Update renovate/renovate Docker tag to v44.39.3

# Conflicts:
#	package-lock.json
#	package.json

.gitea/workflows/release.yml

@@ -2,12 +2,27 @@ name: Release
 on:
   push:
     tags: ['v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+']
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      overview_version:
+        description: 'Released version to republish the overview for, without the leading v (e.g. 0.1.0)'
+        required: true
 
 jobs:
   retag-image:
+    if: github.event_name == 'push'
     runs-on: docker-host
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7.0.1
+      # Before anything is published: the contract version IS the release version, so a tag that
+      # disagrees would ship a host misreporting itself to every plugin's compatibility check.
+      - name: Refuse a tag that disagrees with HOST_API_VERSION
+        env:
+          GIT_TAG: ${{ github.ref_name }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/repo" -w /repo node:24.19.0-alpine3.24 \
+            node release-tooling/contract-version.ts "$GIT_TAG" src/plugin-host/plugin.ts
       - name: Promote the commit-hash image to semver + latest
         env:
           GIT_TAG: ${{ github.ref_name }}
@@ -15,34 +30,77 @@ jobs:
           REGISTRY_USER: ${{ vars.DOCKER_REGISTRY_USER }}
           REPO: gitea.larvit.se/${{ github.repository }}
         run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
           COMMIT=$(git rev-parse 'HEAD^{commit}')
           VERSION=${GIT_TAG#v}
           printf '%s' "$REGISTRY_TOKEN" | docker login gitea.larvit.se -u "$REGISTRY_USER" --password-stdin
           docker pull "$REPO:$COMMIT" \
             || { echo "No image $REPO:$COMMIT - release tags must point at a commit whose branch passed the CI gate"; exit 1; }
-          for TAG in "$VERSION" "${VERSION%.*}" "${VERSION%%.*}" latest; do
+          # No bare-major tag while major is 0: a 0.x minor is a contract break, so `:0` would move
+          # across one and abort boot for everything tracking it. `:0.1` only moves across patches.
+          TAGS="$VERSION ${VERSION%.*} latest"
+          if [ "${VERSION%%.*}" != "0" ]; then TAGS="$TAGS ${VERSION%%.*}"; fi
+          for TAG in $TAGS; do
             docker tag "$REPO:$COMMIT" "$REPO:$TAG"
             docker push "$REPO:$TAG"
           done
       - name: Sync the release tags to Docker Hub
         env:
-          DOCKERHUB_REPO: docker.io/${{ github.repository }}
+          DOCKERHUB_IMAGE: docker.io/${{ github.repository }}
           DOCKERHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
           DOCKERHUB_USER: ${{ vars.DOCKERHUB_USER }}
           GIT_TAG: ${{ github.ref_name }}
           REPO: gitea.larvit.se/${{ github.repository }}
         run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
           COMMIT=$(git rev-parse 'HEAD^{commit}')
           VERSION=${GIT_TAG#v}
           [ -n "$DOCKERHUB_USER" ] && [ -n "$DOCKERHUB_TOKEN" ] \
             || { echo "Set the DOCKERHUB_USER variable + DOCKERHUB_TOKEN secret (README -> CI/CD)"; exit 1; }
           printf '%s' "$DOCKERHUB_TOKEN" | docker login docker.io -u "$DOCKERHUB_USER" --password-stdin
-          for TAG in "$VERSION" "${VERSION%.*}" "${VERSION%%.*}" latest; do
-            docker tag "$REPO:$COMMIT" "$DOCKERHUB_REPO:$TAG"
-            docker push "$DOCKERHUB_REPO:$TAG"
+          TAGS="$VERSION ${VERSION%.*} latest"
+          if [ "${VERSION%%.*}" != "0" ]; then TAGS="$TAGS ${VERSION%%.*}"; fi
+          for TAG in $TAGS; do
+            docker tag "$REPO:$COMMIT" "$DOCKERHUB_IMAGE:$TAG"
+            docker push "$DOCKERHUB_IMAGE:$TAG"
           done
       - name: Log out of the registries
         if: always()
         run: |
-          docker logout gitea.larvit.se
-          docker logout docker.io
+          set -uo pipefail
+          # Cleanup, and the runner's Docker config is shared (AGENTS.md) — a lost race here must not
+          # fail a release that published, nor skip the overview job that follows.
+          docker logout gitea.larvit.se || true
+          docker logout docker.io || true
+
+  publish-overview:
+    if: always() && (github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || needs.retag-image.result == 'success')
+    needs: [retag-image]
+    runs-on: docker-host
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v7.0.1
+        if: github.event_name == 'push'
+      # Publish the named release's own tree, so the page never pairs one Plainpages tag with another
+      # release's sidecar pins. A version that was never released fails here.
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v7.0.1
+        if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch'
+        with:
+          ref: refs/tags/v${{ inputs.overview_version }}
+      - name: Publish the Docker Hub overview
+        env:
+          DOCKERHUB_REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
+          DOCKERHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
+          DOCKERHUB_USER: ${{ vars.DOCKERHUB_USER }}
+          GIT_TAG: ${{ github.ref_name }}
+          INPUT_VERSION: ${{ inputs.overview_version }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          VERSION=${INPUT_VERSION:-${GIT_TAG#v}}
+          VERSION=${VERSION#v}
+          # An empty dispatch input falls back to the branch name, so gate this like a tag.
+          docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/repo" -w /repo node:24.19.0-alpine3.24 \
+            node release-tooling/contract-version.ts "$VERSION" src/plugin-host/plugin.ts
+          docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/repo" -w /repo \
+            -e DOCKERHUB_REPO -e DOCKERHUB_TOKEN -e DOCKERHUB_USER \
+            node:24.19.0-alpine3.24 \
+            node release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.ts "$VERSION"

.gitea/workflows/renovate.yml

@@ -21,21 +21,19 @@ jobs:
             -e RENOVATE_PLATFORM=gitea \
             -e RENOVATE_REPOSITORIES=${{ github.repository }} \
             -e RENOVATE_TOKEN \
-            renovate/renovate:44.32.6
+            renovate/renovate:44.39.3
 
   # After the renovate job, cut ONE tag covering the renovate-bot commits merged to main since the
   # last tag (batch per run). Targets origin/main — the real post-merge tip; the checkout SHA is the
   # trigger-time tip and lags the merges this run made. Skips when main's tip isn't a Renovate commit
-  # (a human owns that release) or nothing new merged. ff-only merges keep the renovate commit's
+  # (a human owns that release), nothing new merged, or nothing that merged carried a `Release-Bump:`
+  # trailer — a release nobody can observe is noise. ff-only merges keep the renovate commit's
   # authorship on the tip, so the author checks are reliable. Level = highest `Release-Bump:` trailer;
-  # pre-1.0 shifts down (auto-release/next-version.ts). Tag-only — release.yml promotes the
+  # pre-1.0 shifts down (release-tooling/next-version.ts). Tag-only — release.yml promotes the
   # already-built image; pushed with renovate-bot's PAT so release.yml fires (the built-in token won't).
-  # Off until the Actions variable AUTO_RELEASE is set to 'true': Plainpages is pre-announcement and
-  # deliberately carries no tags, so an automated bump would only invent a version nobody consumes.
   auto-release:
     runs-on: docker-host
     needs: renovate
-    if: vars.AUTO_RELEASE == 'true'
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7.0.1
         with:
@@ -57,8 +55,15 @@ jobs:
           fi
           BUMPS=$(git log "${LATEST}..origin/main" --author='renovate@larvit.se' \
                   --format='%(trailers:key=Release-Bump,valueonly)' | { grep -vx '' || true; })
+          if [ -z "$BUMPS" ]; then
+            echo "Renovate commits since ${LATEST}, but none carry Release-Bump — nothing reached a running Plainpages; skipping"; exit 0
+          fi
           NEXT=$(docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/repo" -w /repo node:24.19.0-alpine3.24 \
-                 node auto-release/next-version.ts "$LATEST" $BUMPS)
+                 node release-tooling/next-version.ts "$LATEST" $BUMPS)
+          # Read the constant off origin/main, not the checkout, which lags the merges this run made.
+          git show origin/main:src/plugin-host/plugin.ts \
+            | docker run -i --rm -v "$PWD:/repo" -w /repo node:24.19.0-alpine3.24 \
+                     node release-tooling/contract-version.ts "$NEXT" -
           echo "Releasing $LATEST -> $NEXT"
           git tag "$NEXT" origin/main
           git push "https://renovate-bot:${RENOVATE_TOKEN}@gitea.larvit.se/${REPO}.git" "$NEXT"

AGENTS.md

@@ -36,11 +36,13 @@ branch, create a PR and merge it when the CI/CD turns green.
 ## Project priorities (do not erode)
 
 1. **Simplicity** — prefer the solution that is easiest to understand, smallest, and most readable.
-2. **Few dependencies** — runtime deps stay minimal (today `ejs`, `lucide-static`, `@larvit/log`).
-   Prefer the Node standard library; justify any new dependency; do not add frameworks. The app is
-   **stateless — no database**. Auth/identity/OAuth are **Ory sidecar services** reached over their
-   REST APIs with built-in `fetch` — no SDK. New capabilities ship as **plugin folders** under
-   `plugins/` that fetch their data from upstream services, not as core code.
+2. **Few dependencies** — runtime deps stay minimal (today `ejs`, `lucide-static`, `@larvit/log`,
+   `postgres`). Prefer the Node standard library; justify any new dependency; do not add frameworks.
+   The **host is stateless — it owns no schema and stores nothing of its own**; a plugin may own a
+   Postgres database, which the host provisions but never reads or writes inside. Auth/identity/OAuth are
+   **Ory sidecar services** reached over their REST APIs with built-in `fetch` — no SDK. New
+   capabilities ship as **plugin folders** under `plugins/` that get their data from an upstream
+   service or their own database, not as core code.
 3. **Strict TypeScript** — `tsconfig.json` is strict (incl. `noUncheckedIndexedAccess`,
    `exactOptionalPropertyTypes`, `verbatimModuleSyntax`). Keep it that way. Prefer exact types;
    limit nullable and multi-option types.
@@ -79,6 +81,49 @@ Revisit only if the stated reason stops holding.
     it into `/node_modules`, above every plugin scope. Never let a copy reach a plugin's own
     `node_modules`: two instances of the barrel break `instanceof` across the boundary, which
     `plugin-api.test.ts` guards by asserting both paths reach one module.
+  - **Plugin storage hands over credentials, not a client** (README → Plugin storage). The host takes
+  `postgres` to run the provisioning DDL, and `storage-provisioning.ts` is the only module importing
+  it — `storage.ts` beside it stays pure so `web` never loads a driver (`src/postgres.test.ts` guards
+  both halves, because one value imported from the wrong module breaks it invisibly). It is never
+  re-exported through the barrel, so no driver shape enters the contract. Three properties hold the design together, so
+  don't trade one away in isolation: passwords are `HMAC-SHA256(PLUGIN_DB_SECRET, id)` rather than
+  stored, which is what keeps the host stateless — whoever holds that secret holds every plugin
+  database, so it ranks with the DB password itself; the provisioning DSN reaches `bootstrap` only
+  (`src/compose.test.ts` guards the split); and provisioning never drops anything, so uninstalling a
+  plugin cannot destroy data — boot logs the orphans instead. Because the host's copy sits in the
+  ambient `/node_modules`, a plugin can `import "postgres"` without declaring it — incidental, not a
+  packaging promise, and a plugin must still depend on its own driver.
+  - **Plugin settings are declared, not discovered** (README → Plugin settings). `settings.ts` is pure and
+  takes the env as an argument, so the whole matrix unit-tests without a stack. Four rules carry the
+  design: the prefix is `PLUGIN_SETTING_`, never bare `PLUGIN_`, because a plugin id `db` with key
+  `url` would otherwise name the host's own `PLUGIN_DB_URL`; keys are camelCase so the
+  `camelCase → SNAKE_CASE` mapping is total and no two keys collide, with the residual cross-plugin
+  collision caught by `findConflicts`; `required` and `default` are mutually exclusive, which is what
+  lets `SettingsOf` type a declared key as present rather than `T | undefined`, so no plugin author
+  casts; and a secret's value reaches the plugin but never a log, an error or `ctx.declaredSettings`
+  — not even as a mask or a length. An author mistake is refused at discovery, a bad operator value
+  refuses the boot, and a stray `PLUGIN_SETTING_` variable only warns (the orphan-database precedent).
+- **The trust boundary is the `web` process, not the plugin.** Per-plugin databases and roles bound
+  *accidents*, not hostile plugins: `PLUGIN_DB_SECRET` is in `web`'s environment during `onBoot`, and
+  a plugin already holds `ctx.system`'s Ory admin clients — so cross-plugin DB isolation is
+  containment, and README says so rather than implying a sandbox. Consistent with priority #7
+  (crash-isolation is a non-goal). `server.ts` still deletes the secret from `process.env` right
+  after `loadConfig`, which is before discovery imports any plugin module — the ordering is the whole
+  point, so move it earlier if anything, **never later**. **Valid while plugins are
+  operator-installed code, not third-party uploads.**
+- **`ory/postgres/init/init.sql` is the only home for the Ory databases' ACL** — don't re-assert the
+  `REVOKE CONNECT` from `bootstrap`. `REVOKE` only *warns* when the caller doesn't own the database,
+  so under the least-privilege provisioning account the README recommends it would report success
+  while changing nothing, and it hard-fails whenever `PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL` names a server with no
+  `kratos`. It runs only on **first init**, so a revoke added to it later never reaches a volume that
+  already exists — `docker compose down -v` is the dev remedy, a deployed install needs a migration.
+- **`bootstrap.ts` stays under `src/auth/`** even though it now provisions plugin databases as well
+  as seeding Ory. It is the one-shot service's entrypoint, not an auth module; moving it to
+  `src/bootstrap.ts` would edit `compose.yml`, five e2e compose files and `src/compose.test.ts` for a
+  rename. Reconsider when a third seeding concern lands.
+- **`BootContext.storage` keeps all six credential fields, and there is no `onShutdown` hook.** Adding
+  to the context costs a minor bump and removing one a major, so the shape errs small elsewhere. Pools
+  handed to a plugin are reaped on process exit — revisit if a plugin ever needs an orderly drain.
 - **`config/` is still a plain dir — no `package.json` of its own**, or `#menu-config` resolves
     against that instead and boot fails loud. An operator's menu override has no use for
     dependencies; if that changes, it needs the same package treatment.
@@ -252,31 +297,23 @@ Revisit only if the stated reason stops holding.
   console message only appears in the engine that renders the page (`ORY_FREE` in
   `e2e-tests/playwright.config.ts`). The rest write users, groups and sessions to one shared backend,
   so widening them means a stack per engine.
-- **The docs-only CI skip is `*.md` anywhere in the tree, not just the root** — no test, build step or
-  workflow reads a markdown file. Both git channels in `ci.sh`'s `docs_only()` pass `--no-renames`:
-  rename detection names only the destination, so `git mv src/app.ts notes.md` would otherwise read as
-  docs and skip the gate over a source file that was gone. `src/ci-gate.test.ts` locks the flags as a
-  *text* guard — the test image ships neither `git` nor `bash`. Revisit if a `.md` ever becomes
-  load-bearing.
+- **The docs-only CI skip is `*.md` anywhere in the tree, not just the root.** Both git channels in
+  `ci.sh`'s `docs_only()` pass `--no-renames`: rename detection names only the destination, so
+  `git mv src/app.ts notes.md` would otherwise read as docs and skip the gate over a source file that
+  was gone. `src/ci-gate.test.ts` locks the flags as a
+  *text* guard — the test image ships neither `git` nor `bash`. This is why the Docker Hub overview is
+  `release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.md.tmpl` and not a `.md`: a release reads it and a unit test
+  guards it, so giving it a `.md` name would let a broken `{{VERSION}}` merge with its own guard
+  skipped. `README.md` is the one markdown a test reads — `release-tooling/contract-version.test.ts`
+  checks its `apiVersion` samples — and a README-only change skips that check; accepted, because
+  those samples are illustrative and the copies that matter (`examples/`, `views/`, the template) are
+  gated. **Valid while no markdown file is rendered or executed.**
 - **CI docker logins share the runner host's Docker config.** The act_runner is host-mode, so
   `docker login`/`logout` in the workflows mutate one shared `~/.docker/config.json`: concurrent jobs
   can race (one job's logout can 401 another's push — recover by re-running), and tokens sit in that
   file between login and logout. Same class: concurrent runs share the workspace dir, so ci.sh's
   web-image build races another run's container creation on the `<project>-web` tag. Accepted for a
   single-maintainer cadence; serialize with a workflow `concurrency` group if it ever bites.
-- **Plainpages is pre-announcement: no tags, no releases.** `auto-release` is gated behind the
-  `AUTO_RELEASE` Actions variable (unset ⇒ skipped, the fail-safe direction on every unknown-`vars`
-  path) — a version only communicates to consumers and there are none. Two couplings:
-  `registry-cleanup` keeps a hash image only while its commit is a branch head *or* release-tagged, so
-  with zero tags a hand-cut tag must sit on `main`'s tip; and `mirror.yml` pushes tags with `--prune`
-  (its `fetch-tags: true` is load-bearing), so a tag or Release created on GitHub is swept away and
-  releases are cut on Gitea only. Valid until the maintainer says Plainpages is ready to show people.
-- **A stricter manifest rule breaks already-copied plugins**, and while `HOST_API_VERSION` is frozen
-  the failure names a symptom rather than the cause — `checkApiVersion` would refuse a stale plugin by
-  *version*, but only once the freeze lifts. Until then a stricter rule ships with a README →
-  Upgrading entry and a re-copy hint in the discovery error. Fail-loud stays right either way: the
-  alternative is a route gating on a name nobody can be granted, i.e. a permanent silent 403.
-  **Valid while `HOST_API_VERSION` stays frozen.**
 
 ## Docker only — no host tooling
 
@@ -325,15 +362,24 @@ one-time setup. A file-map or table row gets a clause, not a paragraph.
 - Pin all dependencies and Docker images to exact, human-readable **semantic versions** — never
   ranges (`^`, `~`) and never digests. npm deps via `.npmrc` (`save-exact=true`) + `npm ci`; images
   by tag.
-- **`HOST_API_VERSION` is frozen at 1.0.0 until the first external install**, even for additive
-  contract changes. With no third-party plugin in the wild a bump can only produce noise. The
-  promotion trigger is the first external plugin — from then on follow the versioning table in
-  README → Contract versioning. **The frozen surface includes `views/partials/*.ejs`**: the view
-  resolver makes every core partial an `include()` root for a plugin's views, so their option names
-  and emitted markup are author-visible. Know the hole that leaves — discovery fails loud on a bad
-  `apiVersion`, but `include("menu", { open: true })` silently ignores a dropped option. Promotion
-  must cover the partial vocabulary too.
-- **The frozen surface also includes the packaging promises** (README → Plugin dependencies): the
+- **Touching dependencies means revisiting `renovate.json`.** `Release-Bump` is an *allowlist*: its
+  rules name exactly what carries the trailer, so a dependency outside them never escalates the
+  release version and nothing fails to say so. A new manifest, compose file, custom manager or dep
+  type is a decision: can it reach a running Plainpages? If yes it needs a rule; if no, record nothing
+  and let it ride the next patch.
+- **`HOST_API_VERSION` *is* the release version.** Its `major.minor` must equal the release tag's, and
+  both release paths refuse a tag that disagrees (`release-tooling/contract-version.ts`). The patch
+  digit may lag on purpose: `checkApiVersion`
+  ignores patch, and auto-release cuts patch releases with no commit to bump a constant in. So a
+  dependency update big enough to force a **minor** is plugin-visible by definition — `auto-release`
+  stops rather than tagging, and the fix is to bump `HOST_API_VERSION` to that `X.Y.0` in a PR, merge
+  it, then tag. Never bump it to "catch up" with a patch release. **The contract surface
+  includes `views/partials/*.ejs`** — the view resolver makes every core partial an `include()` root
+  for a plugin's views, so their option names and emitted markup are author-visible. Know the hole
+  that leaves: discovery fails loud on a bad `apiVersion`, but `include("menu", { open: true })`
+  silently ignores a dropped option, so the partial vocabulary is a surface the version check cannot
+  police for you.
+- **The contract surface also includes the packaging promises** (README → Plugin dependencies): the
   barrel is ambient at `/node_modules` with nothing for a plugin to declare, `"type": "module"` is
   mandatory, and the host neither upgrades nor dedupes a plugin's dependencies. Same hole as the
   partials — move the publish point, rename the package or start hoisting and every installed plugin
@@ -341,9 +387,9 @@ one-time setup. A file-map or table row gets a clause, not a paragraph.
   build-time dedupe for baked images stays open, module-instance sharing stays unpromised.
 - **Publishing `@plainpages/plugin-api` to a registry is deferred, not rejected.** Today it is
   `private` and shaped as a shim — `index.ts` re-exports `../src/…`, so `npm pack` would ship a
-  broken tree. The trigger is the same as the freeze's: the first external plugin, which is also the
-  first author who cannot typecheck against a mounted host tree. Whoever does it must first make the
-  artifact self-contained (types-only `.d.ts`, or move the barrel into `plugin-api/`).
+  broken tree. The trigger is the first plugin author outside this repo — the first who cannot
+  typecheck against a mounted host tree. Whoever does it must first make the artifact self-contained
+  (types-only `.d.ts`, or move the barrel into `plugin-api/`).
 - A plugin's `apiVersion` is a **hand-written literal** semver — the host version it was built
   against — bumped by hand on rebuild, **never** the host's `HOST_API_VERSION` constant. Importing
   the constant makes every plugin always equal the host, so `checkApiVersion` can never fire.

README.md

@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ folder under `plugins/` goes live after a restart. Create `plugins/hello/plugin.
 import { definePlugin } from "@plainpages/plugin-api";
 
 export default definePlugin({
-  apiVersion: "1.0.0",
+  apiVersion: "0.2.0",
   nav: [{ href: "/hello", id: "hello", label: "Hello", public: true }],
   routes: [
     { method: "GET", path: "/", public: true, handler: () => ({ html: "<h1>Hello from my plugin</h1>" }) },
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@ From here, render real pages against the app shell and fetch upstream data — s
   - [hooks](#hooks)
   - [where they live & mounting](#where-plugins-live-and-how-to-mount-them)
   - [dependencies](#plugin-dependencies)
+  - [settings](#plugin-settings)
+  - [storage](#plugin-storage)
   - [local dev & test](#local-dev--test-story)
 - [The menu system](#the-menu-system)
 - [Building blocks](#building-blocks)
@@ -106,7 +108,7 @@ From here, render real pages against the app shell and fetch upstream data — s
   - [security model](#security-model)
 - [Email](#email)
 - [Architecture](#architecture)
-  - [Stateless](#stateless)
+  - [Stateless core](#stateless-core)
 - [Testing](#testing)
   - [end-to-end](#end-to-end-playwright)
   - [the full gate](#the-full-gate-one-command)
@@ -347,7 +349,7 @@ import { definePlugin } from "@plainpages/plugin-api";
 import { listThings, createThings } from "./handlers.ts";
 
 export default definePlugin({
-  apiVersion: "1.0.0",                // semver string of the host contract this plugin was built against (see Versioning)
+  apiVersion: "0.2.0",                // semver string of the host contract this plugin was built against (see Versioning)
 
   // Nav fragment, merged into the global menu and permission-filtered per user.
   // `icon` is a Lucide icon by its sprite id (src/ui/icons.ts).
@@ -380,6 +382,8 @@ folder-derived `id` to produce the loaded `Plugin`.
 | `permissions` | no | Permissions this plugin gates on. See [Nav & permission gates](#nav--permission-gates). |
 | `routes` | no | See [Routes & handlers](#routes--handlers). |
 | `hooks` | no | See [Hooks](#hooks). |
+| `settings` | no | Configuration this plugin accepts, one `PLUGIN_SETTING_<ID>_<KEY>` variable per key, resolved and validated at boot and handed to `onBoot`. See [Plugin settings](#plugin-settings). |
+| `storage` | no | `true` ⇒ the host provisions a Postgres database and login role for this plugin and hands the credentials to `onBoot`. See [Plugin storage](#plugin-storage). |
 
 A plugin may be routes-only, nav-only, or hooks-only — every collection field is optional.
 
@@ -432,8 +436,8 @@ export async function listThings(ctx: RequestContext) {
   `requireSession(ctx)`, `can(ctx, permission)` (coarse JWT-claim check, zero I/O), and
   `check(keto, ctx, {namespace, object, relation})` (a live Keto check; anonymous ⇒ denied). Throw
   `new GuardError(403, …)` after a failed `can`/`check` to render the 403 page.
-- The handler **fetches its own data** from upstream; plugins hold no state (see
-  [Stateless](#stateless)).
+- The handler **fetches its own data** — from upstream, or from the plugin's own
+  [storage](#plugin-storage); the host holds none of it (see [Stateless core](#stateless-core)).
 - Default status: `200` for `view`/`html`/`json`, `303` for `redirect`.
 
 #### Escaping & the trust boundary
@@ -466,7 +470,7 @@ import { definePlugin } from "@plainpages/plugin-api";
 import { landing, board } from "./pages.ts";
 
 export default definePlugin({
-  apiVersion: "1.0.0",
+  apiVersion: "0.2.0",
   home: landing,     // owns "/" — the public front page
   dashboard: board,  // owns "/dashboard" — the post-login app home
 });
@@ -591,22 +595,29 @@ works without editing host config.
 
