as audio-input is core.audio.session-owned). Consumers — the input_setup onboarding wizard, the piano/keys and drums plugins, and (as a follow-up, #881) note-detection's Web-MIDI provider — converge here on ONE device-access boundary: one permission prompt, one source list, one redaction boundary, retiring private per-plugin navigator.requestMIDIAccess() calls.

Native providers register source summaries with providerId, a stable sourceId, a derived redaction-safe logicalSourceKey (providerId::sourceId), kind: "midi", a label, and availability. The public command surface is inspect, list-sources, discover, select-source, open-source, and close-source; provider operations are source.enumerate, source.describe, source.open, and source.close. inspect, list-sources, and select-source are prompt-free and never request MIDI access. Unlike audio (where getUserMedia gates labels and open-source is the prompt), Web-MIDI's requestMIDIAccess() gates the whole input list, so discover is the permission boundary and records denied/unavailable outcomes; open-source then attaches a shared listener session and never re-prompts.

Selected input is persisted by logicalSourceKey (slopsmith.midiInput.selectedLogicalSourceKey) when browser storage is available. Compatible requesters share one open session per source; each later calls close-source, and the provider receives source.close only after the last requester releases. Live MIDI message delivery (for the "play a note / hit a pad" calibration check) is exposed to in-page consumers through the public window.slopsmith.midiInput session handle only — never as raw capability events or diagnostics.

The reserved midi-control domain is the planned sibling for control mappings (CC/pitchbend/note → action routing) and will consume midi-input for device access (spec 013 / #882); this slice carves the device control plane out so midi-control can stay mappings-only. midi-control stays RESERVED (documentation-only) until a concrete mapping consumer + tests exist, per the future-domain governance.

Diagnostics live under slopsmith.midi_input.diagnostics.v1 and contain provider ids, source ids/keys/kinds/availability, the selected key, and open-session keys — device labels are redacted and no raw MIDI messages are ever included.

Capability Roles

Use capability declarations for provider/requester/observer relationships:

{
  "capabilities": {
    "library": {
      "roles": ["requester", "observer"],
      "requests": ["list-providers", "get-current", "inspect"],
      "observes": ["providers-refreshed", "source-changed"],
      "mode": "active",
      "compatibility": "none"
    }
  }
}

Future app-level workflows can then express intent through capability domains instead of hard-coding plugin-private implementation details.

Core registers manifest capability declarations from /api/plugins before plugin scripts hydrate. Runtime owners can then re-register the same participant with command handlers, event handlers, and current availability state. The merged participant view is visible through window.slopsmith.capabilities.snapshotDiagnostics() and getDiagnostics().

Core domains include review metadata in diagnostics:

• active: wired to current Slopsmith behavior and expected to work as an integration point.
• diagnostic: support/inspection-only runtime surfaces.

PR1 includes only the delivered domains listed in capability-roadmap.md: pipeline, diagnostics, and library. The follow-up audio graph/session slice promotes audio-mix, audio-input, audio-monitoring, and a coordinated stems surface. The playback slice promotes playback as an active transport control plane. The audio-effects slice promotes provider-selected effect-chain planning while leaving physical processor loading to compatible executors such as trusted Desktop native audio or a browser/WASM executor. The visualization slice promotes visualization as the highway renderer provider-coordinator, and the note-detection slice (spec 009) promotes note-detection as the detection-binding control plane. Backend routes, app UI, settings, and other hardware-facing domains remain documented in the roadmap and safety matrix until their own host workflow/provider slice exists.

Capability metadata is versioned by the capability-pipelines.v1 standard. Invalid roles, commands, operations, requests, observes, emits, events, owner kinds, compatibility modes, ownership policies, safety classes, or version fields are excluded from the capability graph and surfaced through capability_validation_warnings; legacy plugin fields continue to load through their existing app paths. Plugins that declare a future capability-pipelines version are reported through capability_unsupported_versions and their runtime handlers are marked incompatible.

diagnostics and pipeline are adjacent support domains. diagnostics is the read-only snapshot/export surface: snapshot returns the redaction-safe state used by support bundles and the Capability Inspector. pipeline is the graph operations surface: inspect, validate, and participant.set-enabled operate on the capability graph itself and emit graph lifecycle events such as resolved, runtime.validated, and participant.state-changed.

