@smthrs/plugin 0.0.0-stage → 1.0.0-rc.13

package/docs/README.md

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+---
+title: "@smthrs/plugin"
+description: "A typed, bounded plugin kernel for Effect programs: Vite-style hooks and ordering, a config waterfall, and a resolution boundary that copies every value a caller hands it."
+---
+
+`@smthrs/plugin` lets a TypeScript program accept plugins written by other
+people. You name the extension points your program offers, a plugin author
+hands you a plain record of handlers, and the kernel turns that list into an
+ordered, immutable catalog you dispatch against.
+
+It is Vite's plugin model, typed end to end and bounded at every edge: a plugin
+is a plain record, a hook is an ordinary [Effect](https://effect.website),
+ordering follows Vite's rules exactly, and no value a caller passes in survives
+as a live reference into dispatch.
+
+## What it solves
+
+An extensible program has to answer five questions before its first plugin
+runs: which plugins are selected, what order their handlers run in, what a
+handler may return, what a failing handler does to the caller, and whether a
+plugin can change any of that after startup. This package answers all five, and
+refuses the input that would leave one of them undecided:
+
+- **Selection** is the `apply` field: a host target, or a predicate over the
+  configuration.
+- **Order** is Vite's rule kept verbatim. `enforce` sorts the plugin list once,
+  and a per-hook `order` re-partitions it for a single hook.
+- **Result and failure** come from the hook's kind. `sequential`, `parallel`,
+  `first`, and `waterfall` each promise something different, and the kind is
+  checked in the type system and again against the host's runtime catalog.
+- **Change after startup** is not possible. Resolution copies every plugin
+  record, hook object, and configuration value it accepts, so dispatch never
+  reads memory a caller still holds.
+
+Reach for it when you are the host: you have a composition, you want other
+people's code inside it at named points, and you would rather refuse a
+malformed plugin at startup with an error code and a value path than debug it
+in production.
+
+## The hook catalog is yours
+
+The kernel owns one catalog of its own, the two-step config lifecycle (`config`
+and `configResolved`). Every other hook belongs to a host. You declare your
+hooks with TypeScript module augmentation, hand the kernel the matching runtime
+catalog, and dispatch that catalog and nothing else. The `FlowsHooks` interface
+is open for augmentation and closed for dispatch, so another host augmenting
+the same interface still dispatches only the hooks it supplied.
+
+A plugin author writes a record with a `name` and some `hooks`. There is no base
+class, no registration call, and no inheritance.
+
+## Install
+
+```bash
+npm install @smthrs/plugin@next effect
+```
+
+Node.js 26.4.0 or later is required. For the runtime requirements, the import
+forms, and the subpaths the export map blocks, see
+[Installation](./installation.md).
+
+## The shortest real example
+
+A plugin contributes a configuration namespace, and a second hook reads the
+resolved result back:
+
+```ts
+import { type FlowsPlugin, Kernel } from "@smthrs/plugin"
+import { Effect } from "effect"
+
+const feature: FlowsPlugin = {
+  name: "flows-plugin-feature",
+  hooks: {
+    config: () => Effect.succeed({ feature: { enabled: true } }),
+    configResolved: (config) => Effect.log(`feature enabled: ${config["feature"] !== undefined}`)
+  }
+}
+
+const kernel = await Effect.runPromise(Kernel.make([feature]))
+```
+
+`Kernel.make` gives you four things:
+
+- `kernel.config` is the frozen, deeply copied configuration every plugin
+  agreed on.
+- `kernel.plugins` dispatches hooks.
+- `kernel.layer` is every plugin's Effect services merged in resolved order.
+- `kernel.observerErrors` holds the failures that `configResolved` observers
+  reported without failing startup.
+
+## Where this sits in Smithers
+
+This package is the mechanism, not a host: on its own it dispatches only the
+config lifecycle. The shipped host is [`@smthrs/agent`](/api/agent), the
+Smithers agent loop, which augments `FlowsHooks` with three waterfall hooks of
+its own (`cellRegistry`, `cellFlows`, and `cellModelRequest`), passes the
+matching runtime catalog with `target: "harness"`, and dispatches them around
+each frame of an agent cell. If you want to extend the Smithers agent rather
+than build a host of your own, read that package first: its hooks are the ones
+your plugin declares, and this package explains what those hooks promise.