 ### Contract versioning
 
-Each manifest declares `apiVersion` — a **semver** string naming the host contract it was built
-against — against the host's `HOST_API_VERSION`. The host bumps **major** on a breaking
-manifest/handler change and **minor** on an additive one. At discovery it parses both with
-`parseSemver` (strict: no ranges, `v` prefixes, or leading zeros) and applies provider/consumer
-semantics in `checkApiVersion`:
+Each manifest declares `apiVersion` — a **semver** string naming the **Plainpages release** it was
+built against. The host's `HOST_API_VERSION` *is* its release version, so a plugin author reads one
+version off the image they run and writes it down — there is no separate contract number. Both
+release paths refuse a tag whose `major.minor` disagrees with the constant, so the two cannot drift.
+
+Patch releases are invisible here — `checkApiVersion` ignores the patch digit, which is what lets
+dependency updates ship continuously without touching any plugin. At discovery the host parses both
+versions with `parseSemver` (strict: no ranges, `v` prefixes, or leading zeros) and applies
+provider/consumer semantics in `checkApiVersion`:
 
 | Plugin `apiVersion` vs host | Result | Host action |
 | --- | --- | --- |
 | same major, same minor (patch ignored) | `ok` | load |
-| same major, plugin minor **<** host minor | `warn` | load, log — additive-compatible, newer features exist |
+| **major `0`**, plugin minor **<** host minor | `refuse` | **abort boot** — pre-1.0 the minor is the breaking slot |
+| same major, plugin minor **<** host minor | `warn` | load, log — built against an older release; check that release's notes |
 | same major, plugin minor **>** host minor | `refuse` | **abort boot** — plugin needs a newer host |
 | different major | `refuse` | **abort boot** — incompatible contract |
 | missing / not a valid semver | `refuse` | **abort boot** — must be declared |
 
 The plugin pins one exact version (no ranges, per the project's pinning rules); the *host* supplies
-the caret-style compatibility.
+the compatibility. One digit carries the whole release, so a **minor** means either the plugin
+contract changed or a dependency moved far enough to warrant one.
+
 
 ### Conflict rules
 
@@ -632,10 +643,13 @@ Optional, for reacting to system actions. A plugin's `hooks` may implement:
 
 | Hook | When | May |
 | --- | --- | --- |
-| `onBoot()` | after discovery, before the server listens | warm caches, validate upstream config |
+| `onBoot(host)` | after discovery, before the server listens | warm caches, validate upstream config, open a [storage](#plugin-storage) connection |
 | `onRequest(ctx)` | before route matching | inspect, or **short-circuit** by returning a `RouteResult` |
 | `onResponse(ctx, result)` | after the handler | observe/log; cannot change the response |
 
+`onBoot`'s `host` is a `BootContext`, carrying `storage` for a plugin that declared it. A hook
+written without a parameter stays valid.
+
 Hooks run in **discovery order** (plugins sorted by id). `onRequest` fires on every request that
 reaches routing (static assets bypass it); the **first** hook to return a `RouteResult` short-circuits
 — later hooks and the route handler are skipped, and that result renders against its own plugin's
@@ -653,7 +667,7 @@ getting its folder there.
 bind-mounts the whole tree (`compose.override.yml`: `.:/app`), so a restart picks it up.
 
 **2. A plugin kept in its own repo, or added to a prebuilt image.** Bind-mount the plugin
-folder onto `/app/plugins/<id>` with a small compose override. Plugins are stateless, so
+folder onto `/app/plugins/<id>` with a small compose override. A plugin folder is code, not data —
 mount it read-only:
 
 ```yaml
@@ -724,6 +738,138 @@ barrel's types on disk: typecheck it mounted under the host tree, or vendor a ty
 `node_modules`** and point tsconfig `paths` at it — a stub inside is the shadowing copy discovery
 refuses, and it would travel with the folder you mount.
 
+### Plugin settings
+
+A plugin declares the configuration it accepts, and the host resolves it from the environment at
+boot. Each key becomes one variable — `PLUGIN_SETTING_<ID>_<KEY>`, the id's dashes and the key's
+camel humps both becoming underscores — so `upstream` on the `scheduling` plugin is set by
+`PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM`.
+
+```ts
+export default definePlugin({
+  apiVersion: "0.2.0",
+  settings: [
+    { key: "upstream", type: "url", required: true, description: "Base URL of the backend" },
+    { key: "pageSize", type: "number", default: 25 },
+    { key: "mode", type: "enum", values: ["strict", "lenient"], default: "strict" },
+    { key: "apiKey", type: "string", secret: true, default: "dev-insecure-key" },
+  ],
+  hooks: {
+    onBoot: ({ settings }) => {
+      settings.upstream; // string  — required, so the boot already refused without it
+      settings.pageSize; // number  — defaulted, so always present
+      start(settings);
+    },
+  },
+});
+```
+
+`type` is one of `string`, `number`, `boolean`, `enum` (with `values`) or `url`. A declared type is
+coerced and checked at boot, so a mistyped value names the plugin, the key and the variable instead
+of surfacing later as a broken page.
+
+**`required` and `default` are mutually exclusive** — a default means the setting can never fail, so
+declaring both is refused at discovery. That leaves three cases, and the type `onBoot` receives
+follows them exactly: `required: true` is always present, a `default` is always present, and a
+setting with neither is `T | undefined`, so the plugin has to handle its absence.
+
+**Secrets.** `secret: true` marks a value the host reads but never renders — not in a boot log, not
+in an error, not on the admin screen, which shows only whether it resolved and from where. With
+`REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS=true` a secret that is unset, or still equal to its declared default, refuses
+the boot — the same rule the host applies to its own secrets.
+
+**Where it fails, and where it warns.** A malformed declaration is refused at discovery; a missing
+`required` value or a value that will not coerce refuses the boot. A `PLUGIN_SETTING_` variable no
+installed plugin declares is only *reported* — it is usually a typo in the one the operator meant to
+set, and naming it turns two unrelated-looking errors into one. Declaring settings without an
+`onBoot` warns too: they resolve, but nothing receives them.
+
+**Reading what a deployment is configured with.** The admin plugin's **Plugin settings** screen
+(`plugin-settings:read`) lists every installed plugin, its declared keys, the variable that sets
+each, and whether the value came from the environment or the declared default.
+
+### Plugin storage
+
+A plugin that needs to keep data sets `storage: true`. The host then provisions a Postgres
+**database and login role of its own** — both named `plugin_<id>` — and hands the credentials to
+`onBoot`:
+
+```ts
+import postgres from "postgres";              // your dependency, not the host's
+import { definePlugin } from "@plainpages/plugin-api";
+
+let sql: ReturnType<typeof postgres>;
+
+export default definePlugin({
+  apiVersion: "0.2.0",
+  storage: true,
+  hooks: {
+    onBoot: async (boot) => {
+      if (!boot.storage) throw new Error("things: storage was not provisioned");
+      sql = postgres(boot.storage.url);
+      // Every web instance runs onBoot, and concurrent CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS is an error in
+      // Postgres — the lock is released when the transaction ends.
+      await sql.begin(async (tx) => {
+        await tx`SELECT pg_advisory_xact_lock(hashtext('things:schema'))`;
+        await tx`CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS things (id uuid PRIMARY KEY, name text NOT NULL)`;
+      });
+    },
+  },
+});
+```
+
+`boot.storage` is a `StorageCredentials` — `database`, `host`, `password`, `port`, `user`, and `url`,
+the same values pre-assembled as a DSN, which most clients take directly. It is typed optional, so
+the guard above is expected of every storage plugin rather than a sign something is wrong.
+
+**Credentials, not a client.** The host has no opinion on how you reach Postgres: depend on
+`postgres`, `pg`, a query builder or an ORM ([Plugin dependencies](#plugin-dependencies)). No driver
+is part of the contract, so upgrading yours is yours alone to time. The flip side is that pool sizing
+is yours too — keep yours under `PLUGIN_DB_CONNECTION_LIMIT` (default 10), the per-role ceiling the
+host sets so one plugin cannot exhaust the Postgres this stack shares with Ory.
+
+**The schema is yours, migrations included.** The host creates the database empty, never reads or
+writes inside it, and ships no migration machinery — evolving your tables compatibly (expand, then
+contract, so a rolled-back version still runs) is yours to own. Create your tables in `onBoot`: it
+runs before the server listens, so a failure aborts boot instead of surfacing later as a broken page.
+
+What the host does guarantee:
+
+- **One database and one role per plugin**, with `CONNECT` revoked from `PUBLIC`. This bounds
+  *accidents* — a wrong database name, a mistyped DSN, a stray query — and it is not a security
+  boundary: plugins share the `web` process, so a plugin that goes looking can reach another's
+  credentials. Install plugins you trust ([Security model](#security-model)).
+- **Provisioning is idempotent and runs every boot**, so a plugin dropped in later is picked up by
+  the next `docker compose up -d` — the same rule as permission seeding. Each boot re-applies the
+  role's password, connection limit, and `NOCREATEDB`/`NOCREATEROLE`.
+- **Your data is never dropped.** Removing a plugin folder leaves its database untouched; deleting it
+  is a deliberate act by an operator. Each boot logs any `plugin_*` database no installed plugin
+  claims, so what you left behind stays findable — read that list before dropping anything, since a
+  second Plainpages stack sharing this server will have its databases named there too.
+
+**Passwords are derived, never stored** — each is `HMAC-SHA256(PLUGIN_DB_SECRET, <plugin id>)`, so
+`bootstrap` and `web` compute the same value independently and nothing has to be written down.
+Rotate every plugin's password by changing `PLUGIN_DB_SECRET` and running `docker compose up -d`,
+which re-applies each role's password and leaves the data alone — restart every `web` instance as
+part of it, since one still holding the old secret can open no new connections. Treat the secret as
+you would a database password: whoever holds it holds every plugin database. Under
+`REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS` a missing, empty or throwaway secret is refused — in `bootstrap` before it
+creates any role, so no database is ever given a password derivable from a constant in this repo.
+
+**Only `bootstrap` holds provisioning credentials.** It alone gets `PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL`, an account
+with `CREATEDB` and `CREATEROLE` (superuser works but is more than it needs; the dev stack simply
+reuses Ory's). Keep using the same account: Postgres gives a `CREATEROLE` account admin rights only
+over the roles it created itself, so if you swap it for a fresh one, grant that one `ADMIN OPTION` on
+the existing `plugin_*` roles first, or the next boot cannot re-apply their passwords. `web` gets `PLUGIN_DB_URL`, which names the server and must carry no credentials —
+supply one with a username or password and boot fails, rather than leaving a privileged password in
+the process that runs plugin code. Set both, plus `PLUGIN_DB_SECRET`
+([Configuration](#configuration)); the dev stack sets them for you.
+
+Storage stays off until `PLUGIN_DB_URL` is set, and a plugin declaring it while that is unset
+**aborts boot** naming itself — rather than serving pages without its data. One naming limit: a
+storage plugin's folder may be at most **56 characters**, so `plugin_<id>` fits Postgres' 63-byte
+identifier.
+
 ### Local dev & test story
 
 A plugin is a normal folder of TypeScript, tested the same way the core is — everything in Docker.
@@ -936,7 +1082,7 @@ The app is **environment-agnostic**: no `NODE_ENV`, every behaviour its own expl
 | `PORT` | `3000` | web listen port |
 | `CACHE_TEMPLATES` | `false` | cache compiled EJS templates (`true` in prod) |
 | `SECURE_COOKIES` | `false` | mark our session/CSRF cookies `Secure` (`true` in prod https; off in dev http) |
-| `REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS` | `false` | when `true`, `CSRF_SECRET` must be supplied and differ from the dev throwaway |
+| `REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS` | `false` | when `true`, `CSRF_SECRET` — and `PLUGIN_DB_SECRET` once storage is configured, and every plugin setting declared `secret` — must be supplied and differ from the dev throwaway |
 | `LOG_LEVEL` | `info` | min severity logged: `error`/`warn`/`info`/`verbose`/`debug`/`silly`/`none` |
 | `LOG_FORMAT` | `text` | log line format: `text` (human-readable, dev) or `json` (structured, prod) |
 | `SERVICE_NAME` | `plainpages` | OTLP `service.name` on every log + span — brand it as your own deployment |
@@ -952,6 +1098,11 @@ The app is **environment-agnostic**: no `NODE_ENV`, every behaviour its own expl
 | `REVOCATION_DENYLIST` | `false` | when `true`, enable the optional [instant permission/session revoke denylist](#instant-revoke-the-optional-denylist) |
 | `REVOCATION_TTL_SEC` | `900` | how long a revoke entry lives; keep ≥ tokenizer TTL (10m) + clock skew |
 | `CSRF_SECRET` | dev throwaway | signs our double-submit CSRF token; enforced by `REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS` |
+| `PLUGIN_DB_URL` | _unset_ (dev: `postgres://postgres:5432`) | credential-free Postgres base URL for [plugin storage](#plugin-storage); unset ⇒ storage off, and a plugin declaring it aborts boot |
+| `PLUGIN_SETTING_<ID>_<KEY>` | per declaration | one variable per key a plugin declares in `settings`; see [Plugin settings](#plugin-settings) |
+| `PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL` | _unset_ (dev: the bundled superuser) | the DSN that provisions each plugin's database and role — read by the one-shot `bootstrap` service **only**, never by `web` |
+| `PLUGIN_DB_SECRET` | dev throwaway | derives each plugin's database password; `REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS` enforces it in `web` once `PLUGIN_DB_URL` is set, and in `bootstrap` whenever a plugin declares storage |
+| `PLUGIN_DB_CONNECTION_LIMIT` | `10` | per-role Postgres connection ceiling, so one plugin's pools cannot exhaust the server Ory shares; read by `bootstrap` when provisioning |
 
 ### Canonical host (one public URL)
 
@@ -1082,8 +1233,8 @@ records that subject as revoked-now; the hot path then rejects every token for i
 the revoke and forces a re-mint — which re-reads permissions from Keto, or clears a dead session. A
 fresh re-login passes, so a downgrade lands immediately without locking the account.
 
-It is an in-memory, auto-evicting map — no database, so it stays inside the stateless model — and
-the check is pure CPU, keeping Keto off the hot path. Entries self-evict after `REVOCATION_TTL_SEC`
+It is an in-memory, auto-evicting map — host-owned state would break the [stateless
+core](#stateless-core) — and the check is pure CPU, keeping Keto off the hot path. Entries self-evict after `REVOCATION_TTL_SEC`
 (default 900s ≥ the 10m token TTL + skew). Two bounds: it is instant only on the **single instance**
 that handled the revoke (elsewhere the guarantee falls back to the token TTL — back it with a shared
 store for hard multi-instance revoke), and a **group** membership change is transitive across many
@@ -1198,18 +1349,21 @@ of it over their **REST APIs using Node's built-in `fetch`** — no SDK dependen
 In **dev** the host-facing Ory ports are published — Kratos public `4433` and Hydra public `4444`;
 prod keeps them internal.
 
-Runtime deps stay tiny and pinned: **`ejs`**, **`lucide-static`**, and **`@larvit/log`**. Auth,
-sessions, SSO and OAuth2 add *services*, not npm packages.
+Runtime deps stay tiny and pinned: **`ejs`**, **`lucide-static`**, **`@larvit/log`**, and
+**`postgres`** — the last one has no sub-dependencies of its own and is used in a single module, to
+provision [plugin storage](#plugin-storage) at boot. Auth, sessions, SSO and OAuth2 add *services*,
+not npm packages.
 
-### Stateless
+### Stateless core
 
-Plainpages holds **no state of its own**. The only database in the stack is **Postgres**, used by
-Ory; the `web` app never connects to it.
+The host holds **no state of its own**: it owns no schema and keeps nothing between requests. The
+stack's **Postgres** backs Ory, and gives every plugin that asks for one a database of its own
+([Plugin storage](#plugin-storage)) — which the host provisions but never reads or writes.
 
-A plugin reads and writes state by **calling an upstream service** from its route handler — a REST
-API, an ERP, a plant historian, the customer's own backend — and renders the response with the
-building blocks. That keeps `web` trivially scalable and crash-safe: any instance can serve any
-request, because the session lives in Kratos and the data lives upstream.
+So a plugin gets its data one of two ways: by **calling an upstream service** from its route handler
+— a REST API, an ERP, a plant historian, the customer's own backend — or from **its own database**.
+Either keeps `web` trivially scalable and crash-safe: any instance can serve any request, because the
+session lives in Kratos and the data lives outside the process.
 
 ## Testing
 
@@ -1278,10 +1432,10 @@ Gitea Actions (`.gitea/workflows/`) runs the pipeline; the test job runs
 | Workflow | Trigger | Does |
 | --- | --- | --- |
 | `ci.yml` | push, any branch except `main` | the full gate (`bash ci.sh`, a no-op on a docs-only branch), then build + push the app image |
-| `release.yml` | push of a `vX.Y.Z` tag | re-tag that commit's image as `X.Y.Z`, `X.Y`, `X`, `latest`; sync those tags to Docker Hub |
+| `release.yml` | push of a `vX.Y.Z` tag, or manual | check the tag against `HOST_API_VERSION`, re-tag that commit's image as `X.Y.Z`, `X.Y`, `latest` (plus `X` once major ≥ 1), sync those tags to Docker Hub; a second job publishes the Hub overview, and runs alone on a manual trigger |
 | `mirror.yml` | push to `main` or any tag, or manual | force-push `main` + tags (pruning deleted ones) to the [GitHub mirror](https://github.com/larvit/plainpages) |
 | `registry-cleanup.yml` | nightly cron, or manual | delete registry images that are neither release-tagged nor a branch head |
-| `renovate.yml` | nightly cron, or manual | open dependency-update PRs, automerge them once the gate is green; the release-tag job only runs when `AUTO_RELEASE` is `true` |
+| `renovate.yml` | nightly cron, or manual | open dependency-update PRs, automerge them once the gate is green, then cut a release tag for what merged |
 
 `main` is not re-tested on push — its commits are meant to arrive already green from a
 gated branch, so the status check to gate a merge on is `CI / full-gate (push)`.
@@ -1303,11 +1457,27 @@ pattern-based org cleanup rule for this package — its age/count heuristics can
 release tags and would delete images the workflow protects.
 
 **Releases** — pushing a semver git tag (`git tag v1.2.3 && git push origin v1.2.3`) runs
-`release.yml`, which pulls that commit's hash image and re-tags it `1.2.3`, `1.2`, `1`, `latest`;
-nothing is rebuilt, so the released image is byte-identical to the gated one. It fails loud if no
+`release.yml`, which pulls that commit's hash image and re-tags it `1.2.3`, `1.2`, `latest` and —
+once the major reaches `1` — `1`; nothing is rebuilt, so the released image is byte-identical to the
+gated one. While the major is `0` the bare-major tag is skipped, because a `0.x` minor is a contract
+break and a moving `:0` would carry one. It fails loud if no
 hash image exists — release tags must point at a commit that went through the gate. The same four
-tags sync to [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/larvit/plainpages), releases only. The Docker Hub
-repository **description** is maintained by hand from [`README-dockerhub.md`](README-dockerhub.md).
+tags sync to [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/larvit/plainpages), releases only.
+
+The [contract check](#contract-versioning) guards the tag before anything is published, refusing one
+whose `major.minor` disagrees with `HOST_API_VERSION` and naming the value to set.
+
+**The Docker Hub overview** is published by a separate `publish-overview` job from
+[`release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.md.tmpl`](release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.md.tmpl), with
+`{{VERSION}}` rendered to the release, so the Plainpages tag it tells adopters to pull cannot go
+stale. Its sidecar pins are Renovate-managed and gated against this repo's own compose files, so the
+quick start stays a topology CI has actually run.
+It is its own job for two reasons: the images are already pushed and irreversible by then, so a Hub
+outage leaves the promotion green and the images untouched; and the page has its own door — run the
+workflow manually with an `overview_version` input to republish it without cutting a release. That
+input goes through the same contract check as a tag: a non-semver value, or one whose `major.minor`
+disagrees with the tree being published, is refused. It uses
+the same `DOCKERHUB_TOKEN` the image push uses, which is why that token needs the **delete** scope.
 
 **GitHub mirror** — [github.com/larvit/plainpages](https://github.com/larvit/plainpages) is
 read-only; after every merge `mirror.yml` force-pushes `main` and all tags, overwriting any drift.
@@ -1323,18 +1493,19 @@ images, and the Playwright runner + its browser image — and every bump keeps t
 exact. Each PR runs the normal gate on its `renovate/*` branch and automerges once
 `CI / full-gate (push)` is green; only a red gate needs a human.
 
-**Releases are paused.** Plainpages is pre-announcement: the repository carries **no tags**, so
-neither `release.yml` nor Docker Hub has a version to promote. Turn releasing back on by setting the
-Actions variable `AUTO_RELEASE` to `true`, or cut a `vX.Y.Z` tag by hand **on `main`'s tip** — with
-nothing tagged the nightly cleanup keeps only branch-head images, so an older commit's image is
-already gone and `release.yml` would fail loud.
-
-**Auto-release on dependency updates** — a second job in `renovate.yml` (`auto-release`, gated on
-`AUTO_RELEASE`) cuts **one** `vX.Y.Z` tag per run covering the renovate-bot commits merged to `main`
-since the last tag, and **skips** when the tip isn't a Renovate commit or nothing new merged.
-Renovate stamps each commit with a `Release-Bump: <updateType>` trailer and
-[`auto-release/next-version.ts`](auto-release/next-version.ts) turns the highest one into the next
-version — pre-1.0 it never auto-crosses into `1.0.0`. It is **tag-only**: the tag hands off to
+**Auto-release on dependency updates** — a second job in `renovate.yml` (`auto-release`) cuts **one**
+`vX.Y.Z` tag per run covering the renovate-bot commits merged to `main` since the last tag, and
+**skips** when the tip isn't a Renovate commit, nothing new merged, or nothing that merged carried a
+trailer — a dependency update that cannot reach the app releases nothing. Renovate stamps a
+`Release-Bump: <updateType>` trailer onto the updates that reach a running Plainpages — the rules in
+[`renovate.json`](renovate.json) name them — and
+[`release-tooling/next-version.ts`](release-tooling/next-version.ts) turns the highest one into the next
+version; pre-1.0 it never auto-crosses into `1.0.0`. Because the contract version *is* the release
+version, an update big enough to reach a **minor** stops the job rather than tagging: bump
+`HOST_API_VERSION` in a PR, merge, then tag by hand. Pre-1.0 that covers a dependency *major*, since
+`nextVersion` shifts it down to a `0.x` minor. `updateType` rates the *dependency's* own jump,
+so the trailer is an allowlist: an update outside those rules carries none and rides the next patch
+release instead of escalating it. It is **tag-only**: the tag hands off to
 `release.yml`, and is pushed with renovate-bot's PAT so that workflow actually fires (a tag pushed by
 the built-in Actions token wouldn't trigger it). `HOST_API_VERSION` is never touched here.
 
@@ -1343,7 +1514,7 @@ the built-in Actions token wouldn't trigger it). `HOST_API_VERSION` is never tou
 | Actions var / secret | Value |
 | --- | --- |
 | `DOCKER_REGISTRY_USER` (var) + `DOCKER_REGISTRY_TOKEN` (secret) | A Gitea account with package write in the `larvit` org, and its access token with `read:package` + `write:package`. Reused by `registry-cleanup.yml`. |
-| `DOCKERHUB_USER` (var) + `DOCKERHUB_TOKEN` (secret) | The public `larvit/plainpages` Docker Hub repo, and a read/write token **scoped to that repository** (an org access token, or one on a dedicated account — an account-wide PAT can push to every repo under it). |
+| `DOCKERHUB_USER` (var) + `DOCKERHUB_TOKEN` (secret) | The public `larvit/plainpages` Docker Hub repo, and a **read/write/delete** token **scoped to that repository** (an org access token, or one on a dedicated account — an account-wide PAT reaches every repo under it, and delete is destructive). Delete is what publishing the overview needs; pushing images alone would not. |
 | `MIRROR_GITHUB_TOKEN` (secret) | A fine-grained PAT (Contents: read & write) for a GitHub machine account with write access to the mirror. Its `main` must not block force-pushes and must carry no tag protection, which would reject the prune. |
 | `RENOVATE_TOKEN` (secret) | The shared `renovate@larvit.se` bot's Gitea PAT, with write access to this repo. |
 | `RENOVATE_GITHUB_TOKEN` (secret) | A **scopeless** (read-only) github.com PAT, so Renovate's lookups of github.com-hosted deps run authenticated instead of tripping the anonymous 60-req/hour limit. |
@@ -1371,6 +1542,11 @@ the one-shot bootstrap) — and mounts no source. Secrets come from the environm
 running insecure. Before going live, supply the production secrets and any SSO credentials — the
 **only** manual prep ([What you must supply](#what-you-must-supply-the-only-manual-prep)).
 
+**Back up the `pgdata` volume.** Once a plugin declares [storage](#plugin-storage), Postgres holds
+business data that exists nowhere else, alongside Ory's identities — the stack stops being
+reproducible from the image and config alone. Snapshot the volume, or `pg_dump` each database on a
+schedule, and rehearse the restore.
+
 Every response carries security headers (`src/http/security-headers.ts`): a strict
 `Content-Security-Policy` (the core is zero-JS — `script-src 'self'`, no inline scripts),
 `X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff`, `X-Frame-Options: DENY` + `frame-ancestors 'none'`,
@@ -1403,9 +1579,9 @@ docker compose up -d --build
 ```
 
 Do the same for any other folder you copied out of `examples/`. A plugin you wrote yourself needs the
-manifest change the error names. Once [`HOST_API_VERSION`](#contract-versioning) starts moving a
-stale plugin will be refused by **version** instead; it is frozen at `1.0.0` until the first external
-plugin exists, so for now the error names the rule it tripped.
+manifest change the error names. A host contract change big enough to move
+[`HOST_API_VERSION`](#contract-versioning) shows up earlier and more precisely — discovery refuses the
+plugin by **version** before any rule gets a chance to trip.
 
