Create Code Generation Plugin System

[Kinflou]

Create Code Generation Plugin System

Priority

P1 (High) - Enables language-specific code generation

Labels

• core
• codegen
• plugins
• P1

Estimated Effort

3-4 weeks

Description

Build the plugin architecture for code generators. This allows language-specific generators to be developed as separate libraries and loaded dynamically.

Requirements:

• Stable Rust ABI interface (challenging!)
• Dynamic library loading
• Plugin discovery
• Version compatibility checking

Current State

Location: core/src/codelib_gen.rs

Only interface defined (24 lines), no implementation. Single todo!() for the loader.

TODO References

• codelib_gen.rs:21 - "Rust ABI Stable code needs to be done, traits and so on and load here"

Technical Challenge

Rust doesn't have a stable ABI by default. Possible solutions:

1. Use C ABI wrapper (traditional approach)
2. Use abi_stable crate (Rust-to-Rust stable ABI)
3. Use process-based plugins (spawn external process)
4. WebAssembly plugins (WASM runtime)

Need to research and decide on approach.

Acceptance Criteria

• Plugin API defined with stable ABI
• Dynamic library loading works cross-platform
• Plugin discovery from standard paths (~/.comline/plugins/, ./plugins/)
• Version compatibility enforcement
• At least 2 reference generators implemented:
  • Rust generator (structs, enums, traits)
  • TypeScript generator (interfaces, types)
• Plugin development guide written
• Example third-party plugin works

Tasks

• Research stable ABI solutions (compare approaches)
• Design plugin interface (trait definitions)
• Implement dynamic library loading (using libloading or similar)
• Create plugin registry/discovery system
• Add version checking and compatibility validation
• Build reference Rust generator:
  • Generate Rust structs from schema structs
  • Generate Rust enums from schema enums
  • Generate trait definitions from protocols
• Build reference TypeScript generator:
  • Generate TS interfaces
  • Generate type definitions
  • Generate RPC client stubs
• Write plugin development guide
• Add plugin testing infrastructure
• Document plugin system architecture

Plugin Interface (Draft)

pub trait Generator {
    fn name(&self) -> &str;
    fn version(&self) -> &str;
    fn supports_version(&self, ir_version: &str) -> bool;
    fn generate(&self, frozen_units: &[FrozenUnit]) -> Result<String>;
}

Dependencies

• Consolidate and Complete IDL Parser #3 IR Compilation (needs complete FrozenUnits)

Blocks

None