+
+Both sit under the `smthrs` command line, [`@smthrs/cli`](/api/cli), which runs
+and inspects the durable flows a Smithers installation is made of. Start there
+for the whole picture.
+
+The kernel depends on [`@smthrs/flow`](/api/flow) for the
+`Action.CacheEnvironment` schema used to
+[declare a cache identity](./guides/cache-identity.md), and
+[`@smthrs/canonical`](/api/canonical) for immutable catalog maps.
+
+## What this package does not do
+
+The kernel is not an engine lifecycle registry. Retry, storage, concurrency,
+cache, wait, journal, and ownership policy stay on the Effect service or
+constructor option that applies them. Configuration refuses the root keys
+`engine`, `retry`, `store`, and `plugins` so that a configuration file cannot
+imply otherwise.
+
+## Where to go next
+
+- [Installation](./installation.md) for the runtime requirements, the import
+  forms, and the subpaths that are not public.
+- [Quickstart](./quickstart.md) to build a host with its own hook, run it, and
+  read a typed result.
+- [Hook kinds](./concepts/hook-kinds.md) for what each of the four dispatch
+  shapes promises.
+- [Resolution](./concepts/resolution.md) for how a plugin list becomes an
+  ordered, immutable catalog.
+- [Configuration](./concepts/configuration.md) for the config waterfall and the
+  JSON boundary it enforces.
+- [API reference](./api.md) for every export, with signatures and limits.
+- [Troubleshooting](./troubleshooting.md) for each `PluginError` code, what
+  causes it, and what to change.

package/docs/api.md

@@ -0,0 +1,524 @@
+---
+title: "API reference"
+description: "Every export of @smthrs/plugin: the plugin and hook declarations, the Kernel, Plugins, Resolve, and Config modules, the PluginError codes, and the published limits."
+---
+
+Import the declarations from the root and the four stateful modules either as
+namespaces from the root or from their own subpaths:
+
+```ts
+import { engineHooks, type FlowsPlugin, make, PluginError } from "@smthrs/plugin"
+import * as Config from "@smthrs/plugin/Config"
+import * as Kernel from "@smthrs/plugin/Kernel"
+import * as Plugins from "@smthrs/plugin/Plugins"
+import * as Resolve from "@smthrs/plugin/Resolve"
+```
+
+Every function that can refuse returns `Effect<A, PluginError>`, except
+`Config.merge` and `Config.deepFreeze`, which are synchronous and throw a
+`PluginError`.
+
+## Example
+
+```ts
+import { Kernel, make } from "@smthrs/plugin"
+
+const editor = make({
+  name: "flows-plugin-editor",
+  hooks: { config: () => Effect.succeed({ editor: { readOnly: false } }) }
+})
+const kernel = await Effect.runPromise(Kernel.make([editor], {}, { target: "harness" }))
+console.log(kernel.config) // { editor: { readOnly: false } }
+```
+
+## Root exports
+
+| Export                                                                   | Kind               | Summary                                                               |
+| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `FlowsHooks`                                                             | interface          | The augmentable hook catalog. Declares `config` and `configResolved`. |
+| `Apply`, `FlowsPlugin`, `PluginInput`, `make`                            | from `Plugin`      | The plugin record and its constructor.                                |
+| Hook kinds and type-level helpers, `engineHooks`, `handlerOf`, `orderOf` | from `Hooks`       | The hook surface.                                                     |
+| `PluginErrorCode`, `PluginError`                                         | from `PluginError` | The single typed failure.                                             |
+| `Config`, `Kernel`, `Plugins`, `Resolve`                                 | namespaces         | The four modules.                                                     |
+
+### FlowsHooks
+
+```ts
+interface FlowsHooks {
+  readonly config: WaterfallHook<(config: FlowsConfig) => Effect.Effect<Partial<FlowsConfig> | void, any, never>>
+  readonly configResolved: ParallelHook<(config: ResolvedConfig) => Effect.Effect<void, any, never>>
+}
+```
+
+Declared in the entry point so that `declare module "@smthrs/plugin"` can
+augment it. Open for augmentation, closed for dispatch: the kernel dispatches
+only the config lifecycle, and a host supplies and dispatches its own catalog
+over the same augmented interface.