 Two paths in the checkout are load-bearing and must stay clear of root-owned leftovers:
 `node_modules/` must not exist (deps live at `/node_modules`, and anything at `/app/node_modules`
@@ -1521,7 +1697,8 @@ src/                 The app — strict tsc, no build step. *.test.ts sit beside
   i18n/              catalog (parity rules) · locale (resolution) · translate · load · runtime ·
                      english · view-locals · locales/ (the core en-US + sv-SE catalogs)
   plugin-host/       plugin.ts (the contract) · plugin-api.ts (the `@plainpages/plugin-api` barrel) · system.ts
-                     (ctx.system) · discovery · router · hooks · view-resolver
+                     (ctx.system) · discovery · router · hooks · view-resolver · storage (the rules) ·
+                     storage-provisioning (the DDL; bootstrap-only, holds the driver)
   ui/                chrome (the one global menu) · shell-context · dashboard · nav (composeNav) ·
                      menu-config (`#menu-config`) · icons (lucide sprite builder) · list-query · paginate
 
@@ -1540,9 +1717,11 @@ examples/            Copy-in reference mirroring the mount dirs: plugins/schedul
                      config/menu.ts, and shifts-upstream/ (the dev mock backend)
 e2e-tests/           Playwright specs + their Dockerfile and compose.{visual,auth,oauth,full,devstack}.yml;
                      proxy.ts (same-origin gateway) and mock-oidc.ts back full-flow
+release-tooling/     Everything the release runs: next-version (the bump math), contract-version
+                     (the HOST_API_VERSION↔tag gate), dockerhub-overview (+ its .md.tmpl)
+registry-cleanup/    Nightly image pruning — the Gitea client plus what survives (select-versions.ts)
 ci.sh                The full gate: typecheck → unit tests → every E2E suite on a fresh stack
 .gitea/workflows/    Gitea Actions — see CI/CD
-README-dockerhub.md  The Docker Hub repository description, pasted over by hand when it changes
 ```
 
 ## Extending the core

ci.sh

@@ -60,6 +60,33 @@ echo "$units" | grep -E '^. (tests|pass|fail) ' || true
 count=$(echo "$units" | grep -oE 'tests [0-9]+' | grep -oE '[0-9]+' | head -1 || true)
 [ "${count:-0}" -ge 50 ] || { echo "only ${count:-0} unit tests ran — test glob broken?"; exit 1; }
 
+# Plugin storage against a real Postgres. The step above runs --no-deps, so this suite's integration
+# test skips there — and it is the only thing proving the DDL actually grants what it claims, rather
+# than that the SQL text is the text we wrote. `node --test` counts a skip, so the floor won't catch it.
+step "Plugin storage (real Postgres)"
+# Own project name, like every E2E suite below: the default project is the DEV stack, so a bare
+# `down -v` here would delete the operator's pgdata — Ory identities and every plugin database.
+# --wait, because initdb on a cold volume outlasts the suite's connect timeout.
+storage_rc=0
+storage_proj=plainpages-storage
+storage_files=(-p "$storage_proj" -f compose.yml) # no override merge, like the e2e suites below
+storage_dsn="postgres://${POSTGRES_USER:-ory}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-ory}@postgres:5432/ory"
+storage_out=""
+docker compose "${storage_files[@]}" up -d --wait postgres >/dev/null || storage_rc=$?
+# `if`, not `&&`: a false `&&` returns non-zero, which under `set -e` would exit before teardown.
+if [ "$storage_rc" -eq 0 ]; then
+	# --build like the e2e suites: this stack mounts no source, so without it the step would test
+	# whatever `web` image that project last baked.
+	storage_out=$(docker compose "${storage_files[@]}" run --build --rm --no-deps \
+		-e "PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL=$storage_dsn" \
+		web node --test src/plugin-host/storage.test.ts 2>&1) || storage_rc=$?
+fi
+docker compose "${storage_files[@]}" down -v >/dev/null 2>&1 || true # also covers a failed `up`
+echo "$storage_out" | grep -E '^. (tests|pass|fail|skipped) ' || true
+[ "$storage_rc" -eq 0 ] || { echo "$storage_out"; echo "plugin storage integration tests failed (exit $storage_rc)"; exit "$storage_rc"; }
+# A skip here exits 0 and proves nothing — the same trap the unit floor above guards against.
+echo "$storage_out" | grep -qE '^. skipped 0$' || { echo "storage integration test skipped — PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL not wired through"; exit 1; }
+
 # Run one E2E suite against its OWN named stack, then always tear it down (even on failure). The
 # per-suite project name keeps a flaky teardown from leaking containers/volumes into the next suite.
 # --user: the runner writes screenshots + the report into the checkout, so they must belong to

compose.override.yml

@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Development overrides, merged automatically by `docker compose up`.
 # Mounts the source for live editing and restarts on change via `node --watch`.
+
+# web connects with it and bootstrap provisions against it, so the two must agree — one home.
+x-plugin-db-url: &plugin-db-url postgres://postgres:5432
+
 services:
   web:
     command: node --watch src/server.ts
@@ -13,9 +17,12 @@ services:
       CACHE_TEMPLATES: "false"
       LOG_FORMAT: "text" # human-readable logs in dev (base sets json for prod log pipelines)
       LOG_LEVEL: "debug" # verbose by default while developing (base defaults to info)
+      # Point plugin storage at the bundled Postgres, so a dropped-in plugin declaring `storage`
+      # works with no further config; the secret falls back to the dev throwaway (config.ts).
+      PLUGIN_DB_URL: *plugin-db-url
       REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS: "false"
       SECURE_COOKIES: "false" # dev serves http — Secure cookies wouldn't be sent
-      SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM: "http://shifts-upstream:4000" # backs the reference plugin once you copy it into plugins/
+      PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM: "http://shifts-upstream:4000" # backs the reference plugin once you copy it into plugins/
     volumes:
       - .:/app
       # Mount your own menu/branding override into the empty config/ dir (defaults apply otherwise):
@@ -29,13 +36,18 @@ services:
   # It belongs here and not in the base file, where it would desynchronise prod and collide with the
   # e2e stacks, which bind individual plugins *inside* /app/plugins.
   bootstrap:
+    # Provisions the plugin databases web connects to above, as the dev superuser.
+    environment:
+      PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL: postgres://${POSTGRES_USER:-ory}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-ory}@postgres:5432/ory
+      PLUGIN_DB_URL: *plugin-db-url
+      REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS: "false" # dev derives from the throwaway, as web does
     volumes:
       - .:/app
 
   # Mock backend ready for the reference plugin (examples/plugins/scheduling): plugins/ ships empty, so
   # the plugin is opt-in — `cp -r examples/plugins/scheduling plugins/scheduling`, restart, and this
-  # backs it (SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM above points here). Stand-in for the customer's real service —
-  # stdlib-only, in-memory, no auth. Prod points SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM at the real backend instead.
+  # backs it (PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM above points here). Stand-in for the customer's real service —
+  # stdlib-only, in-memory, no auth. Prod points PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM at the real backend instead.
   shifts-upstream:
     image: node:24.19.0-alpine3.24
     command: node /srv/server.ts
@@ -46,7 +58,7 @@ services:
   # Dev mail catcher — Kratos recovery/verification emails land here (web UI on 8025).
   # kratos.yml points the courier at smtp://mailpit:1025; prod uses a real SMTP via env.
   mailpit:
-    image: axllent/mailpit:v1.30.7
+    image: axllent/mailpit:v1.31.0
     ports:
       - "8025:8025"
     restart: unless-stopped

compose.yml

@@ -17,10 +17,16 @@ services:
       CACHE_TEMPLATES: "true"
       CSRF_SECRET: ${CSRF_SECRET:-dev-insecure-csrf-secret}
       LOG_FORMAT: "json" # structured logs for prod pipelines; set OTLP_ENDPOINT to also export to a collector
+      # Per-plugin Postgres storage. Explicit toggle: unset ⇒ off, and a plugin declaring `storage`
+      # refuses to boot rather than run without its data. The URL carries no credentials — each
+      # plugin's own password is derived from the secret (README → Plugin storage).
+      PLUGIN_DB_SECRET: ${PLUGIN_DB_SECRET:-}
+      PLUGIN_DB_URL: ${PLUGIN_DB_URL:-}
       REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS: "true"
       SECURE_COOKIES: "true" # prod serves https — mark session/CSRF cookies Secure
     # Wait for the services the app talks to (kratos + keto + hydra for the OAuth2 login/
-    # consent handler) + the one-shot bootstrap (admin + JWKS seed).
+    # consent handler) + the one-shot bootstrap (admin + JWKS seed). Postgres too: a plugin that
+    # declares `storage` opens its connection in onBoot, before the server listens.
     depends_on:
       bootstrap:
         condition: service_completed_successfully
@@ -30,14 +36,17 @@ services:
         condition: service_healthy
       hydra:
         condition: service_healthy
+      postgres:
+        condition: service_healthy
     # verifier reads the same tokenizer JWKS Kratos signs with (config.ts JWKS_URL).
     # Read-only — bootstrap is the only writer.
     volumes:
       - ./ory/kratos/tokenizer:/etc/config/kratos/tokenizer:ro
     restart: unless-stopped
 
-  # Ory's storage only (Kratos/Keto/Hydra) — the web app never connects here.
-  # init/init.sql creates one database per service. Dev defaults below; supply
+  # The stack's storage: one database per Ory service (init/init.sql), plus one per plugin that
+  # declares `storage` — bootstrap creates those at boot, since only it holds superuser credentials.
+  # A plugin connects as its own role from inside web. Dev defaults below; supply
   # POSTGRES_USER/PASSWORD via env in production.
   postgres:
     image: postgres:18.6-alpine3.23
@@ -127,6 +136,8 @@ services:
         condition: service_healthy
       keto:
         condition: service_healthy
+      postgres:
+        condition: service_healthy
     environment:
       ADMIN_EMAIL: ${ADMIN_EMAIL:-admin@plainpages.local}
       ADMIN_PASSWORD: ${ADMIN_PASSWORD:-admin}
@@ -137,6 +148,13 @@ services:
       JWKS_FILE: /etc/config/kratos/tokenizer/jwks.json
       KETO_WRITE_URL: http://keto:4467
       KRATOS_ADMIN_URL: http://kratos:4434
+      # The superuser DSN that creates each plugin's database and role lives ONLY here — never in
+      # web, so plugin code cannot read it out of its own environment. Unset ⇒ a plugin declaring
+      # `storage` fails the seed loudly. The secret must match web's; both derive the same passwords.
+      PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL: ${PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL:-}
+      PLUGIN_DB_SECRET: ${PLUGIN_DB_SECRET:-}
+      PLUGIN_DB_URL: ${PLUGIN_DB_URL:-} # only to refuse a mismatch: what bootstrap creates, web connects to
+      REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS: "true" # refuse the throwaway secret here too, before any role is created
     volumes:
       - ./ory/kratos/tokenizer:/etc/config/kratos/tokenizer
     command: node src/auth/bootstrap.ts

e2e-tests/full-flow.spec.ts

@@ -195,6 +195,17 @@ test.describe.serial("authenticated admin journey", () => {
     await expect(page.locator("table")).toContainText("Morning — Front desk"); // seeded by the mock upstream
   });
 
+  test("plugin settings: the screen names the variable that sets each declared key", async () => {
+    await page.goto("/admin/plugin-settings");
+    await expect(page.locator("h1")).toHaveText("Plugin settings");
+    // The reference plugin's one declared setting, and the variable an operator would set for it.
+    const scheduling = page.locator("table").filter({ hasText: "PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM" });
+    await expect(scheduling).toContainText("upstream");
+    await expect(scheduling).toContainText("http://shifts-upstream:4000"); // resolved, and its source shown
+    // Every installed plugin gets a section, so "declares none" is distinguishable from "not installed".
+    await expect(page.locator("h2", { hasText: "admin" })).toHaveCount(1);
+  });
+
   test("logout: signing out ends the session and returns to the login page", async () => {
     await page.goto("/dashboard");
     await page.locator("button.profile").click(); // open the profile dropdown

e2e-tests/package-lock.json

@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 {
   "name": "plainpages-e2e",
-  "version": "0.1.0",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "plainpages-e2e",
-      "version": "0.1.0",
       "devDependencies": {
         "@playwright/test": "1.62.1"
       }

e2e-tests/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 {
   "name": "plainpages-e2e",
-  "version": "0.1.0",
   "private": true,
   "description": "Playwright E2E: design-system parity (visual), auth refresh, OAuth2 login/consent, and the full browser flow (login/menu/CRUD/plugin/logout).",
   "type": "module",

examples/README.md

@@ -8,4 +8,4 @@ across (or bind-mount your own) and restart.
 | [`plugins/scheduling/`](plugins/scheduling/) | `plugins/scheduling/` | The reference plugin: a list page over an upstream REST service, a CSRF-guarded form that forwards a write, and permission-gated nav — built from the core building blocks, holding no state. Imports the host surface as `@plainpages/plugin-api`. See its [README](plugins/scheduling/README.md) and the [plugin contract](../README.md#building-plugins). |
 | [`plugins/admin/`](plugins/admin/) | `plugins/admin/` | The system-admin plugin: the Users / Groups / Permissions / OAuth2-clients screens for running Plainpages itself. A *system* plugin — it administers the Ory identity stack via the privileged [`ctx.system`](../README.md#system-capabilities-the-ctxsystem-surface) surface instead of its own upstream. Copy it in to get a GUI for user & group admin. See its [README](plugins/admin/README.md). |
 | [`config/menu.ts`](config/menu.ts) | `config/menu.ts` | The central menu override + branding template (rename/group/order/hide nav, set app name/logo/theme). Imports its typed builder as `#menu-config`; `config/` ships empty, so defaults apply until you copy this in. See [The menu system](../README.md#the-menu-system). |
-| [`shifts-upstream/`](shifts-upstream/) | — (dev service) | A throwaway mock backend the reference plugin reads/writes — stdlib-only, in-memory, no auth. Stands in for your real service so `docker compose up` shows the plugin working out of the box; in production you point `SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM` at the real thing instead. |
+| [`shifts-upstream/`](shifts-upstream/) | — (dev service) | A throwaway mock backend the reference plugin reads/writes — stdlib-only, in-memory, no auth. Stands in for your real service so `docker compose up` shows the plugin working out of the box; in production you point `PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM` at the real thing instead. |

examples/plugins/admin/admin-plugin-settings.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import test from "node:test";
+import type { PageChrome, PluginSettings } from "@plainpages/plugin-api";
+import { buildPluginSettingsModel } from "./admin-plugin-settings.ts";
+
+const CHROME: PageChrome = { brand: { name: "Test" }, csrfToken: "tok", nav: [], signInHref: "/login", user: { email: "", initials: "T", name: "Tester" } };
+
+const CATALOG: readonly PluginSettings[] = [
+  {
+    pluginId: "scheduling",
+    settings: [
+      { description: "Where shifts come from", envName: "PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM", key: "upstream", required: true, secret: false, source: "env", type: "url", value: "https://shifts.test" },
+      { envName: "PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_MODE", key: "mode", required: false, secret: false, source: "default", type: "enum", value: "strict", values: ["strict", "lenient"] },
+      { envName: "PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_NOTE", key: "note", required: false, secret: false, source: "unset", type: "string" },
+    ],
+  },
+  { pluginId: "quiet", settings: [] },
+];
+
+test("a row carries the variable to set and where the value came from", () => {
+  const model = buildPluginSettingsModel({ chrome: CHROME, settings: CATALOG });
+  const rows = model.groups[0]?.table.rows ?? [];
+  assert.deepEqual(rows.map((r) => r.name), ["upstream", "mode", "note"]);
+  assert.deepEqual(rows[0]?.cells, [
+    { rowHeader: { text: "upstream" } }, "Where shifts come from", "url", "Yes", "PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM", "Environment", "https://shifts.test",
+  ]);
+  assert.equal(rows[1]?.cells[2], "enum (strict, lenient)"); // the choices are the useful half of the type
+  assert.equal(rows[2]?.cells[5], "Not set");
+});
+
+test("a plugin declaring nothing still gets a section, so it is visibly installed", () => {
+  const model = buildPluginSettingsModel({ chrome: CHROME, settings: CATALOG });
+  assert.deepEqual(model.groups.map((g) => g.pluginId), ["scheduling", "quiet"]);
+  assert.deepEqual(model.groups[1]?.table.rows, []);
+  assert.match(model.groups[1]?.emptyText ?? "", /no settings/i);
+});
+
+test("a secret renders as set-or-not, never as a value, a mask or a length", () => {
+  const settings: readonly PluginSettings[] = [{
+    pluginId: "billing",
+    settings: [
+      { envName: "PLUGIN_SETTING_BILLING_API_KEY", key: "apiKey", required: false, secret: true, source: "env", type: "string" },
+      { envName: "PLUGIN_SETTING_BILLING_WEBHOOK_KEY", key: "webhookKey", required: false, secret: true, source: "unset", type: "string" },
+    ],
+  }];
+  const rows = buildPluginSettingsModel({ chrome: CHROME, settings }).groups[0]?.table.rows ?? [];
+  assert.equal(rows[0]?.cells[6], "Secret — set");
+  assert.equal(rows[1]?.cells[6], "Secret — not set");
+});
+
+test("two tables on one page need distinct row-action id stems", () => {
+  const model = buildPluginSettingsModel({ chrome: CHROME, settings: CATALOG });
+  const stems = model.groups.map((g) => g.table.actionsId);
+  assert.equal(new Set(stems).size, stems.length);
+});

examples/plugins/admin/admin-plugin-settings.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+// Plugin settings admin screen: what each installed plugin declares it can be configured with, the
+// variable that sets it, and how each key resolved. Read-only — the host reads settings from the
+// environment at boot, so changing one is a deploy, not a form.
+
+import { type PageChrome, type PluginSettings, type RouteHandler, type SettingSummary, type Translate } from "@plainpages/plugin-api";
+import { ADMIN_EN, requirePermission } from "./admin-shared.ts";
+
+interface SettingsGroup {
+  emptyText: string;
+  pluginId: string;
+  table: {
+    actionsId: string;
+    caption: string;
+    columns: { label: string }[];
+    rows: { cells: (string | { rowHeader: { text: string } })[]; name: string }[];
+  };
+}
+
+// One group per installed plugin, including those declaring nothing — an operator who cannot find
+// their plugin here has not installed it, which is the other half of what this screen answers.
+export function buildPluginSettingsModel(opts: { chrome: PageChrome; settings: readonly PluginSettings[]; t?: Translate }) {
+  const t = opts.t ?? ADMIN_EN;
+  return {
+    breadcrumbs: [{ label: t("admin.pluginSettings.title") }],
+    chrome: opts.chrome,
+    groups: opts.settings.map((plugin): SettingsGroup => ({
+      emptyText: t("admin.pluginSettings.none"),
+      pluginId: plugin.pluginId,
+      table: {
+        actionsId: `settings-${plugin.pluginId}`, // two tables share this page, so the stem must differ
+        caption: t("admin.pluginSettings.caption", { plugin: plugin.pluginId }),
+        columns: [
+          { label: t("admin.pluginSettings.column.key") },
+          { label: t("admin.pluginSettings.column.description") },
+          { label: t("admin.pluginSettings.column.type") },
+          { label: t("admin.pluginSettings.column.required") },
+          { label: t("admin.pluginSettings.column.variable") },
+          { label: t("admin.pluginSettings.column.source") },
+          { label: t("admin.pluginSettings.column.value") },
+        ],
+        rows: plugin.settings.map((setting) => ({
+          cells: [
+            { rowHeader: { text: setting.key } },
+            setting.description ?? "",
+            typeLabel(setting),
+            t(setting.required ? "admin.pluginSettings.yes" : "admin.pluginSettings.no"),
+            setting.envName,
+            t(`admin.pluginSettings.source.${setting.source}`),
+            valueLabel(setting, t),
+          ],
+          name: setting.key,
+        })),
+      },
+    })),
+    title: t("admin.pluginSettings.title"),
+  };
+}
+
+// An enum's choices are the useful half of its type — they are what the operator must pick from.
+function typeLabel(setting: SettingSummary): string {
+  return setting.type === "enum" && setting.values ? `${setting.type} (${setting.values.join(", ")})` : setting.type;
+}
+
+// A secret never renders its value — not the value, not a mask of it, not its length. Whether it
+// resolved and from where is what an operator needs, and the source column already says the rest.
+function valueLabel(setting: SettingSummary, t: Translate): string {
+  if (setting.secret) return t(setting.source === "unset" ? "admin.pluginSettings.secretUnset" : "admin.pluginSettings.secretSet");
+  return setting.value ?? t("admin.pluginSettings.unset");
+}
+
+// GET /admin/plugin-settings
+export const pluginSettingsList: RouteHandler = (ctx) => {
+  requirePermission(ctx, "plugin-settings");
+  return { data: { chrome: ctx.chrome, model: buildPluginSettingsModel({ chrome: ctx.chrome, settings: ctx.declaredSettings, t: ctx.t }) }, view: "plugin-settings" };
+};

examples/plugins/admin/admin-shared.test.ts

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ function fakeCtx(opts: { body?: string; method?: string; user?: User | null; ver
   const req = Readable.from(opts.body != null ? [Buffer.from(opts.body)] : []) as unknown as IncomingMessage;
   req.method = opts.method ?? "GET";
   return {
-    chrome: CHROME, declaredPermissions: [], user: opts.user ?? null, locale: "en-US", localeHref: (href) => href, locales: ["en-US"], log: {} as Log, params: {},
+    chrome: CHROME, declaredPermissions: [], declaredSettings: [], user: opts.user ?? null, locale: "en-US", localeHref: (href) => href, locales: ["en-US"], log: {} as Log, params: {},
     query: url.searchParams, req, res: {} as ServerResponse, permissions: opts.user?.permissions ?? [], t: ADMIN_EN, url,
     verifyCsrf: opts.verifyCsrf ?? (() => true),
   };
@@ -27,21 +27,21 @@ function fakeCtx(opts: { body?: string; method?: string; user?: User | null; ver
 
 // ---- nav fragment ----
 
-test("ADMIN_NAV: an ungated Admin header whose three screens each gate on their own read permission", () => {
+test("ADMIN_NAV: an ungated Admin header whose screens each gate on their own read permission", () => {
   assert.equal(ADMIN_NAV.id, "admin");
   // No gate on the header: a user may hold one screen's permission and not another's. composeNav
-  // drops a header left with no visible children, so holding none of the three hides the section.
+  // drops a header left with no visible children, so holding none of them hides the section.
   // Both halves matter — give the header an `href` and it survives the filter as a visible leaf,
   // ungated, for anonymous visitors included.
   assert.equal(ADMIN_NAV.permission, undefined);
   assert.equal(ADMIN_NAV.href, undefined);
   assert.equal(ADMIN_NAV.open, undefined); // the host current-marks + opens; the fragment stays static
-  assert.deepEqual(ADMIN_NAV.children?.map((c) => c.href), ["/admin/users", "/admin/groups", "/admin/clients"]);
-  assert.deepEqual(ADMIN_NAV.children?.map((c) => c.permission), ["users:read", "groups:read", "oauth2-clients:read"]);
+  assert.deepEqual(ADMIN_NAV.children?.map((c) => c.href), ["/admin/users", "/admin/groups", "/admin/clients", "/admin/plugin-settings"]);
+  assert.deepEqual(ADMIN_NAV.children?.map((c) => c.permission), ["users:read", "groups:read", "oauth2-clients:read", "plugin-settings:read"]);
   // Labels are catalog keys; the host translates them with this plugin's catalog when it composes
   // the menu, so what a visitor sees is the en-US (or sv-SE …) wording behind these keys.
-  assert.deepEqual(ADMIN_NAV.children?.map((c) => c.label), ["admin.nav.users", "admin.nav.groups", "admin.nav.clients"]);
-  assert.deepEqual(ADMIN_NAV.children?.map((c) => ADMIN_EN(c.label)), ["Users", "Groups", "OAuth2 clients"]);
+  assert.deepEqual(ADMIN_NAV.children?.map((c) => c.label), ["admin.nav.users", "admin.nav.groups", "admin.nav.clients", "admin.nav.pluginSettings"]);
+  assert.deepEqual(ADMIN_NAV.children?.map((c) => ADMIN_EN(c.label)), ["Users", "Groups", "OAuth2 clients", "Plugin settings"]);
   assert.ok(ADMIN_NAV.children?.every((c) => c.current === undefined));
 });
 

examples/plugins/admin/admin-shared.ts

@@ -12,12 +12,13 @@ export const ADMIN_EN: Translate = englishTranslator(enUS);
 export const ADMIN_USERS_BASE = "/admin/users";
 export const ADMIN_GROUPS_BASE = "/admin/groups";
 export const ADMIN_CLIENTS_BASE = "/admin/clients";
+export const ADMIN_PLUGIN_SETTINGS_BASE = "/admin/plugin-settings";
 
 // One resource per screen — the `<resource>` half of every permission this plugin gates on.
 // `oauth2-clients` rather than `clients` because permission names are one global namespace.
 // There is no `permissions` resource: permissions are declared in plugin code, not created here, so
 // holding a grant is a property of a user or a group and is edited on those two screens.
-export type AdminResource = "groups" | "oauth2-clients" | "users";
+export type AdminResource = "groups" | "oauth2-clients" | "plugin-settings" | "users";
 
 export type AdminAction = "read" | "write";
 
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@ export const ADMIN_NAV: NavNode = {
     { href: ADMIN_USERS_BASE, icon: "i-users", id: "users", label: "admin.nav.users", permission: permissionName("users", "read") },
     { href: ADMIN_GROUPS_BASE, icon: "i-layers", id: "groups", label: "admin.nav.groups", permission: permissionName("groups", "read") },
     { href: ADMIN_CLIENTS_BASE, icon: "i-globe", id: "clients", label: "admin.nav.clients", permission: permissionName("oauth2-clients", "read") },
+    { href: ADMIN_PLUGIN_SETTINGS_BASE, icon: "i-sliders", id: "plugin-settings", label: "admin.nav.pluginSettings", permission: permissionName("plugin-settings", "read") },
   ],
   icon: "i-shield",
   id: "admin",

examples/plugins/admin/i18n/en-US.ts

@@ -83,9 +83,29 @@ const messages = {
 
   "admin.nav.clients": "OAuth2 clients",
   "admin.nav.groups": "Groups",
+  "admin.nav.pluginSettings": "Plugin settings",
   "admin.nav.section": "Admin",
   "admin.nav.users": "Users",
 
+  "admin.pluginSettings.caption": "Settings declared by {{plugin}}",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.description": "Description",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.key": "Key",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.required": "Required",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.source": "Source",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.type": "Type",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.value": "Value",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.variable": "Variable",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.no": "No",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.none": "This plugin declares no settings.",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.secretSet": "Secret — set",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.secretUnset": "Secret — not set",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.source.default": "Default",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.source.env": "Environment",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.source.unset": "Not set",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.title": "Plugin settings",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.unset": "—",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.yes": "Yes",
+
   "admin.notFound.message": "That item doesn't exist.",
   "admin.notFound.title": "Not found",
 

examples/plugins/admin/i18n/sv-SE.ts

@@ -83,9 +83,29 @@ const messages: AdminMessages = {
 
   "admin.nav.clients": "OAuth2-klienter",
   "admin.nav.groups": "Grupper",
+  "admin.nav.pluginSettings": "Tilläggsinställningar",
   "admin.nav.section": "Administration",
   "admin.nav.users": "Användare",
 