Requesters should use the public claim/dispatch/release flow instead of mutating another plugin's globals:

const api = window.slopsmith.capabilities;
const releaseClaim = api.claim({ capability: 'example.plugin-domain', claimId: 'example.automation-active', requester: 'example_requester' });
await api.dispatch({
  capability: 'example.plugin-domain',
  command: 'apply',
  source: 'example_requester',
  claim: { claimId: 'example.automation-active' },
  args: { target: { kind: 'example-target' } },
});
releaseClaim();

The claim owner is inferred from the active owner participant for the capability, so requesters should identify themselves with requester or source instead of passing an owner field. release only needs the claimId and, when useful for disambiguation, the capability.

Manual user actions win over matching automation claims. When an owner records a user override for the same capability target, the registry reports the command as overridden and skips re-applying automation for that target. Owners keep restore snapshots for their own surfaces so requesters do not need to read private state.

When a requester disappears, the registry releases its active claims and clears restore snapshot references. When an owner or live handler disappears, matching claims become orphaned and non-dispatchable until the user or owning plugin resolves them. Runtime enable/disable state is lifecycle metadata, not a manual override.

Owner Kinds And Dispatch Outcomes

Owner participants use a kind that describes how the domain is coordinated:

• command: one active owner handles public commands.
• provider-coordinator: one owner coordinates provider participants through provider operations.
• event: the owner primarily emits or coordinates events.
• diagnostic: read-only support and inspector surfaces.
• privileged: command execution needs an explicit enforcement plan before shipping.

Legacy ownership remains accepted in manifests for compatibility and diagnostics, but new domains should prefer kind plus participant roles. Ownership is derived for core owners where possible: provider-coordinator behaves like a multi-provider domain, diagnostics are diagnostic-only, privileged owners are privileged, and command/event owners are exclusive by default.

The compatibility ownership vocabulary remains:

• exclusive-owner: at most one active owner; duplicate owners produce a conflict and dispatch degrades.
• multi-provider: multiple providers may participate, but ordering must be deterministic through fixed priority or before/after constraints.
• observer-only: participants listen for events and should not handle commands.
• requester-only: participants request commands from another owner.
• privileged: command execution needs an explicit enforcement plan before shipping.
• diagnostic-only: read-only support and inspector surfaces.

Dispatch results use explicit outcomes: handled, transformed, denied, failed, degraded, short-circuited, overridden, no-owner, no-handler, no-target, unsupported-command, incompatible, incompatible-version, unavailable, provider-selection-required, user-action-required, stale, cancelled, and stopped. No-owner, no-handler, no-target, unsupported-command, incompatible, incompatible-version, provider-selection-required, user-action-required, stale, and cancelled decisions are recorded in diagnostics so support bundles explain why nothing happened.

Deferred Core Adapters

UI placement and settings contributions are real Slopsmith surfaces, but they are not PR1 capability contracts (visualization is active as of the cap:6 slice; note-detection as of the spec-009 slice). Audio mixer/session domains are active as of the audio graph/session slice, playback is active as of the playback control-plane slice, and audio-effects is active as a provider/route/chain-plan coordinator; plugins should keep using current documented APIs for remaining areas until the corresponding domain PR ships the host workflow, command/event contract, compatibility shims, diagnostics fields, and tests.

The library provider workflow is the PR1 core adapter and is implemented natively as the library capability module. Provider refresh, selection, and sync run through library owner commands; backend provider registration remains the way providers enter the library registry, and the browser module turns that registry into provider participants. The app event bus continues to dispatch local window.slopsmith events for legacy listeners; playback now mirrors song transport, route, seek, and loop lifecycle into playback, and visualization attributes renderer selection/failure, while navigation, note, and route-only surfaces remain outside capability domains until their own slices land.

The direct window.highway object remains the renderer data plane. Per-frame reads such as notes, chords, beats, and renderer hooks should not be moved behind asynchronous capability commands until there is a dedicated chart/render facade.

First-Party Management Plugins

Large management surfaces should prefer plugin-owned UI over crowding normal Settings. First-party management plugins can contribute screens and settings panels while core keeps shared services and diagnostics contracts centralized.