+
+Both startup hooks are context-free. `Kernel.make` runs them before any plugin
+layer is built and supplies no services of its own, so no externally supplied
+service is available during startup. A handler that needs one provides it
+inside the hook with `Effect.provide`. A plugin literal whose `config` hook
+requires a service fails to compile against `FlowsHooks`; a host whose startup
+hooks do require services declares a separate hook interface, and
+`Kernel.make<H>` then carries the requirement as `Kernel.StartupContext<H>`.
+
+## Plugin
+
+```ts
+type Apply = "engine" | "harness" | ((config: FlowsConfig) => boolean)
+
+interface FlowsPlugin<H = FlowsHooks> {
+  readonly name: string
+  readonly version?: string | undefined
+  readonly enforce?: "pre" | "post" | undefined
+  readonly apply?: Apply | undefined
+  readonly layer?: Layer.Layer<never, any, any> | undefined
+  readonly hooks?: Partial<H> | undefined
+}
+
+type PluginInput<H = FlowsHooks> =
+  | FlowsPlugin<H>
+  | false
+  | null
+  | undefined
+  | ReadonlyArray<PluginInput<H>>
+
+const make: <H = FlowsHooks>(plugin: FlowsPlugin<H>) => FlowsPlugin<H>
+```
+
+| Field     | Meaning                                                                                                                                                                             |
+| --------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `name`    | Required and unique among selected plugins. Compared as an exact Unicode string, at most 256 UTF-16 code units, never empty or whitespace only. Convention: `flows-plugin-<thing>`. |
+| `version` | Semantic identity folded into sealed cache keys. Required when the host declares a `cacheEnvironment`; refused as empty or malformed text.                                          |
+| `enforce` | Ordering group. Omitted means normal.                                                                                                                                               |
+| `apply`   | Conditional inclusion. A literal names the host target; a predicate receives the pre-resolution configuration and returns a boolean.                                                |
+| `layer`   | Services this plugin contributes to the composition. Must be an Effect `Layer`.                                                                                                     |
+| `hooks`   | Typed hook entries. Only keys declared in `H` compile, and only names in the host's runtime catalog resolve.                                                                        |
+
+`make` is an identity function that pins a plugin literal to `FlowsPlugin<H>`,
+so an excess or misspelled hook key fails at the definition site.
+`PluginInput` accepts falsy entries and arrays nested up to
+`maximumPluginDepth`, which is what makes a preset an ordinary function that
+returns plugins.
+
+## Hooks
+
+```ts
+type HookKind = "sequential" | "parallel" | "first" | "waterfall"
+
+interface HookObject<F> {
+  readonly order?: "pre" | "post" | undefined
+  readonly handler: F
+}
+
+type HookEntry<K extends HookKind, F> = (F | HookObject<F>) & HookMeta<K, F>
+
+type SequentialHook<F> = HookEntry<"sequential", F>
+type ParallelHook<F> = HookEntry<"parallel", F>
+type FirstHook<F> = HookEntry<"first", F>
+type WaterfallHook<F> = HookEntry<"waterfall", F>
+```
+
+`HookMeta<K, F>` is a phantom carrier: it records the kind and the handler type
+in the type system and adds nothing at runtime. A hook entry is either the bare
+handler or the `{ order, handler }` object; `undefined` and `null` are refused.