+  "admin.pluginSettings.caption": "Inställningar som {{plugin}} deklarerar",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.description": "Beskrivning",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.key": "Nyckel",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.required": "Obligatorisk",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.source": "Källa",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.type": "Typ",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.value": "Värde",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.column.variable": "Variabel",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.no": "Nej",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.none": "Det här tillägget deklarerar inga inställningar.",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.secretSet": "Hemlighet — satt",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.secretUnset": "Hemlighet — inte satt",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.source.default": "Standardvärde",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.source.env": "Miljövariabel",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.source.unset": "Inte satt",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.title": "Tilläggsinställningar",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.unset": "—",
+  "admin.pluginSettings.yes": "Ja",
+
   "admin.notFound.message": "Objektet finns inte.",
   "admin.notFound.title": "Hittades inte",
 

examples/plugins/admin/plugin.test.ts

@@ -35,17 +35,20 @@ test("every nav permission is one the manifest declares", () => {
     }
   };
   walk(manifest.nav);
-  assert.equal(navPermissions.length, 3);
+  assert.equal(navPermissions.length, 4);
   for (const name of navPermissions) assert.ok(declared.includes(name), `nav gates on undeclared ${name}`);
 });
 
 test("every declared permission is <resource>:<action>, and reads and writes are split per resource", () => {
   for (const name of declared) assert.ok(isValidPermissionName(name), name); // the host's rule, not a copy of it
-  // Three screens × read/write. There is deliberately no `permissions:` pair: permissions are
-  // declared in plugin code, so holding one is edited on the user or group that holds it.
+  // Three CRUD screens × read/write, plus read-only plugin settings — a screen that never writes
+  // declares no `:write`, since a permission nothing gates on is one an operator can only mis-grant.
+  // There is deliberately no `permissions:` pair either: permissions are declared in plugin code, so
+  // holding one is edited on the user or group that holds it.
   assert.deepEqual([...declared].sort(), [
     "groups:read", "groups:write",
     "oauth2-clients:read", "oauth2-clients:write",
+    "plugin-settings:read",
     "users:read", "users:write",
   ]);
 });
@@ -58,5 +61,5 @@ test("GET routes gate on read and mutations on write, so a reader can open a scr
     const action = route.method === "GET" && !writeIntent(route.path) ? "read" : "write";
     assert.ok(route.permission?.endsWith(`:${action}`), `${route.method} ${route.path} → ${route.permission}`);
   }
-  assert.equal(routes.filter((r) => r.method === "GET" && writeIntent(r.path)).length, 6); // 2 per screen
+  assert.equal(routes.filter((r) => r.method === "GET" && writeIntent(r.path)).length, 6); // 2 per CRUD screen; plugin settings has none
 });

examples/plugins/admin/plugin.ts

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import { definePlugin, type HttpMethod, type Route, type RouteHandler } from "@plainpages/plugin-api";
 import { clientsCreate, clientsDeleteConfirm, clientsDelete, clientsDetail, clientsList, clientsNewForm } from "./admin-clients.ts";
 import { groupsAddMember, groupsCreate, groupsDelete, groupsDeleteConfirm, groupsDetail, groupsList, groupsNewForm, groupsPermissions, groupsRemoveMember } from "./admin-groups.ts";
+import { pluginSettingsList } from "./admin-plugin-settings.ts";
 import { usersCreate, usersDeleteConfirm, usersDelete, usersEditForm, usersList, usersNewForm, usersPermissions, usersRecovery, usersState, usersUpdate } from "./admin-users.ts";
 import { ADMIN_NAV, actionForMethod, type AdminAction, type AdminResource, permissionName } from "./admin-shared.ts";
 
@@ -24,9 +25,10 @@ const on = (resource: AdminResource) => (method: HttpMethod, path: string, handl
 const users = on("users");
 const groups = on("groups");
 const clients = on("oauth2-clients");
+const pluginSettings = on("plugin-settings");
 
 export default definePlugin({
-  apiVersion: "1.0.0", // the host contract this was built against — a literal, never HOST_API_VERSION
+  apiVersion: "0.2.0", // the host contract this was built against — a literal, never HOST_API_VERSION
 
   nav: [ADMIN_NAV],
 
@@ -37,6 +39,7 @@ export default definePlugin({
     { description: "Create and delete groups, and change their members and permissions", name: "groups:write" },
     { description: "View OAuth2 clients", name: "oauth2-clients:read" },
     { description: "Register and delete OAuth2 clients", name: "oauth2-clients:write" },
+    { description: "View the settings each installed plugin declares, and how they resolved", name: "plugin-settings:read" },
   ],
 
   routes: [
@@ -68,5 +71,7 @@ export default definePlugin({
     clients("GET", "/clients/:id", clientsDetail),
     clients("GET", "/clients/:id/delete", clientsDeleteConfirm, "write"),
     clients("POST", "/clients/:id/delete", clientsDelete),
+    // Plugin settings — read-only, so no :write route and no write-intent GET.
+    pluginSettings("GET", "/plugin-settings", pluginSettingsList),
   ],
 });

examples/plugins/admin/views/plugin-settings.ejs

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+<%#
+  Plugin settings admin list: one section per installed plugin, each a table of what it declares
+  and how each key resolved (admin-plugin-settings.ts). Read-only — no actions, no forms.
+%><%
+  const nav = include("partials/nav-tree", { nodes: chrome.nav });
+  let body = "";
+  for (const group of model.groups) {
+    // A plugin id is the folder name, which discovery constrains to [a-z0-9-] — no escaping needed.
+    body += '<h2 class="h2">' + group.pluginId + "</h2>";
+    body += group.table.rows.length === 0
+      ? '<p class="muted">' + group.emptyText + "</p>"
+      : include("partials/data-table", group.table);
+  }
+-%>
+<%- include("partials/shell", {
+  body,
+  brand: chrome.brand,
+  breadcrumbs: model.breadcrumbs,
+  csrfToken: chrome.csrfToken,
+  nav,
+  theme: chrome.theme,
+  title: model.title,
+  user: chrome.user,
+}) %>

examples/plugins/scheduling/README.md

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ The plugin holds **no state** — data lives upstream (README → *Stateless*).
 
 ## Upstream
 
-Set `SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM` to your backend's base URL. The dev compose points it at a tiny in-memory
+Set `PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM` to your backend's base URL. The dev compose points it at a tiny in-memory
 mock (`examples/shifts-upstream/`) so `docker compose up` shows the plugin working out of the box.
 A malformed/non-http URL fails the boot loudly (the plugin's `onBoot` hook).
 

examples/plugins/scheduling/plugin.ts

@@ -3,19 +3,20 @@
 // folder, rename it, point it at your own backend. Full contract: README.md → Building plugins.
 
 import { definePlugin } from "@plainpages/plugin-api";
-import { assertHttpUrl, createShift, createUpstream, listShifts, newShiftForm, overview, READ, SCHEDULING_PATH, SHIFTS_PATH, WRITE } from "./shifts.ts";
+import { createShift, createUpstream, listShifts, newShiftForm, overview, READ, SCHEDULING_PATH, SHIFTS_PATH, WRITE } from "./shifts.ts";
 
 // The upstream this plugin reads/writes — a stand-in for your real backend (the plugin is
-// stateless). Configure via env; the dev compose points it at a tiny mock (examples/shifts-upstream).
-const upstreamUrl = process.env["SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM"] ?? "http://shifts-upstream:4000";
-const upstream = createUpstream(upstreamUrl);
+// stateless). Its URL is a declared setting, so it is resolved and validated before onBoot hands it
+// over — which is after this manifest is built, hence the getter.
+let upstreamUrl = "";
+const upstream = createUpstream(() => upstreamUrl);
 
 export default definePlugin({
-  apiVersion: "1.0.0", // the host contract this was built against — a literal, never HOST_API_VERSION
+  apiVersion: "0.2.0", // the host contract this was built against — a literal, never HOST_API_VERSION
 
-  // onBoot runs after discovery, before the server listens: validate the plugin's own config so a
-  // typo'd SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM fails the boot loudly instead of degrading every request later.
-  hooks: { onBoot: () => assertHttpUrl(upstreamUrl, "SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM") },
+  // onBoot runs after discovery, before the server listens — where a plugin receives its resolved
+  // settings. A malformed URL already failed the boot by then; the host validated the declared type.
+  hooks: { onBoot: ({ settings }) => { upstreamUrl = settings.upstream; } },
 
   // Merged into the global menu + filtered per user. Labels are keys in this plugin's own catalog
   // (i18n/<locale>.ts) — a plain string works too, it just isn't translated. "Overview" is `public`, so the "Scheduling"
@@ -45,4 +46,15 @@ export default definePlugin({
     { handler: newShiftForm(), method: "GET", path: "/shifts/new", permission: WRITE },
     { handler: createShift(upstream), method: "POST", path: "/shifts", permission: WRITE },
   ],
+
+  // Operator-supplied config: one PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM variable, validated as a URL at
+  // boot. The default points at the mock backend the dev compose runs (examples/shifts-upstream).
+  settings: [
+    {
+      default: "http://shifts-upstream:4000",
+      description: "Base URL of the backend this plugin reads shifts from and writes them to",
+      key: "upstream",
+      type: "url",
+    },
+  ],
 });

examples/plugins/scheduling/shifts.test.ts

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import test from "node:test";
 import { englishTranslator, GuardError, Log, type PageChrome, type RequestContext, type RouteResult } from "@plainpages/plugin-api";
 import enUS from "./i18n/en-US.ts";
 import {
-  assertHttpUrl, buildFormModel, createShift, createUpstream, listShifts, newShiftForm, overview, readInput,
+  buildFormModel, createShift, createUpstream, listShifts, newShiftForm, overview, readInput,
   SHIFTS_PATH, type Shift, type ShiftInput, type ShiftsUpstream, UpstreamError, validate,
 } from "./shifts.ts";
 
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ function fakeCtx(opts: { body?: string; permissions?: string[]; url?: string; ve
   const url = new URL(opts.url ?? "http://localhost/scheduling/shifts");
   const req = Readable.from(opts.body != null ? [Buffer.from(opts.body)] : []) as unknown as IncomingMessage;
   return {
-    chrome: CHROME, declaredPermissions: [], user: null, locale: "en-US", localeHref: (href) => href, locales: ["en-US"], log: new Log("none"), params: {},
+    chrome: CHROME, declaredPermissions: [], declaredSettings: [], user: null, locale: "en-US", localeHref: (href) => href, locales: ["en-US"], log: new Log("none"), params: {},
     query: url.searchParams, req, res: {} as ServerResponse, permissions: opts.permissions ?? [], t, url,
     verifyCsrf: opts.verifyCsrf ?? (() => true),
   };
@@ -35,27 +35,25 @@ const asView = (r: RouteResult | void) => {
   return r as { data: Record<string, unknown>; status?: number; view: string };
 };
 
-// ---- upstream config validation (the onBoot hook) ----
+// ---- the upstream URL as a declared setting ----
 
-test("assertHttpUrl accepts http(s) and fails loud on a malformed or non-http upstream URL", () => {
-  assert.doesNotThrow(() => assertHttpUrl("http://shifts-upstream:4000", "SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM"));
-  assert.doesNotThrow(() => assertHttpUrl("https://api.example.com/v1", "SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM"));
-  assert.throws(() => assertHttpUrl("not a url", "SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM"), /SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM.*valid URL/); // unparseable
-  assert.throws(() => assertHttpUrl("shifts-upstream:4000", "SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM"), /SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM.*http/); // missing // → parsed as a bogus scheme
-  assert.throws(() => assertHttpUrl("ftp://host/x", "SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM"), /SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM.*http/); // wrong scheme
+test("the manifest declares its upstream as a URL setting the host validates", async () => {
+  const manifest = (await import("./plugin.ts")).default;
+  assert.deepEqual(manifest.settings?.map((s) => s.key), ["upstream"]);
+  assert.equal(manifest.settings?.[0]?.type, "url"); // so a typo'd URL fails the boot, not every request
+  assert.equal(manifest.settings?.[0]?.default, "http://shifts-upstream:4000"); // the dev compose's mock
+  assert.equal(typeof manifest.hooks?.onBoot, "function"); // without it the resolved value never arrives
 });
 
-test("the manifest's onBoot hook validates SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM (the binding, not just the helper)", async () => {
-  const prev = process.env["SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM"];
-  process.env["SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM"] = "nope://bad"; // read at import time below
-  try {
-    const manifest = (await import("./plugin.ts")).default;
-    assert.equal(typeof manifest.hooks?.onBoot, "function");
-    assert.throws(() => manifest.hooks!.onBoot!(), /SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM/); // bad upstream → boot fails loud
-  } finally {
-    if (prev === undefined) delete process.env["SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM"];
-    else process.env["SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM"] = prev;
-  }
+test("the client re-reads its base URL, so onBoot can bind it after the manifest is built", async () => {
+  let baseUrl = "http://first:4000";
+  const seen: string[] = [];
+  const http = (async (url) => { seen.push(String(url)); return new Response("[]", { status: 200 }); }) as typeof fetch;
+  const upstream = createUpstream(() => baseUrl, http);
+  await upstream.list();
+  baseUrl = "http://second:4000";
+  await upstream.list();
+  assert.deepEqual(seen, ["http://first:4000/shifts", "http://second:4000/shifts"]);
 });
 
 // ---- upstream client (fetch injected) ----
@@ -67,21 +65,21 @@ test("createUpstream.list fetches /shifts, asks for JSON, and maps the rows", as
     assert.equal((init?.headers as Record<string, string>).accept, "application/json");
     return new Response(JSON.stringify([{ assignee: "A", end: "2", id: "x", start: "1", title: "T", extra: "ignored" }]), { status: 200 });
   }) as typeof fetch;
-  const shifts = await createUpstream("http://up:4000/", http).list(); // trailing slash trimmed
+  const shifts = await createUpstream(() => "http://up:4000/", http).list(); // trailing slash trimmed
   assert.equal(seen, "http://up:4000/shifts");
   assert.deepEqual(shifts, [{ assignee: "A", end: "2", id: "x", start: "1", title: "T" }]);
 });
 
 test("createUpstream throws UpstreamError carrying the status on a non-2xx", async () => {
   const http = (async () => new Response("nope", { status: 503 })) as typeof fetch;
-  await assert.rejects(createUpstream("http://up:4000", http).list(), (e: unknown) => e instanceof UpstreamError && e.status === 503);
+  await assert.rejects(createUpstream(() => "http://up:4000", http).list(), (e: unknown) => e instanceof UpstreamError && e.status === 503);
 });
 
 test("createUpstream.create POSTs the input as JSON", async () => {
   let body: unknown, method = "";
   const http = (async (_url, init) => { method = init?.method ?? ""; body = JSON.parse(String(init?.body)); return new Response(null, { status: 201 }); }) as typeof fetch;
   const input: ShiftInput = { assignee: "A", end: "2", start: "1", title: "T" };
-  await createUpstream("http://up:4000", http).create(input);
+  await createUpstream(() => "http://up:4000", http).create(input);
   assert.equal(method, "POST");
   assert.deepEqual(body, input);
 });

examples/plugins/scheduling/shifts.ts

@@ -49,26 +49,16 @@ export interface ShiftsUpstream {
   list(): Promise<Shift[]>;
 }
 
-// Fail loud at boot (the plugin's onBoot hook) on a malformed/non-http upstream URL — a config
-// typo surfaces at startup, not as a degraded page later. Reachability stays a runtime concern.
-export function assertHttpUrl(value: string, name: string): void {
-  let url: URL;
-  try {
-    url = new URL(value);
-  } catch {
-    throw new Error(`${name} is not a valid URL: ${JSON.stringify(value)}`);
-  }
-  if (url.protocol !== "http:" && url.protocol !== "https:") throw new Error(`${name} must be an http(s) URL: ${JSON.stringify(value)}`);
-}
-
 // REST client over the upstream service (a stand-in for the customer's real backend). `fetch`
 // defaults to the host's tracedFetch, so each upstream call joins the request's trace (a client
 // span + a propagated traceparent); it's injectable so handlers unit-test against a mock, no network.
-export function createUpstream(baseUrl: string, fetchImpl: typeof fetch = tracedFetch): ShiftsUpstream {
-  const base = baseUrl.replace(/\/+$/, "");
+// `baseUrl` is read per call: the plugin's settings arrive on onBoot, after the manifest that binds
+// these handlers has already been built.
+export function createUpstream(baseUrl: () => string, fetchImpl: typeof fetch = tracedFetch): ShiftsUpstream {
+  const base = (): string => baseUrl().replace(/\/+$/, "");
   return {
     async create(input) {
-      const res = await fetchImpl(`${base}/shifts`, {
+      const res = await fetchImpl(`${base()}/shifts`, {
         body: JSON.stringify(input),
         headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
         method: "POST",
@@ -76,7 +66,7 @@ export function createUpstream(baseUrl: string, fetchImpl: typeof fetch = traced
       if (!res.ok) throw new UpstreamError(`create shift failed (${res.status})`, res.status);
     },
     async list() {
-      const res = await fetchImpl(`${base}/shifts`, { headers: { accept: "application/json" } });
+      const res = await fetchImpl(`${base()}/shifts`, { headers: { accept: "application/json" } });
       if (!res.ok) throw new UpstreamError(`list shifts failed (${res.status})`, res.status);
       const data: unknown = await res.json();
       return Array.isArray(data) ? data.map(toShift) : [];

examples/shifts-upstream/server.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // Dev-only mock upstream for the reference plugin (examples/plugins/scheduling) — a stand-in for the
 // customer's real backend, ready for when you copy the reference plugin into plugins/. NOT part
-// of the app: stdlib only, in-memory (state resets on restart), no auth. Point SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM
+// of the app: stdlib only, in-memory (state resets on restart), no auth. Point PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM
 // at your real service in production.
 //
 //   GET  /shifts  → 200 [ { id, title, assignee, start, end }, … ]

ory/postgres/init/init.sql

@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 -- Runs once on first boot (docker-entrypoint-initdb.d), as the POSTGRES_USER.
 -- One database per Ory service: each owns its schema and runs its own migrations,
--- so they never collide. The web app never connects here (stateless — see README).
+-- so they never collide. A plugin's database does not belong here: bootstrap provisions those on
+-- every boot, so one dropped in later is picked up too (README → Plugin storage).
 CREATE DATABASE kratos;
 CREATE DATABASE keto;
 CREATE DATABASE hydra;
+
+-- Postgres grants CONNECT to PUBLIC by default, so every plugin role could otherwise open the auth
+-- plane's databases and read pg_catalog; table data stays protected either way. Ory connects as the
+-- POSTGRES_USER, which owns these and keeps its access.
+REVOKE CONNECT ON DATABASE kratos FROM PUBLIC;
+REVOKE CONNECT ON DATABASE keto FROM PUBLIC;
+REVOKE CONNECT ON DATABASE hydra FROM PUBLIC;

package-lock.json

@@ -1,16 +1,15 @@
 {
   "name": "plainpages",
-  "version": "0.1.0",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "plainpages",
-      "version": "0.1.0",
       "dependencies": {
         "@larvit/log": "2.3.0",
         "ejs": "6.0.1",
-        "lucide-static": "1.31.0"
+        "lucide-static": "1.33.0",
+        "postgres": "3.4.9"
       },
       "devDependencies": {
         "@types/ejs": "3.1.5",
@@ -400,11 +399,24 @@
       }
     },
     "node_modules/lucide-static": {
-      "version": "1.31.0",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/lucide-static/-/lucide-static-1.31.0.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-XFX9NO+gcLsOkXISmeQZYGJa2siGWZc/lgT/BK1b83h9RdOiz3cj1eQP5nWhELiB1KhW5ryk0nmMopOgm/CuSA==",
+      "version": "1.33.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/lucide-static/-/lucide-static-1.33.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-jNGgvTNcLUfVRX4N9PH9pVVTJzoph/BmYmgU838bYBQodkUJL4nAThkuymFz1x3OUYMhJxPndC7rdg1sxOPYKg==",
       "license": "ISC"
     },
+    "node_modules/postgres": {
+      "version": "3.4.9",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/postgres/-/postgres-3.4.9.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-GD3qdB0x1z9xgFI6cdRD6xu2Sp2WCOEoe3mtnyB5Ee0XrrL5Pe+e4CCnJrRMnL1zYtRDZmQQVbvOttLnKDLnaw==",
+      "license": "Unlicense",
+      "engines": {
+        "node": ">=12"
+      },
+      "funding": {
+        "type": "individual",
+        "url": "https://github.com/sponsors/porsager"
+      }
+    },
     "node_modules/typescript": {
       "version": "7.0.2",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/typescript/-/typescript-7.0.2.tgz",

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 {
   "name": "plainpages",
-  "version": "0.1.0",
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",
   "engines": {
@@ -14,12 +13,13 @@
     "dev": "node --watch src/server.ts",
     "gen-jwks": "node src/auth/gen-jwks.ts",
     "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit",
-    "test": "node --test \"src/**/*.test.ts\" \"plugins/**/*.test.ts\" \"examples/**/*.test.ts\" \"registry-cleanup/**/*.test.ts\" \"auto-release/**/*.test.ts\""
+    "test": "node --test \"src/**/*.test.ts\" \"plugins/**/*.test.ts\" \"examples/**/*.test.ts\" \"registry-cleanup/**/*.test.ts\" \"release-tooling/**/*.test.ts\""
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@larvit/log": "2.3.0",
     "ejs": "6.0.1",
-    "lucide-static": "1.31.0"
+    "lucide-static": "1.33.0",
+    "postgres": "3.4.9"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@types/ejs": "3.1.5",

release-tooling/contract-version.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { test } from "node:test";
+import { checkTagMatchesContract, readHostApiVersion } from "./contract-version.ts";
+
+test("readHostApiVersion pulls the constant out of the real source, and returns null when absent", () => {
+  const real = readFileSync("src/plugin-host/plugin.ts", "utf8");
+  assert.match(readHostApiVersion(real) ?? "", /^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/);
+  assert.equal(readHostApiVersion('export const SOMETHING_ELSE = "1.0.0";'), null);
+});
+
+test("bumping HOST_API_VERSION is a deliberate act, so pin the shipped value", () => {
+  // Not a substitute for the release gate — this test cannot see a tag. It is the tripwire that
+  // makes an accidental edit fail here rather than at release time.
+  assert.equal(readHostApiVersion(readFileSync("src/plugin-host/plugin.ts", "utf8")), "0.2.0");
+});
+
+test("every author-facing apiVersion sample matches the shipped contract", () => {
+  // A plugin author copies these; a stale one produces a boot-aborting refuse on first run. The
+  // examples deliberately write a literal rather than importing the constant (AGENTS.md), so this
+  // is the only thing keeping the copies honest.
+  const host = readHostApiVersion(readFileSync("src/plugin-host/plugin.ts", "utf8")) ?? "";
+  const [major, minor] = host.split(".");
+  for (const file of [
+    "README.md",
+    "examples/plugins/admin/plugin.ts",
+    "examples/plugins/scheduling/plugin.ts",
+    "release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.md.tmpl",
+    "views/index.ejs",
+  ]) {
+    const found = [...readFileSync(file, "utf8").matchAll(/apiVersion: "(\d+\.\d+\.\d+)"/g)].map((m) => m[1]);
+    assert.ok(found.length > 0, `${file} should carry at least one apiVersion sample`);
+    for (const sample of found) {
+      const [sMajor, sMinor] = (sample ?? "").split(".");
+      assert.equal(`${sMajor}.${sMinor}`, `${major}.${minor}`, `${file} samples apiVersion ${sample}, host is ${host}`);
+    }
+  }
+});
+
+test("checkTagMatchesContract: major.minor must agree, patch may lag", () => {
+  assert.equal(checkTagMatchesContract("v0.1.0", "0.1.0").ok, true);
+  assert.equal(checkTagMatchesContract("v0.1.7", "0.1.0").ok, true); // auto-release cut patches
+  assert.equal(checkTagMatchesContract("0.1.0", "0.1.0").ok, true); // bare tag, no v
+  assert.equal(checkTagMatchesContract("v0.2.0", "0.1.0").ok, false); // plugin-visible, needs a bump
+  assert.equal(checkTagMatchesContract("v1.0.0", "0.1.0").ok, false);
+});
+
+test("checkTagMatchesContract names what to fix rather than just failing", () => {
+  const res = checkTagMatchesContract("v0.2.0", "0.1.0");
+  assert.equal(res.ok, false);
+  assert.match(res.ok === false ? res.error : "", /HOST_API_VERSION to 0\.2\.0/);
+});
+
+test("checkTagMatchesContract rejects junk on either side without throwing", () => {
+  assert.equal(checkTagMatchesContract("v0.1.0", null).ok, false); // constant not found
+  assert.equal(checkTagMatchesContract("nope", "0.1.0").ok, false);
+  assert.equal(checkTagMatchesContract("v0.1.0", "1.0").ok, false);
+});

release-tooling/contract-version.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+
+export type ContractCheck = { ok: true } | { ok: false; error: string };
+
+const SEMVER = /^v?(0|[1-9]\d*)\.(0|[1-9]\d*)\.(0|[1-9]\d*)$/;
+
+export function readHostApiVersion(source: string): string | null {
+  return /^export const HOST_API_VERSION = "([^"]+)";/m.exec(source)?.[1] ?? null;
+}
+
+// Patch is deliberately not compared: checkApiVersion ignores it, and auto-release cuts patch
+// releases with no commit to bump the constant in.
+export function checkTagMatchesContract(tag: string, hostApiVersion: string | null): ContractCheck {
+  if (hostApiVersion === null) {
+    return { error: "HOST_API_VERSION not found", ok: false };
+  }
+  const t = SEMVER.exec(tag);
+  if (!t) return { error: `tag must be vX.Y.Z, got ${JSON.stringify(tag)}`, ok: false };
+  const h = SEMVER.exec(hostApiVersion);
+  if (!h) return { error: `HOST_API_VERSION must be X.Y.Z, got ${JSON.stringify(hostApiVersion)}`, ok: false };
+  if (t[1] === h[1] && t[2] === h[2]) return { ok: true };
+  return {
+    error:
+      `${tag} does not match HOST_API_VERSION ${hostApiVersion} — the contract version IS the release ` +
+      `version. Set HOST_API_VERSION to ${t[1]}.${t[2]}.0 in src/plugin-host/plugin.ts, merge that, ` +
+      "then tag.",
+    ok: false,
+  };
+}
+
+// CLI: node release-tooling/contract-version.ts <tag> <path/to/plugin.ts | -> → exits 1 on
+// mismatch. `-` reads the source on stdin, so a caller checking a ref other than its checkout
+// (`git show origin/main:… | …`) needs no scratch file in the workspace.
+if (process.argv[1]?.endsWith("/contract-version.ts")) {
+  const [, , tag, pluginPath = "src/plugin-host/plugin.ts"] = process.argv;
+  let source = "";
+  try {
+    source = readFileSync(pluginPath === "-" ? 0 : pluginPath, "utf8");
+  } catch (err) {
+    process.stderr.write(`${pluginPath}: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}\n`);
+    process.exitCode = 1;
+  }
+  const result = checkTagMatchesContract(tag ?? "", readHostApiVersion(source));
+  if (!result.ok) {
+    process.stderr.write(`${pluginPath}: ${result.error}\n`);
+    process.exit(1);
+  }
+  process.stdout.write(`${tag} matches HOST_API_VERSION\n`);
+}

release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.md.tmpl

@@ -2,14 +2,15 @@
 
 A self-hostable foundation for server-rendered web apps — public or gated pages from a
 zero-JS design system, with a config-driven menu and auth/permissions (Ory) baked in.
-Every domain feature is a drop-in plugin folder; the app is stateless, no build step.
+Every domain feature is a drop-in plugin folder, with a Postgres database of its own if it wants
+one; the host itself is stateless, and there is no build step.
 
 **Source, docs & issues: <https://gitea.larvit.se/larvit/plainpages>**
 ([GitHub mirror](https://github.com/larvit/plainpages))
 
 ## Tags
 
-`X.Y.Z` · `X.Y` · `X` · `latest` — each is a release promoted from a CI-gated build.
+`X.Y.Z` · `X.Y` · `latest` — each is a release promoted from a CI-gated build.
 Pin the exact `X.Y.Z` you deploy.
 
 ## Quick start
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ so there is nothing to clone. In an empty directory, save this as `compose.yml`:
 ```yaml
 services:
   web:
-    image: larvit/plainpages:0.0.2
+    image: larvit/plainpages:{{VERSION}}
     ports:
       - "3000:3000"
     environment:
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ services:
 