The bundled Capability Inspector plugin is the support surface for the current graph. It reads window.slopsmith.capabilities.snapshotDiagnostics(), filters by domain, and summarizes manifest participants, runtime participants, conflicts, unsupported versions, safety classes, expected legacy event surfaces, and compatibility shim hits without rendering raw runtime objects. Domains are grouped in review order: application/library, player/audio runtime, plugin-defined surfaces, then capability runtime. In the all-domains view, each domain starts collapsed with a domain-specific icon plus compact summary badges for participant-lane count, endpoint count, observed links, shimmed links, and status; badge labels live in tooltips/ARIA labels so the header stays scannable. Clicking the domain label expands or collapses the domain, opening the same graph view used by the single-domain filter. The graph places owner details and right-aligned command/event groups on the left, with short owner descriptions bottom-aligned as the final part of that pane. Participant usage is grouped the same way on the right, with observed or shimmed links between border-aligned endpoint ports. In multi-provider domains, links to provider participants use provider-family colors: purple for owner-to-provider command delegation and a lighter violet for provider events. Provider participants, including library sources, stay on the right lane and show a provider icon in their header. Headers show role-aware core/non-core origin badges such as Core owner, Core provider, or Non-core participant; owner headers place the origin badge directly after the owner icon, and the built-in local library provider is marked as core-origin. Observer and requester roles are implied by the command/event links rather than separate header badges. Participant cards are shown only when the plugin or runtime source has visible command or event usage for the current graph filter; domains with no such usage show zero participants, and attribution-only shims with no matching endpoint stay out of the lane. Command and event groups can collapse; when collapsed, all links for that side and group converge on the single group port. Hovering a participant, endpoint, or command/event group emphasizes the matching links and dims unrelated links; owner-side labels outside the current focus de-emphasize so the active source endpoints are easy to track. Expanded domain graphs progressively enhance to Cytoscape.js overlays that route bezier links between measured DOM endpoint ports, while keeping the HTML lanes as the fallback and readable data surface. Its Plugins-menu entry is hidden by default; enable Capability Inspector → Show in Plugins menu from Settings when reviewing or debugging capability behavior.

Diagnostics Contract

Capability diagnostics use schema slopsmith.capabilities.diagnostics.v1. Snapshots are redaction-safe and capped at 64 KB by trimming older recentDecisions first while preserving current participants, active or orphaned claims, conflicts, domain review metadata, shim summaries, safety notes, and unsupported-version reports. Server diagnostics bundles include plugin manifest capability metadata, validation warnings, unsupported-version metadata, and compatibility shim summaries.

Compatibility shim entries include shimId, source, capability, legacySurface, status, reason, and optional hit fields. A shim with hitCount > 0 means legacy behavior was observed, not merely declared. The library domain no longer uses compatibility shims for provider registration or source selection; provider attribution comes from owner_plugin_id and runtime provider participants. Future domains should add expected shim entries only in the PR that implements their actual legacy bridge.

Expected Future Domains

Expected future domains live in capability-roadmap.md and capability-safety-matrix.md instead of the runtime graph. They are reserved names and candidate command shapes for future PRs, not current contracts. A future-domain PR should add the real host workflow, runtime registration, diagnostics redaction rules, tests, and compatibility shims in the same slice that makes the domain visible to plugins.

Incremental Roadmap

Release slices should stay reviewable. The domain-level roadmap, PR1 domain set, deferred domains, shim policy, and future-domain PR checklist live in capability-roadmap.md.

Future privileged domains must state user value, included and excluded commands, safety class, diagnostics fields, failure recovery, and tests proving disabled or incompatible participants cannot execute handlers before implementation begins.

Rehydration Pattern

Plugins that wrap shared functions such as window.playSong or window.showScreen should store wrapper state on a stable window.__slopsmith...Hooks object. Re-running the script should replace the implementation object and return before installing another wrapper.

const hookState = window.__slopsmithMyPluginHooks || (window.__slopsmithMyPluginHooks = {});
hookState.impl = { afterPlaySong(filename) { /* current implementation */ } };
if (hookState.installed) return;
hookState.installed = true;
hookState.basePlaySong = window.playSong;
window.playSong = async function(filename, arrangement) {
  await hookState.basePlaySong.call(this, filename, arrangement);
  hookState.impl?.afterPlaySong?.(filename, arrangement);
};

Validation Commands

From the slopsmith/ directory:

node --check static/app.js
node --check static/capabilities.js
node --check static/diagnostics.js
node --check plugins/capability_inspector/screen.js
node --test tests/js/*.test.js
pytest tests/test_plugin_runtime_idempotence.py tests/test_plugins.py tests/test_diagnostics_bundle.py -q