+
+Type-level helpers, used by the dispatcher's signatures and available to hosts:
+
+| Helper             | Extracts                                                                                                               |
+| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `KindOf<T>`        | The declared kind of a hook entry type.                                                                                |
+| `HandlerOf<T>`     | The handler function type.                                                                                             |
+| `KeysOfKind<H, K>` | The hook names of kind `K` in interface `H`.                                                                           |
+| `ArgsOf<T>`        | The positional argument tuple the handler accepts.                                                                     |
+| `ReturnOf<T>`      | The Effect the handler returns.                                                                                        |
+| `SuccessOf<T>`     | That Effect's success value.                                                                                           |
+| `ContextOf<T>`     | That Effect's required context.                                                                                        |
+| `HookCatalog<H>`   | The runtime catalog for `H`: a name declared in `H` must carry the kind its type declares; other names admit any kind. |
+
+Values:
+
+```ts
+const engineHooks: Readonly<{ readonly config: "waterfall"; readonly configResolved: "parallel" }>
+const handlerOf: (entry: unknown) => (...args: Array<any>) => unknown
+const orderOf: (entry: unknown) => "pre" | "post" | undefined
+```
+
+`engineHooks` is the frozen runtime catalog for the shared configuration hooks,
+and the catalog `Resolve.resolve` checks against when a host supplies none.
+Spread it into your own catalog to keep the config lifecycle available.
+`handlerOf` and `orderOf` normalize either hook entry form.
+
+## Kernel
+
+```ts
+interface Kernel<H = FlowsHooks> {
+  readonly plugins: Plugins.Service<H>
+  readonly config: ResolvedConfig
+  readonly layer: Layer.Layer<any, PluginError, any>
+  readonly observerErrors: ReadonlyArray<PluginError>
+}
+
+type ConfigContext<H> = ContextOf<H["config"]>
+type StartupContext<H> = ConfigContext<H> | ContextOf<H["configResolved"]>
+
+const make: <H = FlowsHooks>(
+  input: PluginInput<NoInfer<H>>,
+  config?: FlowsConfig,
+  options?: Omit<Resolve.Options<NoInfer<H>>, "config">
+) => Effect.Effect<Kernel<H>, PluginError, StartupContext<H>>
+
+const runConfig: <H = FlowsHooks>(
+  plugins: Plugins.Service<H>,
+  config: FlowsConfig
+) => Effect.Effect<ResolvedConfig, PluginError, ConfigContext<H>>
+```
+
+`StartupContext<H>` is `never` for `FlowsHooks`, whose startup hooks are
+context-free, so `Kernel.make([...])` runs with `Effect.runPromise` as is. For a
+separate hook interface whose `config` or `configResolved` handlers require
+services, the requirement is the startup Effect's context and the caller
+provides it before running; the kernel never supplies startup services itself.
+
+`make` performs startup in this order:
+
+1. Snapshot the positional `config`.
+2. Resolve the plugin list against `options`.
+3. Run the `config` waterfall, deep-merging each returned patch.
+4. Decode and freeze the result into a `ResolvedConfig`.
+5. Run `configResolved` observers in parallel, collecting their failures into
+   `observerErrors` rather than failing.
+6. Merge the selected plugins' layers, left to right in resolved order.
+
+The positional `config` is the kernel's only pre-resolution configuration
+source. `Options.config` is excluded from the options type so a caller cannot
+declare a second one, and a `config` key smuggled past the type fails at
+runtime with `invalid_plugin` at `$options.config`, the same refusal an
+unknown option key gets. `runConfig` exposes step 3 and step 4 on their own, for a
+host that resolved its plugin list separately. Before dispatching the first
+hook, it validates and copies the supplied config into a detached, recursively
+frozen snapshot. Invalid or accessor-bearing input fails with `config_invalid`
+before any hook runs, without executing accessors. The final waterfall result
+is admitted again through `Config.resolve`.
+
+`observerErrors` is a return value, not a log: a `configResolved` failure never
+fails startup, so a host that ignores the array cannot tell a working observer
+from a broken one.