   # One-shot, idempotent seed: signing key if absent + the admin@plainpages.local / admin user.
   bootstrap:
-    image: larvit/plainpages:0.0.2
+    image: larvit/plainpages:{{VERSION}}
     command: node src/auth/bootstrap.ts
     depends_on:
       kratos:
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ services:
     restart: "on-failure:5"
 
   postgres:
-    image: postgres:18.4-alpine3.23
+    image: postgres:18.6-alpine3.23
     environment:
       POSTGRES_DB: ory
       POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ory
@@ -130,7 +131,7 @@ services:
 
   # Catches Kratos' recovery/verification emails — UI on http://localhost:8025
   mailpit:
-    image: axllent/mailpit:v1.30.1
+    image: axllent/mailpit:v1.31.0
     ports:
       - "8025:8025"
     restart: unless-stopped
@@ -142,7 +143,7 @@ volumes:
 Extract the Ory config the image ships, then start:
 
 ```bash
-docker run --rm larvit/plainpages:0.0.2 tar -cf - ory | tar -xf -
+docker run --rm larvit/plainpages:{{VERSION}} tar -cf - ory | tar -xf -
 mkdir -p plugins
 docker compose up -d
 ```
@@ -181,7 +182,7 @@ into the app. Create `plugins/hello/plugin.ts`:
 import { definePlugin } from "@plainpages/plugin-api";
 
 export default definePlugin({
-  apiVersion: "1.0.0",
+  apiVersion: "0.2.0",
   nav: [{ href: "/hello", id: "hello", label: "Hello", public: true }],
   routes: [
     { method: "GET", path: "/", public: true, handler: () => ({ html: "<h1>Hello from my plugin</h1>" }) },

release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { test } from "node:test";
+import { jwtFrom, leftoverPlaceholders, renderOverview } from "./dockerhub-overview.ts";
+
+const TEMPLATE = "release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.md.tmpl";
+const template = () => readFileSync(TEMPLATE, "utf8");
+
+test("renderOverview substitutes every occurrence, not just the first", () => {
+  const out = renderOverview("pull a:{{VERSION}} then b:{{VERSION}}", "1.2.3");
+  assert.equal(out, "pull a:1.2.3 then b:1.2.3");
+});
+
+test("leftoverPlaceholders catches a typo'd placeholder, deduped, and passes clean text", () => {
+  assert.deepEqual(leftoverPlaceholders("a {{VERISON}} b {{VERISON}}"), ["{{VERISON}}"]);
+  assert.deepEqual(leftoverPlaceholders(renderOverview("x {{VERSION}}", "0.1.0")), []);
+});
+
+test("the real template renders clean, and the release owns its own image tag", () => {
+  const rendered = renderOverview(template(), "9.9.9");
+  assert.deepEqual(leftoverPlaceholders(rendered), []);
+  assert.match(rendered, /larvit\/plainpages:9\.9\.9/); // the placeholder actually reaches the examples
+  assert.doesNotMatch(rendered, /larvit\/plainpages:\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?<!9\.9\.9)/);
+});
+
+test("the quick start's sidecars are pinned to the same versions this repo runs", () => {
+  // The page is published automatically, so a drifted pin here ships a topology CI never tested.
+  const pins = (source: string) =>
+    new Map([...source.matchAll(/image: ([^:\s]+):(v?\d\S*)/g)].map((m) => [m[1] ?? "", m[2] ?? ""]));
+  const ours = new Map([
+    ...pins(readFileSync("compose.override.yml", "utf8")),
+    ...pins(readFileSync("compose.yml", "utf8")), // production wins: the template is the prod quick start
+  ]);
+  const published = pins(template());
+  assert.ok(published.size > 0, "the template should pin sidecars");
+  for (const [image, tag] of published) {
+    assert.equal(tag, ours.get(image), `${TEMPLATE} pins ${image}:${tag}, this repo runs ${ours.get(image)}`);
+  }
+});
+
+test("jwtFrom accepts only a non-empty string token, never throwing on a hostile body", () => {
+  assert.equal(jwtFrom({ token: "abc" }), "abc");
+  assert.equal(jwtFrom(null), null); // valid JSON, and the shape a proxy can return
+  assert.equal(jwtFrom("<html>rate limited</html>"), null);
+  assert.equal(jwtFrom({}), null);
+  assert.equal(jwtFrom({ token: "" }), null);
+  assert.equal(jwtFrom({ token: 42 }), null);
+});

release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+// Publishes the Docker Hub repository overview from dockerhub-overview.md.tmpl, rendering
+// `{{VERSION}}` to the release being published.
+
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+
+const HUB = "https://hub.docker.com/v2";
+const TIMEOUT_MS = 30_000;
+const VERSION = /^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/;
+
+export function renderOverview(source: string, version: string): string {
+  return source.replaceAll("{{VERSION}}", version);
+}
+
+// A typo'd placeholder would publish literal braces to a public page, so fail the release instead.
+export function leftoverPlaceholders(rendered: string): string[] {
+  return [...new Set(rendered.match(/\{\{[^}]*\}\}/g) ?? [])];
+}
+
+export function jwtFrom(body: unknown): string | null {
+  if (typeof body !== "object" || body === null || !("token" in body)) return null;
+  return typeof body.token === "string" && body.token !== "" ? body.token : null;
+}
+
+type Fetched = { error: string } | { json: unknown; ok: boolean; status: number; text: string };
+
+// fetch and its body readers throw; this is the one edge that converts that into a value.
+async function post(url: string, init: RequestInit): Promise<Fetched> {
+  try {
+    const res = await fetch(url, { ...init, signal: AbortSignal.timeout(TIMEOUT_MS) });
+    const text = await res.text();
+    let json: unknown = null;
+    try {
+      json = JSON.parse(text);
+    } catch {
+      json = null;
+    }
+    return { json, ok: res.ok, status: res.status, text };
+  } catch (err) {
+    return { error: err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err) };
+  }
+}
+
+async function main(): Promise<number> {
+  const fail = (message: string): number => {
+    process.stderr.write(`${message}\n`);
+    return 1;
+  };
+  const [, , version] = process.argv;
+  const repo = process.env["DOCKERHUB_REPO"];
+  const user = process.env["DOCKERHUB_USER"];
+  const token = process.env["DOCKERHUB_TOKEN"];
+  if (!version || !repo || !user || !token) {
+    return fail(
+      "usage: dockerhub-overview.ts <X.Y.Z>; needs DOCKERHUB_REPO, DOCKERHUB_USER and " +
+        "DOCKERHUB_TOKEN (README -> CI/CD)",
+    );
+  }
+  // The page is public, so never render a version that resolves to no image.
+  if (!VERSION.test(version)) return fail(`version must be X.Y.Z, got ${JSON.stringify(version)}`);
+
+  const templatePath = join(import.meta.dirname, "dockerhub-overview.md.tmpl");
+  let template = "";
+  try {
+    template = readFileSync(templatePath, "utf8");
+  } catch (err) {
+    return fail(`${templatePath}: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`);
+  }
+  const body = renderOverview(template, version);
+  const leftover = leftoverPlaceholders(body);
+  if (leftover.length > 0) return fail(`${templatePath} has unrendered placeholders: ${leftover.join(", ")}`);
+
+  const login = await post(`${HUB}/users/login`, {
+    body: JSON.stringify({ password: token, username: user }),
+    headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
+    method: "POST",
+  });
+  if ("error" in login) return fail(`Docker Hub login unreachable: ${login.error}`);
+  if (!login.ok) return fail(`Docker Hub login failed: ${login.status} ${login.text}`);
+  const jwt = jwtFrom(login.json);
+  if (!jwt) return fail("Docker Hub login returned no token");
+
+  const res = await post(`${HUB}/repositories/${repo}/`, {
+    body: JSON.stringify({ full_description: body }),
+    headers: { authorization: `Bearer ${jwt}`, "content-type": "application/json" },
+    method: "PATCH",
+  });
+  if ("error" in res) return fail(`Docker Hub unreachable: ${res.error}`);
+  if (!res.ok) {
+    return fail(
+      `Docker Hub overview PATCH failed: ${res.status} ${res.text}` +
+        (res.status === 403
+          ? "\n403 means DOCKERHUB_TOKEN lacks the delete scope — editing the overview needs " +
+            "read/write/delete, which pushing images alone does not (README -> CI/CD)."
+          : ""),
+    );
+  }
+  process.stdout.write(`Docker Hub overview updated for ${repo} at ${version}\n`);
+  return 0;
+}
+
+if (process.argv[1]?.endsWith("/dockerhub-overview.ts")) {
+  process.exitCode = await main();
+}

release-tooling/next-version.test.ts

@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ test("nextVersion at/after 1.0.0: literal semver", () => {
   assert.equal(nextVersion("v1.2.3", "major"), "v2.0.0");
   assert.equal(nextVersion("v1.2.3", "minor"), "v1.3.0");
   assert.equal(nextVersion("v1.2.3", "patch"), "v1.2.4");
+  // the whole chain: a major dependency bump releases a major host, once the 0.x shift-down is gone
+  assert.equal(nextVersion("v1.2.3", maxLevel(["patch", "major"])), "v2.0.0");
 });
 
 test("nextVersion rejects a tag that is not vX.Y.Z", () => {

release-tooling/next-version.ts

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export function nextVersion(latestTag: string, level: Bump): string {
   return `v${major}.${minor}.${patch + 1}`;
 }
 
-// CLI: node auto-release/next-version.ts <latestTag> [updateType...] → prints the next tag.
+// CLI: node release-tooling/next-version.ts <latestTag> [updateType...] → prints the next tag.
 if (process.argv[1]?.endsWith("/next-version.ts")) {
   const [, , latestTag, ...updateTypes] = process.argv;
   process.stdout.write(nextVersion(latestTag ?? "", maxLevel(updateTypes)));

renovate.json

@@ -4,8 +4,38 @@
   "description": "ignorePaths overrides config:recommended's :ignoreModulesAndTests, which ignores **/examples/** — an example plugin's dependencies get update PRs like any other manifest here",
   "ignorePaths": ["**/node_modules/**"],
   "automerge": true,
-  "commitBody": "Release-Bump: {{{updateType}}}",
   "packageRules": [
+    {
+      "description": "The host's own runtime deps. Release-Bump is opt-in per surface (README → CI/CD): updateType rates the dependency's own jump, not whether it reaches a running Plainpages",
+      "matchDepTypes": ["dependencies"],
+      "matchFileNames": ["package.json"],
+      "matchManagers": ["npm"],
+      "commitBody": "Release-Bump: {{{updateType}}}"
+    },
+    {
+      "description": "The shipped image's base — e2e-tests/Dockerfile is test-only",
+      "matchFileNames": ["Dockerfile"],
+      "matchManagers": ["dockerfile"],
+      "commitBody": "Release-Bump: {{{updateType}}}"
+    },
+    {
+      "description": "The production topology — compose.override.yml is dev, e2e-tests/compose.*.yml are test",
+      "matchFileNames": ["compose.yml"],
+      "matchManagers": ["docker-compose"],
+      "commitBody": "Release-Bump: {{{updateType}}}"
+    },
+    {
+      "description": "The production sidecars, wherever they are pinned — compose.yml and the published quick start move in one branch, so the trailer must not depend on which upgrade sorts first. mailpit is dev-only and stays out",
+      "matchDatasources": ["docker"],
+      "matchPackageNames": ["oryd/hydra", "oryd/keto", "oryd/kratos", "postgres"],
+      "commitBody": "Release-Bump: {{{updateType}}}"
+    },
+    {
+      "description": "node is pinned to one version across Dockerfile, dev, E2E and CI, so Renovate moves them in a single branch whose commitBody would otherwise depend on upgrade order — the Dockerfile copy ships, so any node bump is a product change",
+      "matchDatasources": ["docker"],
+      "matchPackageNames": ["node"],
+      "commitBody": "Release-Bump: {{{updateType}}}"
+    },
     {
       "description": "Ory services share one release train - update kratos, keto and hydra together",
       "matchDatasources": ["docker"],
@@ -29,8 +59,15 @@
     },
     {
       "customType": "regex",
-      "description": "Pin the node image workflow run-steps invoke (registry-cleanup, auto-release)",
-      "managerFilePatterns": [".gitea/workflows/registry-cleanup.yml", ".gitea/workflows/renovate.yml"],
+      "description": "The published quick start ships a compose file, so its sidecars move with the repo's own pins. The version group starts at a digit, which skips the {{VERSION}} placeholder the release renders",
+      "managerFilePatterns": ["release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.md.tmpl"],
+      "matchStrings": ["image: (?<depName>[^:\\s]+):(?<currentValue>v?\\d[^\\s]*)"],
+      "datasourceTemplate": "docker"
+    },
+    {
+      "customType": "regex",
+      "description": "Pin the node image workflow run-steps invoke (registry-cleanup, renovate auto-release, release)",
+      "managerFilePatterns": [".gitea/workflows/registry-cleanup.yml", ".gitea/workflows/release.yml", ".gitea/workflows/renovate.yml"],
       "matchStrings": ["\\snode:(?<currentValue>[0-9][^\\s\"']*)"],
       "depNameTemplate": "node",
       "datasourceTemplate": "docker"

src/auth/bootstrap.test.ts

@@ -5,7 +5,10 @@
 import { test } from "node:test";
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
 import { randomUUID } from "node:crypto";
-import { ensureJwks, firstRunBanner, identityPayload, permissionTuple, seedAdmin, seedPermissions } from "./bootstrap.ts";
+import { ensureJwks, firstRunBanner, identityPayload, permissionTuple, provisionPluginStorage, seedAdmin, seedPermissions, serverMismatch } from "./bootstrap.ts";
+import { createLogger } from "../logger.ts";
+import type { Plugin } from "../plugin-host/plugin.ts";
+import type { ProvisionOptions, ProvisionResult } from "../plugin-host/storage-provisioning.ts";
 
 const json = (status: number, body?: unknown) =>
   new Response(body === undefined ? null : JSON.stringify(body), {
@@ -151,3 +154,63 @@ test("ensureJwks generates a key only when the file is absent", () => {
   assert.equal(ensureJwks(path, { exists: () => true, write }), false);
   assert.equal(writes.length, 1); // present → nothing written
 });
+
+// --- Plugin storage provisioning -----------------------------------------------------
+// The provisioner is injected, so the branch decisions are testable without a Postgres.
+
+const SILENT = createLogger({ level: "none" });
+const storagePlugin = (id: string): Plugin => ({ apiVersion: "1.0.0", id, storage: true });
+const EMPTY: ProvisionResult = { orphans: [], provisioned: [] };
+
+function recordingProvisioner(result: ProvisionResult = EMPTY) {
+  const calls: ProvisionOptions[] = [];
+  return { calls, provision: async (options: ProvisionOptions) => { calls.push(options); return result; } };
+}
+
+test("provisioning is skipped entirely when nothing declares storage and none is configured", async () => {
+  const { calls, provision } = recordingProvisioner();
+  await provisionPluginStorage({}, [{ apiVersion: "1.0.0", id: "plain" }], SILENT, provision);
+  assert.deepEqual(calls, []); // no connection attempted, so an unconfigured stack still boots
+});
+
+// Uninstalling the last storage plugin is exactly when a left-behind database needs naming.
+test("provisioning still runs with nothing to provision, so orphans are reported", async () => {
+  const { calls, provision } = recordingProvisioner({ orphans: ["plugin_gone"], provisioned: [] });
+  await provisionPluginStorage({ PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL: "postgres://ory:ory@db:5432/ory" }, [], SILENT, provision);
+  assert.equal(calls.length, 1);
+  assert.deepEqual(calls[0]?.pluginIds, []);
+});
+
+test("a plugin declaring storage without a provisioning DSN fails loud, naming the plugin", async () => {
+  const { calls, provision } = recordingProvisioner();
+  await assert.rejects(
+    provisionPluginStorage({}, [storagePlugin("things")], SILENT, provision),
+    /PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL.*things/s,
+  );
+  assert.deepEqual(calls, []);
+});
+
+test("the connection limit and derived secret reach the provisioner", async () => {
+  const { calls, provision } = recordingProvisioner();
+  const env = { PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL: "postgres://ory:ory@db:5432/ory", PLUGIN_DB_CONNECTION_LIMIT: "25", PLUGIN_DB_SECRET: "real" };
+  await provisionPluginStorage(env, [storagePlugin("things")], SILENT, provision);
+  assert.equal(calls[0]?.connectionLimit, 25);
+  assert.equal(calls[0]?.secret, "real");
+  assert.deepEqual(calls[0]?.pluginIds, ["things"]);
+});
+
+// bootstrap creates the role on one server; web tells the plugin to connect to another. Left
+// unsaid it surfaces inside a plugin as "password authentication failed", naming neither. Warned
+// rather than refused: web reaching a pooler bootstrap cannot provision through is legitimate.
+test("a storage URL mismatch is reported, and provisioning still runs", async () => {
+  const { calls, provision } = recordingProvisioner();
+  const env = { PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL: "postgres://ory:ory@db-a:5432/ory", PLUGIN_DB_URL: "postgres://db-b:5432" };
+  await provisionPluginStorage(env, [storagePlugin("things")], SILENT, provision);
+  assert.equal(calls.length, 1);
+});
+
+test("the same server spelled with an implicit port still agrees", () => {
+  assert.equal(serverMismatch("postgres://ory:ory@db:5432/ory", "postgres://db"), null); // 5432 is the default
+  assert.equal(serverMismatch("postgres://ory:ory@db:5432/ory", undefined), null); // web's own boot error to raise
+  assert.equal(serverMismatch("postgres://ory:ory@db:5432/ory", "postgres://db:6543"), "db:5432 vs db:6543");
+});

src/auth/bootstrap.ts

@@ -8,10 +8,15 @@
 // Then prints a first-run banner; fails loud on any unexpected upstream error.
 import { existsSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import { resolvePluginDbConnectionLimit, resolvePluginDbSecret } from "../config.ts";
 import { discoverPlugins } from "../plugin-host/discovery.ts";
-import { declaredPermissions, isValidPermissionName } from "../plugin-host/plugin.ts";
+import { declaredPermissions, isValidPermissionName, type Plugin } from "../plugin-host/plugin.ts";
+import { provisionStorage } from "../plugin-host/storage-provisioning.ts";
+import { storagePluginIds } from "../plugin-host/storage.ts";
 import { generateJwks, type JwkSet } from "./gen-jwks.ts";
-import { createLogger, runWithLog, tracedFetch } from "../logger.ts";
+import { createLogger, runWithLog, tracedFetch, type Log } from "../logger.ts";
+
+type Env = Record<string, string | undefined>;
 
 // --- Pure payload builders (the Kratos/Keto request contracts) -----------------------
 
@@ -141,7 +146,7 @@ export function firstRunBanner(opts: { appUrl: string; email: string; password:
 // --- CLI (the bootstrap container entrypoint) ----------------------------------------
 
 async function main() {
-  const env = process.env;
+  const env = { ...process.env }; // snapshot: the storage credentials leave process.env before discovery
   // Structured like the web app so prod logs stay uniform; honour LOG_FORMAT/SERVICE_NAME.
   const log = createLogger({
     format: env["LOG_FORMAT"] === "json" ? "json" : "text",
@@ -150,10 +155,67 @@ async function main() {
   // runWithLog makes `log` ambient so seedAdmin's tracedFetch traces the Kratos/Keto seed calls.
   await runWithLog(log, async () => {
     if (ensureJwks(env["JWKS_FILE"] ?? "/etc/config/kratos/tokenizer/jwks.json")) log.info("generated a JWKS signing key");
+    // Discovery imports every plugin module — and its dependencies — into *this* process, which holds
+    // the credential that may CREATE DATABASE/ROLE. Same move as server.ts, on the stronger secret.
+    delete process.env["PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL"];
+    delete process.env["PLUGIN_DB_SECRET"];
+    const plugins = await discoverPlugins();
+    await provisionPluginStorage(env, plugins, log);
+    await seedAdminAndPermissions(env, plugins, log);
+  });
+  await log.end(); // flush any pending OTLP spans/logs before the one-shot exits
+}
+
+// A database and login role for each plugin that asked for one. It happens here because bootstrap
+// holds the stack's only provisioning credentials — web derives the same password and connects as
+// the plugin's own role.
+export async function provisionPluginStorage(env: Env, plugins: Plugin[], log: Log, provision = provisionStorage): Promise<void> {
+  const ids = storagePluginIds(plugins);
+  const adminUrl = env["PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL"];
+  // Still connect with nothing to provision, as long as storage is configured: uninstalling the
+  // last storage plugin is exactly when an orphaned database needs naming.
+  if (ids.length === 0 && !adminUrl) return;
+  if (!adminUrl) throw new Error(`bootstrap: PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL must be set — these plugins declare storage: ${ids.join(", ")}`);
+  // Provisioned here, connected to from web: a different server means the role is created in one
+  // place and looked for in another, surfacing inside a plugin as "password authentication failed".
+  // Warned, not refused — web reaching a pooler that cannot run CREATE DATABASE is a legitimate split.
+  const mismatch = serverMismatch(adminUrl, env["PLUGIN_DB_URL"]);
+  if (mismatch) log.warn("PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL and PLUGIN_DB_URL name different servers", { servers: mismatch });
+  const result = await provision({
+    adminUrl,
+    connectionLimit: resolvePluginDbConnectionLimit(env),
+    pluginIds: ids,
+    secret: resolvePluginDbSecret(env),
+  });
+  if (result.provisioned.length > 0) log.info("plugin storage provisioned", { databases: result.provisioned.join(", ") });
+  // Never dropped, so an uninstalled plugin's data outlives it — say so, or nobody can find it.
+  if (result.orphans.length > 0) {
+    log.warn("plugin databases no installed plugin claims", { databases: result.orphans.join(", ") });
+  }
+}
+
+// Describes the disagreement, or null when they agree (or when web's URL is unset — that is web's
+// own boot error to raise, naming the plugin that wanted storage).
+export function serverMismatch(adminUrl: string, webUrl: string | undefined): string | null {
+  if (!webUrl) return null;
+  const [admin, web] = [safeHostPort(adminUrl), safeHostPort(webUrl)];
+  if (admin === null || web === null || admin === web) return null; // a malformed URL fails in config.ts
+  return `${admin} vs ${web}`;
+}
+
+function safeHostPort(url: string): string | null {
+  try {
+    const parsed = new URL(url);
+    return `${parsed.hostname}:${parsed.port || "5432"}`;
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
 
 // Seed every discovered plugin's declared permission names (plus any ADMIN_PERMISSIONS), so the
 // shipped example — and any dropped-in plugin — works for the demo admin without a host edit.
-    const declared = declaredPermissions(await discoverPlugins()).map((decl) => decl.name);
+async function seedAdminAndPermissions(env: Env, plugins: Plugin[], log: Log): Promise<void> {
+  const declared = declaredPermissions(plugins).map((decl) => decl.name);
   const { ignored, permissions } = seedPermissions(env["ADMIN_PERMISSIONS"], declared);
   if (ignored.length > 0) {
     log.warn("ignoring ADMIN_PERMISSIONS entries that are not <resource>:<action>", { ignored: ignored.join(", ") });
@@ -171,8 +233,6 @@ async function main() {
   log.info("admin seeded", { created: result.created, id: result.id, permissions: result.permissions.join(", ") });
   // The banner is human-facing UX (the first-run "you're ready" block), not a log event — print raw.
   console.log(firstRunBanner({ appUrl: env["APP_URL"] ?? "http://localhost:3000", email, password }));
-  });
-  await log.end(); // flush any pending OTLP spans/logs before the one-shot exits
 }
 
 if (process.argv[1] === fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)) await main();

src/auth/flow-view.test.ts

@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@ test("the code field guards a pasted space: one-time-code autofill + numeric inp
   );
   assert.deepEqual(view.fields.find((f) => f.name === "code"), {
     autocomplete: "one-time-code", // Kratos sends none for the OTP node — enable OS/email autofill
+    hint: "Digits only — no spaces.", // the pattern refusal alone reads as a bare "match the requested format"
     icon: "i-shield",
     id: "field-code",
     inputmode: "numeric",

src/auth/flow-view.ts

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import type { Flow, FlowType, UiNode } from "./kratos-public.ts";
 export interface FlowField {
   autocomplete?: string;
   error?: { text: string };
+  hint?: string; // muted helper text under the input
   icon?: string; // Lucide sprite id for the input
   id: string;
   inputmode?: string; // virtual-keyboard hint (e.g. "numeric" for the OTP code)
@@ -139,7 +140,7 @@ function toField(node: UiNode, name: string, type: string, t: Translate): FlowFi
     ...(autocomplete ? { autocomplete } : {}),
     ...(errorMsg ? { error: { text: kratosText(t, errorMsg.text, idKey(errorMsg.id)) } } : {}),
     ...(icon ? { icon } : {}),
-    ...(isCode ? { inputmode: "numeric", pattern: "[0-9]*" } : {}),
+    ...(isCode ? { hint: t("auth.field.code.hint"), inputmode: "numeric", pattern: "[0-9]*" } : {}),
     ...(node.attributes["required"] === true ? { required: true } : {}),
     ...(value ? { value } : {}),
   };

src/compose.test.ts

@@ -44,10 +44,11 @@ test("long-running Ory services declare readiness healthchecks", () => {
       `${svc} probes :${port}/health/ready`);
 });
 
-test("web waits for kratos, keto and hydra to be healthy before starting", () => {
+test("web waits for kratos, keto, hydra and postgres to be healthy before starting", () => {
   assert.match(webBlock, /depends_on:/, "web declares dependencies");
-  // hydra: the OAuth2 login/consent handler talks to its admin API.
-  for (const svc of ["kratos", "keto", "hydra"])
+  // hydra: the OAuth2 login/consent handler talks to its admin API. postgres: a plugin declaring
+  // `storage` opens its connection in onBoot, before the server listens.
+  for (const svc of ["kratos", "keto", "hydra", "postgres"])
     assert.match(webBlock, new RegExp(`${svc}:\\s*\\n\\s*condition:\\s*service_healthy`),
       `web waits for ${svc} healthy`);
 });
@@ -78,6 +79,21 @@ test("prod base supplies the app secret via env and mounts no source; dev overri
   assert.match(compose, /POSTGRES_PASSWORD:\s*\$\{POSTGRES_PASSWORD\b/, "postgres password via env");
 });
 
+test("the provisioning superuser DSN reaches bootstrap only, never web", () => {
+  // web runs plugin code, which can read its own environment — so the credentials that may CREATE
+  // DATABASE/ROLE must never be there. web gets the credential-free base URL and derives each
+  // plugin's own password from the shared secret instead.
+  const boot = compose.slice(compose.indexOf("\n  bootstrap:"));
+  const overrideWeb = override.slice(override.indexOf("\n  web:"), override.indexOf("\n  bootstrap:"));
+  assert.match(boot, /PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL:/, "bootstrap is given the superuser DSN");
+  // Reordering the override's services would empty this slice, and every doesNotMatch below would
+  // then pass against "".
+  assert.ok(overrideWeb.includes("PLUGIN_DB_URL"), "sliced the dev override's web block");
+  for (const [name, block] of [["base", webBlock], ["dev override", overrideWeb]] as const)
+    assert.doesNotMatch(block, /PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL/, `${name} web never sees it`);
+  assert.match(webBlock, /PLUGIN_DB_URL:\s*\$\{PLUGIN_DB_URL/, "base wires web's base URL from env");
+});
+
 test("a one-shot bootstrap seeds the stack before web starts", () => {
   // MVP bar: `bootstrap` runs after kratos+keto are healthy, seeds the admin +
   // JWKS, then exits; web waits for it to complete. Live seeding is boot-verified.

src/config.test.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
 import { test } from "node:test";
-import { loadConfig } from "./config.ts";
+import { loadConfig, resolvePluginDbConnectionLimit, resolvePluginDbSecret } from "./config.ts";
 
 // Explicit secure-secret enforcement (no environment sniffing): secrets are the only
 // thing a hardened deploy must supply.
@@ -9,6 +9,43 @@ const secureEnv = {
   REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS: "true",
 };
 
+// web reads the secret through loadConfig and bootstrap through resolvePluginDbSecret; the two
+// deriving different passwords is invisible until a plugin's connection is refused at boot. Compose
+// passes an unset variable through as "", which is the case that actually drifted.
+test("web and bootstrap resolve the same plugin storage secret", () => {
+  for (const env of [{}, { PLUGIN_DB_SECRET: "" }, { PLUGIN_DB_SECRET: "a-real-secret" }]) {
+    assert.equal(loadConfig(env).pluginDbSecret, resolvePluginDbSecret(env), `for ${JSON.stringify(env)}`);
+  }
+  assert.match(resolvePluginDbSecret({ PLUGIN_DB_SECRET: "" }), /dev-insecure/); // empty is unset, not a secret
+});
+
+// bootstrap writes these passwords into Postgres, so it must refuse the publicly-known throwaway
+// before creating a role with one — not leave web to notice afterwards.
+test("bootstrap refuses a missing, empty or throwaway plugin storage secret when hardened", () => {
+  const hardened = { REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS: "true" };
+  for (const secret of [undefined, "", "dev-insecure-plugin-db-secret"]) {
+    const env = secret === undefined ? hardened : { ...hardened, PLUGIN_DB_SECRET: secret };
+    assert.throws(() => resolvePluginDbSecret(env), /PLUGIN_DB_SECRET/, `for ${JSON.stringify(secret)}`);
+  }
+  assert.equal(resolvePluginDbSecret({ ...hardened, PLUGIN_DB_SECRET: "a-real-secret" }), "a-real-secret");
+});
+
+// buildCredentials overwrites the userinfo, so a pasted admin DSN would *work* — and leave a
+// privileged password in the process that runs plugin code. Refusing it is the whole guard.
+test("PLUGIN_DB_URL carrying credentials is refused, not silently overwritten", () => {
+  assert.throws(() => loadConfig({ PLUGIN_DB_URL: "postgres://root:hunter2@db:5432/ory" }), /no username or password/);
+  assert.throws(() => loadConfig({ PLUGIN_DB_URL: "postgres://root@db:5432" }), /no username or password/);
+  assert.equal(loadConfig({ PLUGIN_DB_URL: "postgres://db:5432" }).pluginDbUrl, "postgres://db:5432");
+  assert.equal(loadConfig({}).pluginDbUrl, undefined); // unset ⇒ storage off
+});
+
+test("the per-role connection ceiling defaults to 10 and rejects nonsense", () => {
+  assert.equal(resolvePluginDbConnectionLimit({}), 10);
+  assert.equal(resolvePluginDbConnectionLimit({ PLUGIN_DB_CONNECTION_LIMIT: "25" }), 25);
+  assert.throws(() => resolvePluginDbConnectionLimit({ PLUGIN_DB_CONNECTION_LIMIT: "0" }), /positive integer/);
+  assert.throws(() => resolvePluginDbConnectionLimit({ PLUGIN_DB_CONNECTION_LIMIT: "ten" }), /positive integer/);
+});
+
 test("loads dev defaults when the environment is empty", () => {
   const c = loadConfig({});
   assert.equal(c.port, 3000);

src/config.ts

@@ -6,6 +6,35 @@
 export const LOG_LEVELS = ["error", "warn", "info", "verbose", "debug", "silly", "none"] as const;
 export type LogLevel = (typeof LOG_LEVELS)[number];
 
+const DEV_PLUGIN_DB_SECRET = "dev-insecure-plugin-db-secret";
+
+// The one resolution both processes use — they must agree exactly, or web connects with a password
+// the role was never given. Compose passes an unset variable through as "", so empty means unset.
+// `enforce` says whether storage is actually in play: web once PLUGIN_DB_URL is configured,
+// bootstrap once a plugin declares storage. Enforced, the throwaway is refused — bootstrap is what
+// writes these passwords into Postgres, so it must refuse *before* creating a role with one.
+export function resolvePluginDbSecret(env: Env, enforce?: boolean): string {
+  return readSecret(env, "PLUGIN_DB_SECRET", DEV_PLUGIN_DB_SECRET, enforce ?? readBool(env, "REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS", false));
+}
+
+// Only bootstrap provisions, so only bootstrap reads this; env still gets read in one place.
+export function resolvePluginDbConnectionLimit(env: Env): number {
+  return readPosInt(env, "PLUGIN_DB_CONNECTION_LIMIT", 10);
+}
+
+// PLUGIN_DB_URL is web's, and web must never hold credentials that outrank a plugin's own role.
+// Pasting the admin DSN here would otherwise work — buildCredentials overwrites the userinfo — and
+// leave a superuser password in the environment plugin code can read.
+function readCredentiallessUrl(env: Env, key: string): string | undefined {
+  const value = readOptionalUrl(env, key);
+  if (value === undefined) return undefined;
+  const url = new URL(value);
+  if (url.username || url.password) {
+    throw new Error(`config: ${key} must carry no username or password — each plugin connects as its own role`);
+  }
+  return value;
+}
+
 export interface Config {
   appUrl: string | undefined; // canonical public URL; set ⇒ off-host visitors are redirected here. Unset ⇒ no redirect (explicit toggle)
   cacheTemplates: boolean;
@@ -24,7 +53,10 @@ export interface Config {
   oryTimeoutSec: number; // per-call timeout for outbound Kratos/Keto/Hydra fetches (bounds a hung Ory)
   otlpEndpoint: string | undefined; // OTLP/HTTP collector base URI; unset ⇒ console-only (no export)
   otlpProtocol: "http/json" | "http/protobuf"; // OTLP wire format (protobuf for json-averse collectors)
+  pluginDbSecret: string; // derives each plugin's database password (src/plugin-host/storage.ts)
+  pluginDbUrl: string | undefined; // credential-free Postgres base URL; unset ⇒ plugin storage is off
   port: number;
+  requireSecureSecrets: boolean; // enforce real secrets — the host's own, and every plugin's declared `secret`
   revocationDenylist: boolean; // enable the optional instant permission/session revoke denylist
   revocationTtlSec: number; // how long a revoke entry lives; keep ≥ tokenizer TTL + clock skew
   secureCookies: boolean;
@@ -150,7 +182,14 @@ export function loadConfig(env: Env = process.env): Config {
     oryTimeoutSec: readPosInt(env, "ORY_TIMEOUT_SEC", 5),
     otlpEndpoint: readOptionalUrl(env, "OTLP_ENDPOINT"),
     otlpProtocol: readEnum(env, "OTLP_PROTOCOL", ["http/json", "http/protobuf"] as const, "http/json"),
+    // Per-plugin storage. PLUGIN_DB_URL carries the server and its connection parameters but no
+    // credentials: the superuser DSN that provisions stays in bootstrap, so a plugin cannot read it
+    // out of web's environment. Unset ⇒ storage is off and a plugin declaring it fails loud at boot,
+    // which is also why the secret is only enforced once a URL is configured.
+    pluginDbSecret: resolvePluginDbSecret(env, requireSecure && Boolean(env["PLUGIN_DB_URL"])),
+    pluginDbUrl: readCredentiallessUrl(env, "PLUGIN_DB_URL"),
     port: readPort(env),
+    requireSecureSecrets: requireSecure,
     // Optional instant-revoke, off by default. When on, an admin deactivate/delete or permission
     // change revokes the subject's live tokens at once; the entry lives ttl seconds (≥ the 10m
     // tokenizer TTL + skew, so it outlasts any pre-revoke token).

src/http/app.ts

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import { createLogger, type Log, requestLogger, runWithLog } from "../logger.ts"
 import { remintSession } from "../auth/login.ts";
 import { DEFAULT_MENU, type MenuConfig } from "../ui/menu-config.ts";
 import { declaredPermissions, type Plugin, type RouteHandler, type RouteResult } from "../plugin-host/plugin.ts";
+import type { PluginSettings } from "../plugin-host/settings.ts";
 import type { SystemCapabilities } from "../plugin-host/system.ts";
 import { allowedMethods, isAuthorized, matchRoute } from "../plugin-host/router.ts";
 import { buildAuthRoutes } from "../auth/routes.ts";
@@ -54,6 +55,7 @@ export interface AppOptions {
   pluginsDir?: string; // where plugin views/static live; defaults to the scanned plugins/
   publicDir?: string;
   secureCookies?: boolean; // set Secure on our session/CSRF cookies (config.secureCookies; off in dev http)
+  settingsCatalog?: readonly PluginSettings[]; // resolved at boot (server.ts, needs the env); → ctx.declaredSettings
   viewsDir?: string;
 }
 
@@ -88,6 +90,7 @@ export function createApp(options: AppOptions = {}): Server {
   const homePlugin = plugins.find((p): p is Plugin & { home: RouteHandler } => typeof p.home === "function");
   const dashboardPlugin = plugins.find((p): p is Plugin & { dashboard: RouteHandler } => typeof p.dashboard === "function");
   const permissionCatalog = declaredPermissions(plugins);
+  const settingsCatalog = options.settingsCatalog ?? [];
   // Skip the hook pipeline entirely unless a plugin declares the hook (keeps the hot path free).
   const anyRequestHooks = plugins.some((p) => p.hooks?.onRequest);
   const anyResponseHooks = plugins.some((p) => p.hooks?.onResponse);
@@ -259,9 +262,9 @@ export function createApp(options: AppOptions = {}): Server {
 
       // Base context (no route params), for the built-in routes. Every plugin-owned render — a
       // landing slot, a hook short-circuit, a plugin route — gets `contextFor(id)` instead.
-      const ctx = buildContext(req, res, { chrome, declaredPermissions: permissionCatalog, user, ...i18nFor(), log: reqLog, verifyCsrf, ...(system ? { system } : {}) });
+      const ctx = buildContext(req, res, { chrome, declaredPermissions: permissionCatalog, declaredSettings: settingsCatalog, user, ...i18nFor(), log: reqLog, verifyCsrf, ...(system ? { system } : {}) });
       const contextFor = (pluginId: string, params?: Record<string, string>): RequestContext =>
-        buildContext(req, res, { chrome, declaredPermissions: permissionCatalog, user, ...i18nFor(pluginId), log: reqLog, ...(params ? { params } : {}), verifyCsrf, ...(system ? { system } : {}) });
+        buildContext(req, res, { chrome, declaredPermissions: permissionCatalog, declaredSettings: settingsCatalog, user, ...i18nFor(pluginId), log: reqLog, ...(params ? { params } : {}), verifyCsrf, ...(system ? { system } : {}) });
       renderPage = viewsFor(ctx);
 
       // Plugin onRequest hooks run before routing and may short-circuit the request.

src/http/context.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import type { IncomingMessage, ServerResponse } from "node:http";
 import type { PageChrome } from "../ui/chrome.ts"; // type-only: no runtime import, so no cycle
 import type { PermissionDecl } from "../plugin-host/plugin.ts"; // type-only
+import type { PluginSettings } from "../plugin-host/settings.ts"; // type-only
 import type { SystemCapabilities } from "../plugin-host/system.ts"; // type-only
 import { DEFAULT_LOCALE } from "../i18n/catalog.ts";
 import { ENGLISH } from "../i18n/english.ts";
@@ -42,6 +43,9 @@ export interface RequestContext {
   // screen offers when granting one. Pairs with `permissions` below: this is what *exists*, that is
   // what *this user holds*. Empty when no installed plugin declares any.
   declaredPermissions: readonly PermissionDecl[];
+  // What each installed plugin declares it can be configured with, and how each key resolved — one
+  // entry per plugin, including those declaring nothing. A secret's value is never carried here.
+  declaredSettings: readonly PluginSettings[];
   params: Record<string, string>; // path params from the route match, e.g. /users/:id → { id }
   permissions: string[]; // user?.permissions ?? [] — coarse gate without a null-check
   query: URLSearchParams; // alias of url.searchParams, for ctx.query.get("q")
@@ -67,6 +71,7 @@ export interface BuildContextOptions {
   // The host's factory is memoised, so the menu composes at most once per request across contexts.
   chrome?: () => PageChrome;
   declaredPermissions?: readonly PermissionDecl[];
+  declaredSettings?: readonly PluginSettings[];
   user?: User | null;
   locale?: string;
   localeHref?: (href: string) => string;
@@ -96,6 +101,7 @@ export function buildContext(
   return {
     get chrome(): PageChrome { return (chromeMemo ??= buildChrome ? buildChrome() : ANON_CHROME); },
     declaredPermissions: options.declaredPermissions ?? [],
+    declaredSettings: options.declaredSettings ?? [],
     user,
     locale: options.locale ?? DEFAULT_LOCALE,
     localeHref: options.localeHref ?? ((href) => href),

src/i18n/locales/en-US.ts

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ const messages = {
   "auth.continue": "Continue",
   // Kratos labels its own form fields; these translate the ones the built-in identity schema uses,
   // keyed on the input name. A deployment's extra traits keep Kratos' label until a plugin covers them.
+  "auth.field.code.hint": "Digits only — no spaces.",
   "auth.field.email": "Email",
   "auth.field.identifier": "Email",
   "auth.field.password": "Password",

src/i18n/locales/sv-SE.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import type { CoreMessages } from "./en-US.ts";
 
 const messages: CoreMessages = {
   "auth.continue": "Fortsätt",
+  "auth.field.code.hint": "Endast siffror — inga mellanslag.",
   "auth.field.email": "E-postadress",
   "auth.field.identifier": "E-postadress",
   "auth.field.password": "Lösenord",

src/plugin-host/discovery.test.ts

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { dirname, join } from "node:path";
 import { test, type TestContext } from "node:test";
 import { discoverPlugins } from "./discovery.ts";
+import { HOST_API_VERSION } from "./plugin.ts";
 
 // Write a throwaway plugins/ tree of `relpath → source` and clean it up after the test. Fixtures
 // default-export plain objects — definePlugin is identity, so a literal is an equivalent manifest.
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ function scaffold(t: TestContext, files: Record<string, string>): string {
 }
 
 const full = (id: string): string =>
-  `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", nav: [{ id: "${id}:root", label: "${id}" }], ` +
+  `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", nav: [{ id: "${id}:root", label: "${id}" }], ` +
   `routes: [{ method: "GET", path: "/", handler: () => ({ html: "${id}" }) }] };`;
 
 test("a missing plugins/ dir means zero plugins, not an error (clean clone)", async () => {
@@ -27,13 +28,19 @@ test("a missing plugins/ dir means zero plugins, not an error (clean clone)", as
 });
 
 test("discovers each folder's manifest, sorted, id derived from the folder name", async (t) => {
-  const dir = scaffold(t, { "beta/plugin.ts": full("beta"), "alpha/plugin.ts": full("alpha") });
+  const dir = scaffold(t, {
+    "beta/plugin.ts": full("beta"),
+    "alpha/plugin.ts": full("alpha"),
+    "gamma/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", storage: true };`,
+  });
   const plugins = await discoverPlugins({ dir });
 
-  assert.deepEqual(plugins.map((p) => p.id), ["alpha", "beta"]); // deterministic order
-  assert.equal(plugins[0]?.apiVersion, "1.0.0");
+  assert.deepEqual(plugins.map((p) => p.id), ["alpha", "beta", "gamma"]); // deterministic order
+  assert.equal(plugins[0]?.apiVersion, HOST_API_VERSION);
   assert.equal(plugins[0]?.nav?.[0]?.label, "alpha");
   assert.equal(typeof plugins[0]?.routes?.[0]?.handler, "function"); // handlers survive import
+  assert.equal(plugins[0]?.storage, undefined); // storage is opt-in, never assumed
+  assert.equal(plugins[2]?.storage, true);
 });
 
 // Every per-plugin problem and every error-level conflict aborts boot with a message naming it.
@@ -45,18 +52,21 @@ const badCases: Array<{ name: string; files: Record<string, string>; match: RegE
   { name: "no default export", files: { "named-only/plugin.ts": "export const x = 1;" }, match: /named-only.*default/s },
   { name: "import throws", files: { "explodes/plugin.ts": "throw new Error('boom');" }, match: /explodes.*boom/s },
   { name: "incompatible apiVersion", files: { "future/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "2.0.0" };` }, match: /future.*apiVersion/s },
-  { name: "non-array routes", files: { "weird/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", routes: "nope" };` }, match: /weird.*routes.*array/s },
-  { name: "non-function home", files: { "weirdhome/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", home: "nope" };` }, match: /weirdhome.*home.*function/s },
-  { name: "non-function dashboard", files: { "weirddash/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", dashboard: "nope" };` }, match: /weirddash.*dashboard.*function/s },
+  { name: "non-array routes", files: { "weird/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", routes: "nope" };` }, match: /weird.*routes.*array/s },
+  { name: "non-function home", files: { "weirdhome/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", home: "nope" };` }, match: /weirdhome.*home.*function/s },
+  { name: "non-function dashboard", files: { "weirddash/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", dashboard: "nope" };` }, match: /weirddash.*dashboard.*function/s },
+  { name: "non-boolean storage", files: { "weirdstore/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", storage: "postgres://db" };` }, match: /weirdstore.*storage.*boolean/s },
+  // The folder name becomes a Postgres identifier, which truncates past 63 bytes.
+  { name: "a storage plugin whose folder name overflows a Postgres identifier", files: { [`${"a".repeat(57)}/plugin.ts`]: `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", storage: true };` }, match: /storage.*56 characters/s },
   { name: "reserved dashboard id shadows the gated dashboard", files: { "dashboard/plugin.ts": full("dashboard") }, match: /dashboard.*reserved/s },
   { name: "duplicate nav id across plugins", files: { "a/plugin.ts": full("a").replace("a:root", "dup"), "b/plugin.ts": full("b").replace("b:root", "dup") }, match: /nav id "dup"/ },
-  { name: "a route marked public AND permission is contradictory", files: { "contra/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", routes: [{ method: "GET", path: "/", public: true, permission: "x:read", handler: () => ({ html: "x" }) }] };` }, match: /contra.*public.*permission/s },
-  { name: "a nav node marked public AND permission is contradictory", files: { "contranav/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", nav: [{ id: "n", label: "N", public: true, permission: "x:read" }] };` }, match: /contranav.*public.*permission/s },
+  { name: "a route marked public AND permission is contradictory", files: { "contra/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", routes: [{ method: "GET", path: "/", public: true, permission: "x:read", handler: () => ({ html: "x" }) }] };` }, match: /contra.*public.*permission/s },
+  { name: "a nav node marked public AND permission is contradictory", files: { "contranav/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", nav: [{ id: "n", label: "N", public: true, permission: "x:read" }] };` }, match: /contranav.*public.*permission/s },
   // A permission name is <resource>:<action> wherever the manifest mentions one. Enforced here, not
   // only in the admin GUI, so it holds for a plugin installed without that GUI.
-  { name: "a route gating on a bare word", files: { "bare/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", routes: [{ method: "GET", path: "/", permission: "admin", handler: () => ({ html: "x" }) }] };` }, match: /bare.*admin.*<resource>:<action>/s },
-  { name: "a nav node gating on a bare word", files: { "barenav/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", nav: [{ id: "n", label: "N", permission: "admin" }] };` }, match: /barenav.*admin.*<resource>:<action>/s },
-  { name: "a declared permission that is a bare word", files: { "baredecl/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", permissions: [{ name: "admin" }] };` }, match: /baredecl.*admin.*<resource>:<action>/s },
+  { name: "a route gating on a bare word", files: { "bare/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", routes: [{ method: "GET", path: "/", permission: "admin", handler: () => ({ html: "x" }) }] };` }, match: /bare.*admin.*<resource>:<action>/s },
+  { name: "a nav node gating on a bare word", files: { "barenav/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", nav: [{ id: "n", label: "N", permission: "admin" }] };` }, match: /barenav.*admin.*<resource>:<action>/s },
+  { name: "a declared permission that is a bare word", files: { "baredecl/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", permissions: [{ name: "admin" }] };` }, match: /baredecl.*admin.*<resource>:<action>/s },
   { name: "a plugin shipping its own copy of the barrel", files: { "shadow/node_modules/@plainpages/plugin-api/index.js": `export class GuardError extends Error {}`, "shadow/plugin.ts": full("shadow") }, match: /shadow.*@plainpages\/plugin-api/s },
   { name: "a plugin package.json that forgets type: module", files: { "cjs/package.json": `{ "name": "cjs" }`, "cjs/plugin.ts": full("cjs") }, match: /cjs.*"type": "module"/s },
   { name: "a plugin package.json that is not valid JSON", files: { "bent/package.json": `{`, "bent/plugin.ts": full("bent") }, match: /bent.*package\.json.*JSON/s },
@@ -64,8 +74,8 @@ const badCases: Array<{ name: string; files: Record<string, string>; match: RegE
   // `npm install --prefix plugins` — the documented command with one path segment dropped.
   { name: "a package.json in the scan root itself", files: { "package.json": `{ "name": "oops" }`, "ok/plugin.ts": full("ok") }, match: /plugins\/package\.json must not exist/ },
   { name: "a node_modules in the scan root itself", files: { "node_modules/@plainpages/plugin-api/index.js": `export class GuardError extends Error {}`, "ok/plugin.ts": full("ok") }, match: /plugins\/node_modules must not exist/ },
-  { name: "two plugins claim the public home", files: { "a/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", home: () => ({ html: "a" }) };`, "b/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", home: () => ({ html: "b" }) };` }, match: /home/ },
-  { name: "two plugins claim the gated dashboard", files: { "a/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", dashboard: () => ({ html: "a" }) };`, "b/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", dashboard: () => ({ html: "b" }) };` }, match: /dashboard/ },
+  { name: "two plugins claim the public home", files: { "a/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", home: () => ({ html: "a" }) };`, "b/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", home: () => ({ html: "b" }) };` }, match: /home/ },
+  { name: "two plugins claim the gated dashboard", files: { "a/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", dashboard: () => ({ html: "a" }) };`, "b/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", dashboard: () => ({ html: "b" }) };` }, match: /dashboard/ },
 ];
 