+
+## Plugins
+
+```ts
+interface Service<H = FlowsHooks> {
+  readonly resolved: Resolved<H>
+  readonly handlers: (hook: string) => ReadonlyArray<HandlerRecord>
+
+  readonly sequential: <K extends KeysOfKind<H, "sequential">>(
+    hook: K,
+    ...args: ArgsOf<H[K]>
+  ) => Effect.Effect<ReadonlyArray<SuccessOf<H[K]>>, PluginError, ContextOf<H[K]>>
+
+  readonly parallel: <K extends KeysOfKind<H, "parallel">>(
+    hook: K,
+    ...args: ArgsOf<H[K]>
+  ) => Effect.Effect<ReadonlyArray<PluginError>, never, ContextOf<H[K]>>
+
+  readonly first: <K extends KeysOfKind<H, "first">>(
+    hook: K,
+    ...args: ArgsOf<H[K]>
+  ) => Effect.Effect<SuccessOf<H[K]>, PluginError, ContextOf<H[K]>>
+
+  readonly waterfall: <K extends KeysOfKind<H, "waterfall">>(
+    hook: K,
+    initial: ArgsOf<H[K]>[0],
+    merge: (previous: ArgsOf<H[K]>[0], patch: Exclude<SuccessOf<H[K]>, void>) => ArgsOf<H[K]>[0]
+  ) => Effect.Effect<ArgsOf<H[K]>[0], PluginError, ContextOf<H[K]>>
+}
+
+const make: <H = FlowsHooks>(resolved: Resolved<H>) => Service<H>
+const makeNoop: <H = FlowsHooks>() => Service<H>
+
+class Plugins extends Context.Service<Plugins, Service>()("flows/plugin/Plugins") {}
+const layer: (resolved: Resolved) => Layer.Layer<Plugins>
+const layerNoop: Layer.Layer<Plugins>
+```
+
+Dispatch semantics, one row per kind:
+
+| Method       | Runs                                                      | Returns                                                                | On handler failure                                                               |
+| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `sequential` | Every handler, in resolved order, one at a time.          | Each handler's success value, in resolved order.                       | Fails the caller with `hook_failed` and stops.                                   |
+| `parallel`   | Every handler, bounded by `Resolved.parallelConcurrency`. | The failures, in resolved handler order. Success values are discarded. | Never fails the caller.                                                          |
+| `first`      | Handlers in order until one returns `Option.some`.        | That `Option`, or `Option.none()`.                                     | Fails with `hook_failed`; a non-`Option` value fails with `invalid_hook_result`. |
+| `waterfall`  | Every handler, threading the merged value.                | The final value.                                                       | Fails with `hook_failed` and stops.                                              |
+
+Every method first compares its kind with the runtime catalog the resolution
+admitted (`Resolved.kinds`). A hook the catalog declares with a different kind
+is refused before any handler runs: `sequential`, `first`, and `waterfall` fail
+with `hook_kind_mismatch`, and `parallel` returns that one error. A hook name
+absent from the catalog dispatches nothing, unless a hand-built `Resolved`
+registered handlers under it; those are refused the same way, because no kind
+was declared for them. The typed signatures make the mismatch unreachable
+without a cast; the runtime check covers the cast.
+
+Handlers must return an Effect. Synchronous throws, Effect failures and defects,
+and non-Effect results (including `undefined`, scalars, and Promises) become
+`hook_failed` with the plugin and hook names. Non-Effect error messages include
+the result's JavaScript `typeof`. Parallel dispatch collects these errors and
+continues running sibling observers, including with `parallelConcurrency: 1`.
+`Kernel.make` succeeds and reports them in `observerErrors`. Sequential dispatch
+fails with the attributed error and skips later handlers.
+
+A waterfall handler whose Effect succeeds with `undefined` leaves the value
+unchanged: the merge function is not called. A merge that throws a `PluginError` keeps that
+error's code and path and gains the handler's attribution; a merge that throws
+anything else becomes `config_invalid` attributed to the handler.
+
+Cancellation is fiber interruption through scope closure. Nothing threads an
+`AbortSignal`. Interrupting a dispatch interrupts the handler in flight, runs
+its finalizers, and skips the handlers that had not started.
+
+The `Plugins` service tag, `layer`, and `layerNoop` hold one dispatcher over the
+process-wide augmented `FlowsHooks`. A host typed against a separate hook
+interface holds its `Service<H>` directly and uses none of the three.