 for (const c of badCases) {
@@ -78,7 +88,7 @@ for (const c of badCases) {
 // upgrade, not the author of the manifest — so the message has to carry the remedy, not just the
 // rule. A pre-existing `plugins/admin` gating on the old `admin` permission is exactly this case.
 test("a discovery failure tells the operator their plugins/ copy may just be out of date", async (t) => {
-  const dir = scaffold(t, { "admin/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", routes: [{ method: "GET", path: "/users", permission: "admin", handler: () => ({ html: "x" }) }] };` });
+  const dir = scaffold(t, { "admin/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", routes: [{ method: "GET", path: "/users", permission: "admin", handler: () => ({ html: "x" }) }] };` });
   await assert.rejects(discoverPlugins({ dir }), (err: Error) => {
     assert.match(err.message, /gates on "admin"/); // what is wrong
     assert.match(err.message, /re-copy it/); // …and what to do about it
@@ -87,7 +97,7 @@ test("a discovery failure tells the operator their plugins/ copy may just be out
 });
 
 test("a route + nav node may be marked public and load fine", async (t) => {
-  const dir = scaffold(t, { "pub/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", nav: [{ href: "/pub", id: "n", label: "N", public: true }], routes: [{ method: "GET", path: "/", public: true, handler: () => ({ html: "x" }) }] };` });
+  const dir = scaffold(t, { "pub/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", nav: [{ href: "/pub", id: "n", label: "N", public: true }], routes: [{ method: "GET", path: "/", public: true, handler: () => ({ html: "x" }) }] };` });
   const plugins = await discoverPlugins({ dir });
   assert.equal(plugins.length, 1);
   assert.equal(plugins[0]?.routes?.[0]?.public, true);
@@ -102,7 +112,7 @@ test("`admin` is not reserved — the admin screens ship as a drop-in plugin mou
 });
 
 test("a plugin may declare `home` (public /) and `dashboard` (gated /dashboard) handlers", async (t) => {
-  const dir = scaffold(t, { "portal/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", home: () => ({ view: "home" }), dashboard: () => ({ view: "dash" }) };` });
+  const dir = scaffold(t, { "portal/plugin.ts": `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", home: () => ({ view: "home" }), dashboard: () => ({ view: "dash" }) };` });
   const plugins = await discoverPlugins({ dir });
   assert.equal(plugins.length, 1);
   assert.equal(typeof plugins[0]?.home, "function");
@@ -117,7 +127,7 @@ test("a plugin may carry its own package.json, node_modules and dependencies", a
     "shop/node_modules/price-tag/package.json": `{ "name": "price-tag", "version": "1.0.0", "type": "module", "exports": "./index.js" }`,
     "shop/node_modules/price-tag/index.js": `export default (n) => \`\${n} kr\`;`,
     "shop/plugin.ts": `import { definePlugin } from "@plainpages/plugin-api";\nimport price from "price-tag";\n` +
-      `export default definePlugin({ apiVersion: "1.0.0", routes: [{ method: "GET", path: "/", handler: () => ({ html: price(20) }) }] });`,
+      `export default definePlugin({ apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", routes: [{ method: "GET", path: "/", handler: () => ({ html: price(20) }) }] });`,
   });
 
   const plugins = await discoverPlugins({ dir });
@@ -144,7 +154,7 @@ test("a dangling plugin symlink fails loud rather than vanishing", async (t) =>
 });
 
 test("a shared permission name only warns — both plugins still load", async (t) => {
-  const shared = `export default { apiVersion: "1.0.0", permissions: [{ name: "shared:read" }] };`;
+  const shared = `export default { apiVersion: "${HOST_API_VERSION}", permissions: [{ name: "shared:read" }] };`;
   const dir = scaffold(t, { "x/plugin.ts": shared, "y/plugin.ts": shared });
   const warnings: string[] = [];
   const plugins = await discoverPlugins({ dir, logger: { warn: (m) => warnings.push(String(m)) } });

src/plugin-host/discovery.ts

@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import { existsSync, readdirSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { dirname, join } from "node:path";
 import { fileURLToPath, pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
 import { checkApiVersion, findConflicts, isValidPermissionName, isValidPluginId, RESERVED_PLUGIN_IDS, type Plugin, type PluginManifest } from "./plugin.ts";
+import { settingsDeclError } from "./settings.ts";
+import { isValidStoragePluginId, MAX_STORAGE_PLUGIN_ID_LENGTH } from "./storage.ts";
 
 const rootDir = join(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "..", "..");
 
@@ -66,6 +68,13 @@ export async function discoverPlugins(options: DiscoverOptions = {}): Promise<Pl
     const shape = shapeError(manifest);
     if (shape) { fail(shape); continue; }
 
+    // The folder name becomes a Postgres identifier, which truncates past 63 bytes — two long ids
+    // would then share one database. Only checked for a plugin that asked for storage.
+    if (manifest.storage === true && !isValidStoragePluginId(id)) {
+      fail(`declares storage, so its folder name must be at most ${MAX_STORAGE_PLUGIN_ID_LENGTH} characters`);
+      continue;
+    }
+
     plugins.push({ ...manifest, id }); // identity is the folder, not the manifest
   }
 
@@ -131,6 +140,12 @@ function shapeError(manifest: PluginManifest): string | null {
   for (const slot of ["home", "dashboard"] as const) {
     if (manifest[slot] !== undefined && typeof manifest[slot] !== "function") return `"${slot}" must be a function (a route handler)`;
   }
+  // A truthy non-boolean (a DSN, say) must not quietly read as "provision me one".
+  if (manifest.storage !== undefined && typeof manifest.storage !== "boolean") return `"storage" must be a boolean`;
+  if (manifest.settings !== undefined) {
+    const settings = settingsDeclError(manifest.settings);
+    if (settings) return settings;
+  }
   // `public` and `permission` are contradictory on the same route/nav node — "open to all" vs
   // "needs this permission". Refuse rather than silently pick one, so the author's intent is unambiguous.
   for (const route of Array.isArray(manifest.routes) ? manifest.routes : []) {

src/plugin-host/hooks.test.ts

@@ -12,14 +12,17 @@ function plugin(id: string, hooks: PluginHooks): Plugin {
 
 test("runBootHooks runs each onBoot in order, skips plugins without one, and a throw aborts", async () => {
   const calls: string[] = [];
+  const scoped: string[] = []; // each hook is handed a context built for its own plugin
+  const bootContextFor = (built: Plugin) => { scoped.push(built.id); return {}; };
   await runBootHooks([
     plugin("a", { onBoot: () => void calls.push("a") }),
     plugin("b", {}), // no onBoot → skipped
     plugin("c", { onBoot: async () => void calls.push("c") }),
-  ]);
+  ], bootContextFor);
   assert.deepEqual(calls, ["a", "c"]);
+  assert.deepEqual(scoped, ["a", "c"]); // and built only for the plugins that have one
 
-  await assert.rejects(runBootHooks([plugin("x", { onBoot: () => { throw new Error("boom"); } })]), /boom/);
+  await assert.rejects(runBootHooks([plugin("x", { onBoot: () => { throw new Error("boom"); } })], () => ({})), /boom/);
 });
 
 test("runRequestHooks short-circuits on the first RouteResult (with its plugin); later hooks skipped", async () => {

src/plugin-host/hooks.ts

@@ -4,11 +4,15 @@
 // entirely when no plugin declares the hook, so the no-hooks hot path stays free.
 
 import type { RequestContext } from "../http/context.ts";
-import type { Plugin, RouteResult } from "./plugin.ts";
+import type { BootContext, Plugin, RouteResult } from "./plugin.ts";
 
-// After discovery, before the server listens. A throw aborts boot.
-export async function runBootHooks(plugins: Plugin[]): Promise<void> {
-  for (const plugin of plugins) await plugin.hooks?.onBoot?.();
+// After discovery, before the server listens. A throw aborts boot. Each hook gets a context built
+// for its own plugin, so one plugin is never handed another's storage credentials.
+export async function runBootHooks(plugins: Plugin[], bootContextFor: (plugin: Plugin) => BootContext): Promise<void> {
+  for (const plugin of plugins) {
+    const onBoot = plugin.hooks?.onBoot;
+    if (onBoot) await onBoot(bootContextFor(plugin));
+  }
 }
 
 // Before route matching. The first hook to return a RouteResult short-circuits the request — its

src/plugin-host/plugin-api.ts

@@ -5,7 +5,11 @@
 // a plugin should import from here, never reach into deeper modules. See README.md → Building plugins.
 
 export { definePlugin, isValidPermissionName } from "./plugin.ts";
-export type { HttpMethod, Plugin, PluginHooks, PluginManifest, PermissionDecl, Route, RouteHandler, RouteResult } from "./plugin.ts";
+export type { BootContext, HttpMethod, Plugin, PluginHooks, PluginManifest, PermissionDecl, Route, RouteHandler, RouteResult } from "./plugin.ts";
+// A plugin's own database, handed to onBoot when the manifest sets `storage`. Credentials, not a
+// client — the plugin depends on whichever driver it prefers (README → Plugin storage).
+export type { PluginSettings, SettingDecl, SettingSummary, SettingType, SettingValue } from "./settings.ts";
+export type { StorageCredentials } from "./storage.ts";
 export type { RequestContext, User } from "../http/context.ts";
 export type { PageChrome } from "../ui/chrome.ts";
 export type { NavNode } from "../ui/nav.ts";

src/plugin-host/plugin.test.ts

@@ -80,12 +80,15 @@ test("parseSemver follows the semver core, rejecting ranges, prefixes, leading z
 });
 
 test("checkApiVersion: semver compat — equal/patch ok, older minor warns, newer-minor/major-mismatch/malformed refuse", () => {
-  assert.equal(checkApiVersion(HOST_API_VERSION).level, "ok"); // "1.0.0" vs "1.0.0"
+  assert.equal(checkApiVersion(HOST_API_VERSION).level, "ok"); // the host always accepts its own version
   assert.equal(checkApiVersion("1.0.5", "1.0.0").level, "ok"); // patch never affects compatibility
   assert.equal(checkApiVersion("1.0.0", "1.2.0").level, "warn"); // older minor still runs (additive), nudge to update
   assert.equal(checkApiVersion("1.3.0", "1.2.0").level, "refuse"); // needs features a newer host has
   assert.equal(checkApiVersion("2.0.0", "1.5.0").level, "refuse"); // incompatible major (newer)
   assert.equal(checkApiVersion("1.0.0", "2.0.0").level, "refuse"); // incompatible major (older)
+  assert.equal(checkApiVersion("0.1.0", "0.1.9").level, "ok"); // pre-1.0 patch is still ignored
+  assert.equal(checkApiVersion("0.1.0", "0.2.0").level, "refuse"); // pre-1.0 the minor IS the breaking slot
+  assert.match(checkApiVersion("0.2.0", "0.1.0").message, /upgrade the host/); // ahead of the host, even pre-1.0
   for (const bad of ["1", "1.2", "v1.2.3", "01.2.3", "1.2.x", "", 1, undefined, null]) {
     assert.equal(checkApiVersion(bad).level, "refuse", `${String(bad)} must refuse`);
   }

src/plugin-host/plugin.ts

@@ -6,9 +6,11 @@
 
 import type { RequestContext } from "../http/context.ts";
 import type { NavNode } from "../ui/nav.ts";
+import { envName, type SettingDecl, type SettingsOf } from "./settings.ts";
+import type { StorageCredentials } from "./storage.ts";
 
-// Bump major on a breaking manifest/handler change, minor on an additive one.
-export const HOST_API_VERSION = "1.0.0";
+// The Plainpages release this contract ships in — see README → Contract versioning.
+export const HOST_API_VERSION = "0.2.0";
 
 export type HttpMethod = "DELETE" | "GET" | "HEAD" | "PATCH" | "POST" | "PUT";
 
@@ -60,26 +62,43 @@ export function declaredPermissions(plugins: Plugin[]): PermissionDecl[] {
   return [...byName.values()].sort((a, b) => a.name.localeCompare(b.name));
 }
 
+// What onBoot receives. A hook declaring no parameter stays valid, so this may grow additively.
+export type BootContext<S extends readonly SettingDecl[] = readonly SettingDecl[]> = {
+  storage?: StorageCredentials; // this plugin's own database; present iff the manifest declared `storage`
+} & SettingsSlot<S>;
+
+// Required once the manifest declares settings, so that plugin reads `settings.key` without a guard
+// for the case it just ruled out; optional for a manifest that declared none.
+type SettingsSlot<S extends readonly SettingDecl[]> = readonly [] extends S
+  ? { settings?: SettingsOf<S> }
+  : { settings: SettingsOf<S> };
+
 // Optional hooks on system actions. Crash-isolation is a non-goal — a throwing hook fails loud.
-export interface PluginHooks {
-  onBoot?: () => Promise<void> | void; // after discovery, before the server listens
+export interface PluginHooks<S extends readonly SettingDecl[] = readonly SettingDecl[]> {
+  onBoot?: (host: BootContext<S>) => Promise<void> | void; // after discovery, before the server listens
   onRequest?: (ctx: RequestContext) => Promise<RouteResult | void> | RouteResult | void; // may short-circuit
   onResponse?: (ctx: RequestContext, result: RouteResult | null) => Promise<void> | void;
 }
 
 // The authored manifest — a plugin's `plugin.ts` default-exports this. No `id`/mount path: the
 // host derives them from the folder name at discovery (see Plugin).
-export interface PluginManifest {
+export interface PluginManifest<S extends readonly SettingDecl[] = readonly SettingDecl[]> {
   apiVersion: string; // semver of the host contract this targets — write a literal, NOT HOST_API_VERSION (see docs)
   // Take over "/dashboard"; the host gates it to a signed-in session first. At most one plugin may
   // declare it (findConflicts → error, never last-write-wins).
   dashboard?: RouteHandler;
   // Take over the ungated public landing "/". At most one plugin may declare it.
   home?: RouteHandler;
-  hooks?: PluginHooks;
+  hooks?: PluginHooks<S>;
   nav?: NavNode[]; // fragment merged into the menu (composeNav); node `icon` is a Lucide sprite id (src/ui/icons.ts), node ids must be globally unique
   permissions?: PermissionDecl[];
   routes?: Route[];
+  // Operator-supplied configuration, one PLUGIN_SETTING_<ID>_<KEY> variable per key; the resolved
+  // values arrive on onBoot's BootContext, typed from these declarations (settings.ts).
+  settings?: S;
+  // Ask for a Postgres database of this plugin's own; its credentials arrive on onBoot's BootContext.
+  // The host provisions and locks it down but owns no schema inside it, and never drops it.
+  storage?: boolean;
 }
 
 // A discovered plugin: the manifest plus the `id` the host read from the folder name. Mounted
@@ -90,7 +109,9 @@ export interface Plugin extends PluginManifest {
 
 // Types the manifest and returns it unchanged; validation happens at discovery, so a plugin may
 // equally be a plain typed object.
-export function definePlugin(manifest: PluginManifest): PluginManifest {
+// The `const` parameter captures the literal `settings`, so onBoot receives each key at its declared
+// type instead of a union every plugin author would have to narrow with a cast.
+export function definePlugin<const S extends readonly SettingDecl[]>(manifest: PluginManifest<S>): PluginManifest<S> {
   return manifest;
 }
 
@@ -149,13 +170,17 @@ export function checkApiVersion(pluginVersion: unknown, hostVersion: string = HO
     return { level: "refuse", message: `plugin targets apiVersion ${pluginVersion} but host is ${hostVersion}; upgrade the host` };
   }
   if (plugin.minor < host.minor) {
-    return { level: "warn", message: `plugin targets apiVersion ${pluginVersion}; host is ${hostVersion} — newer features available` };
+    // Pre-1.0 the major is pinned at 0, so a minor is the only slot a breaking change can use.
+    if (host.major === 0) {
+      return { level: "refuse", message: `plugin targets apiVersion ${pluginVersion}; host is ${hostVersion} — pre-1.0 a minor is a contract break, rebuild against ${hostVersion}` };
+    }
+    return { level: "warn", message: `plugin targets apiVersion ${pluginVersion}; host is ${hostVersion} — built against an older release` };
   }
   return { level: "ok", message: `apiVersion ${pluginVersion}` };
 }
 
 export interface PluginConflict {
-  kind: "dashboard" | "home" | "id" | "nav-id" | "permission" | "route";
+  kind: "dashboard" | "home" | "id" | "nav-id" | "permission" | "route" | "setting";
   level: "error" | "warn";
   message: string;
   plugins: string[]; // unique ids involved
@@ -196,6 +221,14 @@ export function findConflicts(plugins: Plugin[]): PluginConflict[] {
     if (owners.length > 1) out.push({ kind: "permission", level: "warn", message: `permission "${name}" declared by ${uniq(owners).length} plugins; pick a more specific "<resource>" unless shared on purpose`, plugins: uniq(owners) });
   });
 
+  // Both the id's dashes and the key's camel humps become underscores, so plugin "a-b" key "c" and
+  // plugin "a" key "bC" name one variable — one plugin would silently read the other's value.
+  collect(plugins, (plugin, push) => {
+    for (const decl of plugin.settings ?? []) push(envName(plugin.id, decl.key));
+  }).forEach((owners, name) => {
+    if (owners.length > 1) out.push({ kind: "setting", level: "error", message: `${owners.length} settings resolve to "${name}"; rename a key or a plugin folder`, plugins: uniq(owners) });
+  });
+
   return out;
 }
 

src/plugin-host/settings.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,177 @@
+// Guards the plugin-settings rules: the env name a declaration maps to, per-type coercion, the
+// required/default/secret resolution, and what the admin catalog is allowed to carry.
+import { test } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import type { Plugin } from "./plugin.ts";
+import {
+  ENV_PREFIX,
+  envName,
+  isValidSettingKey,
+  resolveSettings,
+  settingsDeclError,
+  settingsEnvNames,
+  strayNames,
+  type SettingDecl,
+} from "./settings.ts";
+
+function pluginWith(id: string, settings: SettingDecl[]): Plugin {
+  return { apiVersion: "0.2.0", id, settings };
+}
+
+test("a key becomes one SCREAMING_SNAKE segment under the plugin's own", () => {
+  assert.equal(envName("scheduling", "timezone"), "PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_TIMEZONE");
+  assert.equal(envName("scheduling", "maxShiftHours"), "PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_MAX_SHIFT_HOURS");
+  assert.equal(envName("my-plugin", "apiBase"), "PLUGIN_SETTING_MY_PLUGIN_API_BASE");
+  assert.equal(ENV_PREFIX, "PLUGIN_SETTING_"); // never bare PLUGIN_ — the host owns PLUGIN_DB_*
+});
+
+test("the host's own PLUGIN_DB_* variables are unreachable from a declaration", () => {
+  // A plugin id "db" with key "url" is exactly the collision the longer prefix rules out.
+  assert.notEqual(envName("db", "url"), "PLUGIN_DB_URL");
+  assert.equal(envName("db", "url"), "PLUGIN_SETTING_DB_URL");
+});
+
+test("a key is camelCase, so the env name is derivable and no two keys collide", () => {
+  assert.ok(isValidSettingKey("timezone"));
+  assert.ok(isValidSettingKey("maxShiftHours"));
+  assert.ok(!isValidSettingKey("max_shift_hours")); // would collide with maxShiftHours
+  assert.ok(!isValidSettingKey("MaxShiftHours"));
+  assert.ok(!isValidSettingKey("2fa"));
+  assert.ok(!isValidSettingKey(""));
+});
+
+test("a declaration is refused when it cannot mean what it says", () => {
+  const why = (settings: unknown): string => settingsDeclError(settings) ?? "";
+
+  assert.equal(settingsDeclError([{ key: "a", type: "string" }]), null);
+  assert.match(why("nope"), /must be an array/);
+  assert.match(why([{ key: "max_hours", type: "number" }]), /max_hours.*camelCase/);
+  assert.match(why([{ key: "a", type: "date" }]), /"date".*string, number, boolean, enum, url/);
+  assert.match(why([{ key: "a", type: "string" }, { key: "a", type: "number" }]), /declared twice/);
+  // required means "boot fails without it", so a default would make the flag a lie.
+  assert.match(why([{ default: "x", key: "a", required: true, type: "string" }]), /required.*default.*mutually exclusive/);
+  assert.match(why([{ default: 8, key: "a", type: "string" }]), /default.*string/);
+  assert.match(why([{ key: "a", type: "enum" }]), /enum.*values/);
+  assert.match(why([{ key: "a", type: "enum", values: [] }]), /enum.*values/);
+  assert.match(why([{ default: "c", key: "a", type: "enum", values: ["a", "b"] }]), /default "c".*a, b/);
+  assert.match(why([{ key: "a", type: "string", values: ["a"] }]), /values.*only.*enum/);
+});
+
+test("an unset optional setting resolves to undefined, not to a stand-in", () => {
+  const result = resolveSettings([pluginWith("p", [{ key: "a", type: "string" }])], {});
+  assert.deepEqual(result.errors, []);
+  assert.equal(result.values.get("p")?.["a"], undefined);
+});
+
+test("a default fills in, and an env value overrides it", () => {
+  const plugins = [pluginWith("p", [{ default: 8, key: "maxHours", type: "number" }])];
+  assert.equal(resolveSettings(plugins, {}).values.get("p")?.["maxHours"], 8);
+  assert.equal(resolveSettings(plugins, { PLUGIN_SETTING_P_MAX_HOURS: "12" }).values.get("p")?.["maxHours"], 12);
+});
+
+test("an empty variable reads as unset — compose passes an unset one through as \"\"", () => {
+  const plugins = [pluginWith("p", [{ default: "fallback", key: "a", type: "string" }])];
+  assert.equal(resolveSettings(plugins, { PLUGIN_SETTING_P_A: "" }).values.get("p")?.["a"], "fallback");
+  const required = [pluginWith("p", [{ key: "a", required: true, type: "string" }])];
+  assert.match(resolveSettings(required, { PLUGIN_SETTING_P_A: "" }).errors.join("\n"), /must be set/);
+});
+
+test("a missing required setting is an error naming the plugin, the key and the variable", () => {
+  const result = resolveSettings([pluginWith("scheduling", [{ key: "timezone", required: true, type: "string" }])], {});
+  assert.equal(result.errors.length, 1);
+  assert.match(result.errors[0] ?? "", /scheduling/);
+  assert.match(result.errors[0] ?? "", /timezone/);
+  assert.match(result.errors[0] ?? "", /PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_TIMEZONE/);
+});
+
+test("each type coerces from the environment, and a bad value fails loud", () => {
+  const decls: SettingDecl[] = [
+    { key: "text", type: "string" },
+    { key: "count", type: "number" },
+    { key: "flag", type: "boolean" },
+    { key: "mode", type: "enum", values: ["strict", "lenient"] },
+    { key: "base", type: "url" },
+  ];
+  const ok = resolveSettings([pluginWith("p", decls)], {
+    PLUGIN_SETTING_P_BASE: "https://example.com/v1",
+    PLUGIN_SETTING_P_COUNT: "42",
+    PLUGIN_SETTING_P_FLAG: "true",
+    PLUGIN_SETTING_P_MODE: "strict",
+    PLUGIN_SETTING_P_TEXT: "hello",
+  });
+  assert.deepEqual(ok.errors, []);
+  assert.deepEqual(ok.values.get("p"), { base: "https://example.com/v1", count: 42, flag: true, mode: "strict", text: "hello" });
+
+  const bad = resolveSettings([pluginWith("p", decls)], {
+    PLUGIN_SETTING_P_BASE: "not a url",
+    PLUGIN_SETTING_P_COUNT: "twelve",
+    PLUGIN_SETTING_P_FLAG: "yes",
+    PLUGIN_SETTING_P_MODE: "loose",
+  });
+  assert.equal(bad.errors.length, 4);
+  assert.match(bad.errors.join("\n"), /PLUGIN_SETTING_P_COUNT.*number/);
+  assert.match(bad.errors.join("\n"), /PLUGIN_SETTING_P_FLAG.*"true".*"false"/);
+  assert.match(bad.errors.join("\n"), /PLUGIN_SETTING_P_MODE.*strict, lenient/);
+  assert.match(bad.errors.join("\n"), /PLUGIN_SETTING_P_BASE.*URL/);
+});
+
+test("a boolean is only \"true\"/\"false\" — a typo never degrades to false", () => {
+  const plugins = [pluginWith("p", [{ default: true, key: "flag", type: "boolean" }])];
+  assert.equal(resolveSettings(plugins, { PLUGIN_SETTING_P_FLAG: "false" }).values.get("p")?.["flag"], false);
+  assert.equal(resolveSettings(plugins, { PLUGIN_SETTING_P_FLAG: "0" }).errors.length, 1);
+});
+
+test("REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS refuses an unset secret and one still on its dev default", () => {
+  const decls: SettingDecl[] = [{ default: "dev-insecure", key: "apiKey", secret: true, type: "string" }];
+  const plugins = [pluginWith("p", decls)];
+  assert.deepEqual(resolveSettings(plugins, {}).errors, []); // off: the dev default boots a clean clone
+
+  assert.match(resolveSettings(plugins, {}, { requireSecureSecrets: true }).errors.join("\n"), /apiKey.*must be set/);
+  assert.match(
+    resolveSettings(plugins, { PLUGIN_SETTING_P_API_KEY: "dev-insecure" }, { requireSecureSecrets: true }).errors.join("\n"),
+    /apiKey.*dev/,
+  );
+  assert.deepEqual(resolveSettings(plugins, { PLUGIN_SETTING_P_API_KEY: "real" }, { requireSecureSecrets: true }).errors, []);
+});
+
+test("a secret's value reaches the plugin but never the catalog", () => {
+  const plugins = [pluginWith("p", [{ key: "apiKey", secret: true, type: "string" }])];
+  const result = resolveSettings(plugins, { PLUGIN_SETTING_P_API_KEY: "s3cr3t" });
+  assert.equal(result.values.get("p")?.["apiKey"], "s3cr3t");
+
+  const entry = result.catalog[0]?.settings[0];
+  assert.equal(entry?.secret, true);
+  assert.equal(entry?.source, "env");
+  assert.equal(entry?.value, undefined); // not the value, not its length, not a mask of it
+  assert.ok(!JSON.stringify(result.catalog).includes("s3cr3t"));
+});
+
+test("the catalog carries every installed plugin, so \"declares none\" is not \"not installed\"", () => {
+  const plugins = [pluginWith("with", [{ default: "x", key: "a", type: "string" }]), { apiVersion: "0.2.0", id: "without" }];
+  const catalog = resolveSettings(plugins, {}).catalog;
+  assert.deepEqual(catalog.map((entry) => entry.pluginId), ["with", "without"]);
+  assert.deepEqual(catalog[1]?.settings, []);
+});
+
+test("a catalog entry carries the variable to set and where the value came from", () => {
+  const decls: SettingDecl[] = [
+    { description: "Where shifts come from", key: "upstream", required: true, type: "url" },
+    { default: 8, key: "maxHours", type: "number" },
+    { key: "note", type: "string" },
+  ];
+  const catalog = resolveSettings([pluginWith("scheduling", decls)], { PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM: "https://x.test" }).catalog;
+  assert.deepEqual(catalog[0]?.settings, [
+    { description: "Where shifts come from", envName: "PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_UPSTREAM", key: "upstream", required: true, secret: false, source: "env", type: "url", value: "https://x.test" },
+    { envName: "PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_MAX_HOURS", key: "maxHours", required: false, secret: false, source: "default", type: "number", value: "8" },
+    { envName: "PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_NOTE", key: "note", required: false, secret: false, source: "unset", type: "string" },
+  ]);
+});
+
+test("a variable no plugin declares is reported, never acted on", () => {
+  const declared = settingsEnvNames([pluginWith("scheduling", [{ key: "timezone", type: "string" }])]);
+  const strays = strayNames(
+    { PATH: "/usr/bin", PLUGIN_DB_URL: "postgres://x", PLUGIN_SETTING_GONE_KEY: "x", PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_TIMEZOME: "UTC", PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_TIMEZONE: "UTC" },
+    declared,
+  );
+  assert.deepEqual(strays, ["PLUGIN_SETTING_GONE_KEY", "PLUGIN_SETTING_SCHEDULING_TIMEZOME"]); // sorted; the host's own untouched
+});