+
+## Resolve
+
+```ts
+interface HandlerRecord {
+  readonly plugin: string
+  readonly hook: string
+  readonly handler: (...args: Array<any>) => unknown
+}
+
+interface Resolved<H = FlowsHooks> {
+  readonly plugins: ReadonlyArray<FlowsPlugin<H>>
+  readonly handlers: ReadonlyMap<string, ReadonlyArray<HandlerRecord>>
+  readonly kinds: Readonly<Record<string, HookKind>>
+  readonly parallelConcurrency: number
+  readonly cacheEnvironment?: Action.CacheEnvironment | undefined
+}
+
+interface Options<H = FlowsHooks> {
+  readonly config?: FlowsConfig | undefined
+  readonly target?: "engine" | "harness" | undefined
+  readonly hooks?: HookCatalog<H> | undefined
+  readonly cacheEnvironment?: Action.CacheEnvironment | undefined
+  readonly parallelConcurrency?: number | undefined
+}
+
+const resolve: <H = FlowsHooks>(
+  input: PluginInput<NoInfer<H>>,
+  options?: Options<NoInfer<H>>,
+  configOverride?: FlowsConfig
+) => Effect.Effect<Resolved<H>, PluginError>
+
+const layer: <H>(resolved: Resolved<H>) => Layer.Layer<any, PluginError, any>
+```
+
+| Option                | Default       | Meaning                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
+| --------------------- | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
+| `config`              | `{}`          | Pre-resolution configuration tested by `apply` predicates. `Kernel.make` supplies it positionally and omits this field. Supplying both `config` and `configOverride` fails with `invalid_plugin` at `$options.config`.                                                                                       |
+| `target`              | `"engine"`    | The host whose literal `apply` selectors are active.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
+| `hooks`               | `engineHooks` | The hook names and kinds this host recognizes, typed as `HookCatalog<H>`. The `unknown_hook` guard checks against it, the frozen copy is `Resolved.kinds`, and `config` or `configResolved` labelled with any kind but `waterfall` or `parallel` fails with `hook_kind_mismatch` at `$options.hooks.<name>`. |
+| `cacheEnvironment`    | absent        | Complete composition identity for sealed activity keys. Requires a `version` on every selected plugin.                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
+| `parallelConcurrency` | `16`          | Maximum observers run at once. A positive safe integer through 256.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
+
+`resolve` is once-only and everything it returns is a copy the kernel owns.
+Plugin records and hook objects are snapshotted, handler records and ordered
+arrays are frozen, and `handlers` is a read-only map facade with no `set`,
+`delete`, or `clear`. Reflection is descriptor-only: accessors never execute,
+exotic prototypes are refused, and a hostile proxy observes a bounded number of
+traps whose results are copied rather than retained.
+
+Order of the checks: options, flatten, validate every record, filter by `apply`,
+check hook names against the catalog for selected plugins, reject duplicate
+names, order, then decode the cache environment. Structure is validated before
+filtering, so exclusion cannot hide a malformed plugin; catalog names are
+checked after, so a shared preset carrying harness-only hooks still resolves
+under an engine kernel.
+
+Ordering follows Vite exactly. `enforce` sorts the plugin list once into pre,
+normal, and post, stably within each group. The per-hook `order` then
+re-partitions that list for one hook, so `{ order: "pre", handler }` runs ahead
+of every normal-order handler even when its plugin is `enforce: "post"`. Ties
+keep resolved plugin order.
+
+`layer` merges every selected plugin's layer left to right, so an earlier
+plugin's services are visible to a later plugin's layer, and the later plugin
+wins when two provide the same tag. A layer that fails during acquisition
+becomes `layer_failed` with the plugin's name. `layer` also seals
+`Action.CurrentCacheEnvironment`: plugin layers read the declared environment,
+or `undefined` when none was declared, and a plugin layer that provides its own
+environment is overridden.
+
+### Limits
+
+| Constant                     | Value | Refusal                       |
+| ---------------------------- | ----- | ----------------------------- |
+| `maximumPlugins`             | 256   | `resource_limit`              |
+| `maximumHandlers`            | 1,024 | `resource_limit`              |
+| `maximumPluginInputNodes`    | 4,096 | `resource_limit`              |
+| `maximumPluginDepth`         | 64    | `resource_limit`              |
+| `maximumParallelConcurrency` | 256   | `resource_limit`              |
+| `maximumPluginNameLength`    | 256   | `invalid_plugin`              |
+| `defaultParallelConcurrency` | 16    | none, it is the default value |
+
+A `resource_limit` carries the path of the offending entry or preset array, and
+the handler bound counts the handlers the kernel dispatches. Plugin, version,
+and hook names are a separate check, not a budget: they are control-free,
+well-formed strings within `maximumPluginNameLength` that are neither empty nor
+entirely whitespace, and a name that is not fails with `invalid_plugin` at its
+own path even when every budget is free.
+
+## Config
+
+```ts
+const ConfigValue: Schema.Json
+type ConfigValue = typeof ConfigValue.Type
+
+const FlowsConfig: Schema.Codec<Readonly<Record<string, ConfigValue>>, unknown>
+type FlowsConfig = typeof FlowsConfig.Type
+
+const ResolvedConfig: typeof FlowsConfig
+type ResolvedConfig = typeof ResolvedConfig.Type
+
+const defaults: ResolvedConfig
+
+const merge: (base: FlowsConfig, patch: unknown) => FlowsConfig
+const deepFreeze: <A extends ConfigValue>(value: A) => A
+const snapshot: (config: unknown) => Effect.Effect<FlowsConfig, PluginError>
+const resolve: (config: unknown) => Effect.Effect<ResolvedConfig, PluginError>
+```
+
+| Export       | Behavior                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
+| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `defaults`   | The frozen empty configuration. Engine policy is deliberately not defaulted here.                                                                                                                                                                                         |
+| `merge`      | Copies and deep-merges a patch over a base. Records merge key by key; every other JSON value replaces wholesale. Raw operands are admitted; unchanged snapshot subtrees are reused. Cached totals enforce result bounds. Throws `PluginError` with code `config_invalid`. |
+| `deepFreeze` | Copies and recursively freezes one JSON value without retaining caller-owned objects. Throws `PluginError`.                                                                                                                                                               |
+| `snapshot`   | Admits a raw pre-resolution configuration as an immutable snapshot.                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
+| `resolve`    | Decodes the post-waterfall configuration into its final immutable form.                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
+
+`FlowsConfig` and `ResolvedConfig` decode through the same admission contract as
+`snapshot` and `resolve`. Decoding raw input detaches and recursively freezes it;
+invalid input produces a schema error. `Schema.is` recognizes admitted snapshots,
+not mutable JSON shapes. Encoding accepts admitted snapshots and returns their
+JSON value. The TypeScript types remain read-only namespace maps.
+
+Known snapshots can be reused by `snapshot`, `resolve`, and `merge`. Freezing an
+object yourself does not establish admission. A merge copies each changed record
+and retains unchanged frozen subtrees. It fully admits and detaches patch data,
+including references to previous snapshots, so patches cannot introduce shared
+references. Cached byte, member, node, and depth totals enforce result bounds.
+Admission work scales with the initial tree plus patch data; copying changed
+records also scales with their immediate key counts.
+
+Configuration is a plugin-owned JSON namespace map. The root keys `engine`,
+`retry`, `store`, and `plugins` are refused, because the kernel does not apply
+those policies.
+
+Refused with `config_invalid`, at the offending path, without executing user
+accessors: cycles, repeated object references, sparse arrays, accessors, symbol
+keys, exotic prototypes, non-finite numbers, unpaired surrogates, `undefined`
+members, and the prototype-control keys `__proto__`, `constructor`, and
+`prototype`. `undefined` is refused rather than dropped, so
+`{ endpoint: undefined }` fails at `$.endpoint` instead of resolving to `{}`.
+Omit the key, or write `null`.
+
+### Limits
+
+| Constant               | Value                   |
+| ---------------------- | ----------------------- |
+| `maximumConfigBytes`   | 1 MiB of encoded JSON   |
+| `maximumConfigDepth`   | 64 container edges      |
+| `maximumConfigMembers` | 4,096 aggregate members |
+| `maximumConfigNodes`   | 8,192 aggregate values  |
+
+Strings are limited to 64 KiB of encoded JSON and keys to 1 KiB.
+
+## Cache identity
+
+`Options.cacheEnvironment` is optional. Omitting it keeps sealed activity keys
+local to the run and leaves plugin `version` optional. Supplying it requires the
+complete `Action.CacheEnvironment` schema and a bounded, non-empty `version` on
+every selected plugin.
+
+Resolution copies and freezes every layer entry, capability record, and
+capability array, then prepends each selected `name@version` in resolved order.
+Both halves percent-escape `%` and then `@`, so the identity is injective:
+`a@b` at version `c` and `a` at version `b@c` produce different layer entries
+instead of one shared sealed identity. A scoped name reads as
+`%40scope/name@1.0.0`. A versionless composition fails with
+`cache_environment_invalid` instead of declaring an ambiguous cross-run
+identity. Invalid or mutable caller data never reaches
+`Action.CurrentCacheEnvironment`, and no plugin layer can declare or replace
+it.
+
+## PluginError
+
+```ts
+const PluginErrorCode: Schema.Literals<[
+  "duplicate_name",
+  "unknown_hook",
+  "hook_kind_mismatch",
+  "invalid_plugin",
+  "apply_failed",
+  "config_invalid",
+  "cache_environment_invalid",
+  "invalid_hook_result",
+  "resource_limit",
+  "hook_failed",
+  "layer_failed"
+]>
+type PluginErrorCode = typeof PluginErrorCode.Type
+
+class PluginError extends Schema.TaggedError<PluginError>()("flows/plugin/PluginError", {
+  code: PluginErrorCode,
+  message: Schema.String,
+  plugin: Schema.optional(Schema.String),
+  hook: Schema.optional(Schema.String),
+  path: Schema.optional(Schema.String),
+  cause: Schema.optional(Schema.Unknown)
+}) {}
+```
+
+Every startup and dispatch refusal uses this one error. `plugin` and `hook` are
+attribution, `path` is a diagnostic dollar-path into the refused value, and
+`cause` carries a failing handler's, layer's, or waterfall merge's original
+failure. Match on `code`; the messages are prose.
+
+`cause` is not redacted. It holds whatever the plugin failed or threw with,
+which can include credentials or config values. Keep it in process for
+diagnostics, and redact it before a host logs, persists, or transmits a
+`PluginError`.
+
+A dollar-path is not an RFC 6901 JSON Pointer: `$` is the input, `.config` an
+identifier property, `[2]` an array index, and `["not an identifier"]` any other
+key, JSON-quoted. So `$[2].hooks.config` is the third plugin's `config` entry
+and `$options.parallelConcurrency` is an option.
+
+| Code                        | Meaning                                                                        |
+| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
+| `duplicate_name`            | Two selected plugins have the same exact name.                                 |
+| `unknown_hook`              | A plugin declares a hook absent from the host catalog.                         |
+| `hook_kind_mismatch`        | A catalog kind disagrees with the kind the kernel or a dispatch method runs.   |
+| `invalid_plugin`            | A plugin, preset, option, or hook entry has an invalid runtime shape.          |
+| `apply_failed`              | An `apply` predicate threw. Its raw failure is not retained.                   |
+| `config_invalid`            | Config is not bounded strict JSON or uses a reserved policy key.               |
+| `cache_environment_invalid` | Cache identity is malformed or incomplete.                                     |
+| `invalid_hook_result`       | A first hook returned a value other than `Option`.                             |
+| `resource_limit`            | Preset, plugin, handler, or concurrency work exceeds a published bound.        |
+| `hook_failed`               | A hook Effect failed, defected, threw synchronously, or returned a non-Effect. |
+| `layer_failed`              | A validated plugin layer failed during acquisition.                            |
+
+`configResolved` is a lossy observer boundary. Its failures do not fail kernel
+startup; `Kernel.observerErrors` returns them for redacted logging by the host.
+What to change for each code is in [Troubleshooting](./troubleshooting.md).
+
+## Related packages
+
+The shipped hook catalog is the Smithers agent loop in
+[`@smthrs/agent`](/api/agent), which augments `FlowsHooks` with three
+waterfalls. `Action.CacheEnvironment` comes from
+[`@smthrs/flow`](/api/flow). The other runtime dependency,
+[`@smthrs/canonical`](/api/canonical), supplies immutable catalog maps.