src/plugin-host/settings.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,259 @@
+// Per-plugin settings: the declaration shape, the env name it maps to, and the resolution rules
+// (README → Plugin settings). Pure — server.ts passes `process.env` in, so the whole matrix is
+// unit-testable without a stack.
+
+import type { Plugin } from "./plugin.ts";
+
+// `PLUGIN_` alone would let a plugin id "db" with key "url" produce the host's own PLUGIN_DB_URL.
+export const ENV_PREFIX = "PLUGIN_SETTING_";
+
+export const SETTING_TYPES = ["string", "number", "boolean", "enum", "url"] as const;
+export type SettingType = (typeof SETTING_TYPES)[number];
+
+export type SettingValue = boolean | number | string;
+
+// What a manifest declares. `required` and `default` are mutually exclusive: a default means the
+// setting can never fail resolution, which is the opposite of what required asserts.
+export interface SettingDecl {
+  default?: SettingValue;
+  description?: string;
+  key: string;
+  required?: boolean;
+  secret?: boolean; // value reaches the plugin, never a log, an error or the catalog
+  type: SettingType;
+  values?: readonly string[]; // enum only — the accepted choices
+}
+
+interface SettingTypeMap {
+  boolean: boolean;
+  enum: string;
+  number: number;
+  string: string;
+  url: string;
+}
+
+type ValueOfDecl<D> = D extends { type: "enum"; values: readonly (infer V extends string)[] }
+  ? V
+  : D extends { type: infer T extends keyof SettingTypeMap }
+    ? SettingTypeMap[T]
+    : never;
+
+// The resolved shape a plugin's onBoot receives, inferred from its own declarations so no caller
+// narrows with a cast. Only a required or defaulted setting is guaranteed present.
+export type SettingsOf<D extends readonly SettingDecl[]> = {
+  [K in D[number] as K["key"]]: K extends { required: true }
+    ? ValueOfDecl<K>
+    : K extends { default: SettingValue }
+      ? ValueOfDecl<K>
+      : ValueOfDecl<K> | undefined;
+};
+
+export type SettingsValues = Record<string, SettingValue | undefined>;
+
+// One row of the admin catalog. `value` is a display string and is absent for a secret and for an
+// unset setting — a secret's length is a disclosure too, so nothing stands in for it.
+export interface SettingSummary {
+  description?: string;
+  envName: string;
+  key: string;
+  required: boolean;
+  secret: boolean;
+  source: "default" | "env" | "unset";
+  type: SettingType;
+  value?: string;
+  values?: readonly string[];
+}
+
+export interface PluginSettings {
+  pluginId: string;
+  settings: SettingSummary[];
+}
+
+export interface ResolveResult {
+  catalog: PluginSettings[];
+  errors: string[];
+  values: Map<string, SettingsValues>;
+}
+
+export interface ResolveOptions {
+  requireSecureSecrets?: boolean;
+}
+
+type Env = Record<string, string | undefined>;
+
+const SETTING_KEY = /^[a-z][a-zA-Z0-9]*$/;
+
+export function isValidSettingKey(key: unknown): boolean {
+  return typeof key === "string" && SETTING_KEY.test(key);
+}
+
+export function envName(pluginId: string, key: string): string {
+  const plugin = pluginId.replaceAll("-", "_").toUpperCase();
+  return `${ENV_PREFIX}${plugin}_${camelToSnake(key)}`;
+}
+
+function camelToSnake(key: string): string {
+  return key.replaceAll(/(?<=[a-z0-9])(?=[A-Z])/g, "_").toUpperCase();
+}
+
+// Discovery-time shape check: the author's mistakes, refused before any value is read.
+export function settingsDeclError(settings: unknown): string | null {
+  if (!Array.isArray(settings)) return `"settings" must be an array`;
+
+  const seen = new Set<string>();
+  for (const decl of settings as SettingDecl[]) {
+    const key = decl?.key;
+    if (!isValidSettingKey(key)) {
+      return `setting "${String(key)}" — a key must be camelCase (${SETTING_KEY.source}) so its variable name is derivable`;
+    }
+    if (seen.has(key)) return `setting "${key}" is declared twice`;
+    seen.add(key);
+
+    if (!(SETTING_TYPES as readonly string[]).includes(decl.type)) {
+      return `setting "${key}" has type "${String(decl.type)}"; one of ${SETTING_TYPES.join(", ")}`;
+    }
+    if (decl.required === true && decl.default !== undefined) {
+      return `setting "${key}" sets both required and default — they are mutually exclusive, a default means it can never fail`;
+    }
+    if (decl.type === "enum") {
+      if (!Array.isArray(decl.values) || decl.values.length === 0 || decl.values.some((v) => typeof v !== "string")) {
+        return `setting "${key}" has type enum, so it must declare a non-empty values array of strings`;
+      }
+    } else if (decl.values !== undefined) {
+      return `setting "${key}" declares values, which only an enum type may do`;
+    }
+
+    const typeError = defaultTypeError(decl);
+    if (typeError) return typeError;
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
+function defaultTypeError(decl: SettingDecl): string | null {
+  if (decl.default === undefined) return null;
+  if (decl.type === "enum") {
+    const values = decl.values ?? [];
+    return values.includes(String(decl.default))
+      ? null
+      : `setting "${decl.key}" has default "${String(decl.default)}", which is not one of ${values.join(", ")}`;
+  }
+  const expected = decl.type === "number" ? "number" : decl.type === "boolean" ? "boolean" : "string";
+  return typeof decl.default === expected
+    ? null
+    : `setting "${decl.key}": default must be a ${expected} (type ${decl.type}), got ${typeof decl.default}`;
+}
+
+// Every variable the installed plugins answer to — the set a stray is measured against.
+export function settingsEnvNames(plugins: Plugin[]): Set<string> {
+  const names = new Set<string>();
+  for (const plugin of plugins) {
+    for (const decl of plugin.settings ?? []) names.add(envName(plugin.id, decl.key));
+  }
+  return names;
+}
+
+// A PLUGIN_SETTING_ variable no installed plugin declares — usually a typo in the one the operator
+// meant to set, or a plugin they removed. Reported, never acted on (the orphan-database precedent).
+export function strayNames(env: Env, declared: ReadonlySet<string>): string[] {
+  return Object.keys(env)
+    .filter((name) => name.startsWith(ENV_PREFIX) && !declared.has(name))
+    .sort();
+}
+
+export function resolveSettings(plugins: Plugin[], env: Env, options: ResolveOptions = {}): ResolveResult {
+  const catalog: PluginSettings[] = [];
+  const errors: string[] = [];
+  const values = new Map<string, SettingsValues>();
+
+  for (const plugin of plugins) {
+    const decls = plugin.settings ?? [];
+    const resolved: SettingsValues = {};
+    const summaries: SettingSummary[] = [];
+
+    for (const decl of decls) {
+      const name = envName(plugin.id, decl.key);
+      const raw = env[name] || undefined; // compose passes an unset variable through as ""
+      const fail = (message: string): void => void errors.push(`plugin "${plugin.id}": ${message}`);
+
+      let value: SettingValue | undefined;
+      let source: SettingSummary["source"] = "unset";
+      if (raw !== undefined) {
+        const coerced = coerce(decl, raw, name);
+        if (typeof coerced === "string") fail(coerced);
+        else {
+          value = coerced.value;
+          source = "env";
+        }
+      } else if (decl.default !== undefined) {
+        value = decl.default;
+        source = "default";
+      } else if (decl.required === true) {
+        fail(`setting "${decl.key}" must be set — ${name} (type ${decl.type}, no default)`);
+      }
+
+      const secretError = secretPolicyError(decl, raw, options.requireSecureSecrets === true, name);
+      if (secretError) fail(secretError);
+
+      resolved[decl.key] = value;
+      summaries.push(summarize(decl, name, source, value));
+    }
+
+    if (decls.length > 0) values.set(plugin.id, resolved);
+    catalog.push({ pluginId: plugin.id, settings: summaries });
+  }
+
+  return { catalog, errors, values };
+}
+
+// The host's own rule for a secret (readSecret), reaching plugins: enforced, neither unset nor the
+// declared dev throwaway is accepted.
+function secretPolicyError(decl: SettingDecl, raw: string | undefined, enforce: boolean, name: string): string | null {
+  if (!enforce || decl.secret !== true) return null;
+  if (raw === undefined) return `setting "${decl.key}" must be set when REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS=true — ${name}`;
+  if (decl.default !== undefined && raw === String(decl.default)) {
+    return `setting "${decl.key}" must not be its dev default when REQUIRE_SECURE_SECRETS=true — ${name}`;
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
+function summarize(decl: SettingDecl, name: string, source: SettingSummary["source"], value: SettingValue | undefined): SettingSummary {
+  const showValue = decl.secret !== true && value !== undefined;
+  return {
+    ...(decl.description !== undefined ? { description: decl.description } : {}),
+    envName: name,
+    key: decl.key,
+    required: decl.required === true,
+    secret: decl.secret === true,
+    source,
+    type: decl.type,
+    ...(showValue ? { value: String(value) } : {}),
+    ...(decl.values !== undefined ? { values: decl.values } : {}),
+  };
+}
+
+// A coerced value, or the boot error naming the variable and what it accepts.
+function coerce(decl: SettingDecl, raw: string, name: string): { value: SettingValue } | string {
+  switch (decl.type) {
+    case "boolean":
+      if (raw === "true") return { value: true };
+      if (raw === "false") return { value: false };
+      return `${name} must be "true" or "false", got "${raw}"`;
+    case "enum":
+      return (decl.values ?? []).includes(raw)
+        ? { value: raw }
+        : `${name} must be one of ${(decl.values ?? []).join(", ")}, got "${raw}"`;
+    case "number": {
+      const value = Number(raw);
+      return Number.isFinite(value) ? { value } : `${name} must be a number, got "${raw}"`;
+    }
+    case "url":
+      try {
+        new URL(raw);
+      } catch {
+        return `${name} is not a valid URL: ${raw}`;
+      }
+      return { value: raw };
+    case "string":
+      return { value: raw };
+  }
+}

src/plugin-host/storage-provisioning.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+// The connecting half of plugin storage: runs the DDL storage.ts plans. Imported by bootstrap
+// alone — the only process holding superuser credentials, which is why the driver stops here.
+
+import postgres from "postgres";
+import { derivePassword, orphanNames, provisionSql, storageName } from "./storage.ts";
+
+export interface ProvisionOptions {
+  adminUrl: string; // needs CREATEDB + CREATEROLE, not superuser
+  connectionLimit: number;
+  pluginIds: string[];
+  secret: string;
+}
+
+export interface ProvisionResult {
+  orphans: string[]; // a plugin_ database no installed plugin claims; reported, never dropped
+  provisioned: string[];
+}
+
+export async function provisionStorage(options: ProvisionOptions): Promise<ProvisionResult> {
+  // Notices are left to surface: a REVOKE the account cannot perform only *warns*, and silencing
+  // that would mean reporting a locked-down database that is still open to PUBLIC.
+  const sql = postgres(options.adminUrl, { connect_timeout: 10, max: 1 });
+  try {
+    const provisioned: string[] = [];
+    for (const pluginId of options.pluginIds) {
+      const name = storageName(pluginId);
+      const [role] = await sql`SELECT 1 FROM pg_roles WHERE rolname = ${name}`;
+      const [database] = await sql`SELECT 1 FROM pg_database WHERE datname = ${name}`;
+      const plan = provisionSql({
+        connectionLimit: options.connectionLimit,
+        databaseExists: database !== undefined,
+        name,
+        password: derivePassword(options.secret, pluginId),
+        roleExists: role !== undefined,
+      });
+      for (const statement of plan) await sql.unsafe(statement); // provisionSql quotes what it interpolates
+      provisioned.push(name);
+    }
+    const existing = await sql<{ datname: string }[]>`SELECT datname FROM pg_database`;
+    return { orphans: orphanNames(existing.map((row) => row.datname), provisioned), provisioned };
+  } finally {
+    await sql.end({ timeout: 5 }); // a wedged connection would otherwise hang the boot web waits on
+  }
+}

src/plugin-host/storage.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,220 @@
+// Guards the per-plugin storage rules: the shared database/role name, the derived password, the DSN
+// a plugin receives and the provisioning statements. The integration test runs only when a superuser
+// DSN is supplied, so the unit suite needs no Postgres.
+import { test } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import postgres from "postgres";
+import { provisionStorage } from "./storage-provisioning.ts";
+import {
+  buildCredentials,
+  derivePassword,
+  isValidStoragePluginId,
+  MAX_STORAGE_PLUGIN_ID_LENGTH,
+  orphanNames,
+  provisionSql,
+  quoteIdentifier,
+  quoteLiteral,
+  storageName,
+  storagePluginIds,
+} from "./storage.ts";
+
+const SECRET = "a-test-secret";
+
+test("the database and the role share one plugin_-prefixed name", () => {
+  assert.equal(storageName("things"), "plugin_things");
+  assert.equal(storageName("my-plugin"), "plugin_my-plugin");
+});
+
+test("a storage plugin's id must leave the identifier under Postgres' 63 bytes", () => {
+  assert.equal(MAX_STORAGE_PLUGIN_ID_LENGTH, 56); // 63 - "plugin_"
+  assert.ok(isValidStoragePluginId("a".repeat(MAX_STORAGE_PLUGIN_ID_LENGTH)));
+  assert.ok(!isValidStoragePluginId("a".repeat(MAX_STORAGE_PLUGIN_ID_LENGTH + 1)));
+});
+
+test("the password is derived, so the same one is reachable without storing it", () => {
+  const derived = derivePassword(SECRET, "things");
+  assert.equal(derived, derivePassword(SECRET, "things"));
+  assert.notEqual(derived, derivePassword(SECRET, "other"));
+  assert.notEqual(derived, derivePassword("a-rotated-secret", "things"));
+  assert.match(derived, /^[A-Za-z0-9_-]{43}$/); // base64url of 32 bytes — needs no escaping in a DSN
+});
+
+test("credentials name the plugin's own database, user and password", () => {
+  const credentials = buildCredentials("postgres://postgres:5432", "things", SECRET);
+  assert.deepEqual(credentials, {
+    database: "plugin_things",
+    host: "postgres",
+    password: derivePassword(SECRET, "things"),
+    port: 5432,
+    url: `postgres://plugin_things:${derivePassword(SECRET, "things")}@postgres:5432/plugin_things`,
+    user: "plugin_things",
+  });
+});
+
+test("the base URL's connection parameters survive into the DSN", () => {
+  const credentials = buildCredentials("postgres://db.example?sslmode=require", "things", SECRET);
+  assert.equal(credentials.port, 5432); // absent ⇒ Postgres' default, never NaN
+  assert.equal(credentials.host, "db.example");
+  assert.match(credentials.url, /@db\.example\/plugin_things\?sslmode=require$/);
+});
+
+test("quoting doubles an embedded quote", () => {
+  assert.equal(quoteIdentifier('we"ird'), '"we""ird"');
+  assert.equal(quoteLiteral("we'ird"), "'we''ird'");
+});
+
+const ATTRIBUTES = "LOGIN NOCREATEDB NOCREATEROLE CONNECTION LIMIT 10";
+
+test("only the plugins that asked for storage are provisioned", () => {
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    storagePluginIds([{ apiVersion: "1.0.0", id: "a", storage: true }, { apiVersion: "1.0.0", id: "b" }, { apiVersion: "1.0.0", id: "c", storage: true }]),
+    ["a", "c"],
+  );
+});
+
+test("an orphan is a plugin_ database no installed plugin claims", () => {
+  const existing = ["plugin_gone", "plugin_here", "kratos", "ory"];
+  assert.deepEqual(orphanNames(existing, ["plugin_here"]), ["plugin_gone"]); // Ory's are not ours to report
+  assert.deepEqual(orphanNames(existing, ["plugin_here", "plugin_gone"]), []);
+});
+
+test("provisioning creates the role and the database when neither exists", () => {
+  const plan = { connectionLimit: 10, databaseExists: false, name: "plugin_things", password: "pw", roleExists: false };
+  assert.deepEqual(provisionSql(plan), [
+    `CREATE ROLE "plugin_things" ${ATTRIBUTES} PASSWORD 'pw'`,
+    `GRANT "plugin_things" TO CURRENT_USER`, // else a CREATEROLE (non-superuser) account cannot own it
+    `CREATE DATABASE "plugin_things" OWNER "plugin_things"`,
+    `REVOKE ALL ON DATABASE "plugin_things" FROM PUBLIC`,
+    `GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE "plugin_things" TO "plugin_things"`,
+  ]);
+});
+
+// Re-asserting the attributes, not just the password, is what makes "idempotent" mean the role
+// cannot drift — a CREATEDB granted by hand out of band is taken back on the next boot.
+test("re-provisioning re-asserts every attribute and creates nothing twice", () => {
+  const plan = { connectionLimit: 10, databaseExists: true, name: "plugin_things", password: "rotated", roleExists: true };
+  assert.deepEqual(provisionSql(plan), [
+    `ALTER ROLE "plugin_things" WITH ${ATTRIBUTES} PASSWORD 'rotated'`,
+    `REVOKE ALL ON DATABASE "plugin_things" FROM PUBLIC`,
+    `GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE "plugin_things" TO "plugin_things"`,
+  ]);
+});
+
+// The limit is interpolated unquoted, and Postgres reads a negative one as "unlimited".
+test("a connection limit that is not a positive integer is refused, not interpolated", () => {
+  const plan = { databaseExists: false, name: "plugin_things", password: "pw", roleExists: false };
+  for (const connectionLimit of [1.5, 0, -1, Number.NaN]) {
+    assert.throws(() => provisionSql({ ...plan, connectionLimit }), /positive integer/, `for ${connectionLimit}`);
+  }
+});
+
+// --- Integration: the statements above, against a real Postgres -----------------------
+// Opt-in via PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL (a superuser DSN); the unit gate runs no Postgres. What the unit
+// tests cannot prove lives here: the owner may create tables, and a peer role is locked out.
+
+const ADMIN_URL = process.env["PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL"] ?? "";
+const integration = ADMIN_URL ? {} : { skip: "set PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL to a superuser DSN to run" };
+
+function baseUrlOf(adminUrl: string): string {
+  const url = new URL(adminUrl);
+  url.username = "";
+  url.password = "";
+  url.pathname = "";
+  return url.href;
+}
+
+async function queryAs(url: string, statement: string): Promise<unknown> {
+  const sql = postgres(url, { connect_timeout: 10, max: 1, onnotice: () => {} });
+  try {
+    return await sql.unsafe(statement);
+  } finally {
+    await sql.end();
+  }
+}
+
+// Drops what a previous run may have left behind: `finally` does not survive a SIGKILL or a
+// cancelled CI job, and the leftovers would otherwise fail every later run on the same server.
+async function dropStorage(admin: postgres.Sql, ids: string[]): Promise<void> {
+  for (const id of ids) {
+    const name = quoteIdentifier(storageName(id));
+    await admin.unsafe(`DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS ${name} WITH (FORCE)`);
+    await admin.unsafe(`DROP ROLE IF EXISTS ${name}`);
+  }
+}
+
+test("provisions a database its plugin can use and a peer plugin cannot reach", integration, async () => {
+  const ids = ["storage-itest-a", "storage-itest-b"];
+  const base = baseUrlOf(ADMIN_URL);
+  const admin = postgres(ADMIN_URL, { connect_timeout: 10, max: 1, onnotice: () => {} });
+  try {
+    await dropStorage(admin, ids);
+    await provisionStorage({ adminUrl: ADMIN_URL, connectionLimit: 10, pluginIds: ids, secret: SECRET });
+
+    const owner = buildCredentials(base, "storage-itest-a", SECRET);
+    await queryAs(owner.url, "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS notes (body text)");
+    await queryAs(owner.url, "INSERT INTO notes (body) VALUES ('persisted')");
+    const rows = (await queryAs(owner.url, "SELECT body FROM notes")) as { body: string }[];
+    assert.deepEqual(rows.map((row) => row.body), ["persisted"]);
+
+    // A peer holds valid credentials for its OWN database and still cannot reach this one.
+    const peer = new URL(buildCredentials(base, "storage-itest-b", SECRET).url);
+    peer.pathname = `/${storageName("storage-itest-a")}`;
+    await assert.rejects(queryAs(peer.href, "SELECT 1"), /permission denied|not permitted/i);
+
+    // Re-running is idempotent, and a rotated secret lands on the existing role.
+    const rerun = await provisionStorage({ adminUrl: ADMIN_URL, connectionLimit: 10, pluginIds: ids, secret: "a-rotated-secret" });
+    // Scoped to this test's own ids: another plugin's database on the same server is not this
+    // test's business, and asserting otherwise would make the suite order-dependent.
+    for (const id of ids) assert.ok(!rerun.orphans.includes(storageName(id)), `${id} is still installed`);
+    const rotated = buildCredentials(base, "storage-itest-a", "a-rotated-secret");
+    const kept = (await queryAs(rotated.url, "SELECT body FROM notes")) as { body: string }[];
+    assert.deepEqual(kept.map((row) => row.body), ["persisted"]); // rotating the secret keeps the data
+    await assert.rejects(queryAs(owner.url, "SELECT 1"), /password authentication failed/i);
+
+    // Uninstalling drops nothing, so what is left behind must be named — including when the LAST
+    // storage plugin goes and there is nothing left to provision.
+    const uninstalled = await provisionStorage({ adminUrl: ADMIN_URL, connectionLimit: 10, pluginIds: [], secret: "a-rotated-secret" });
+    for (const id of ids) assert.ok(uninstalled.orphans.includes(storageName(id)), `${id}'s database is reported`);
+  } finally {
+    try {
+      await dropStorage(admin, ids);
+    } finally {
+      await admin.end({ timeout: 5 }); // its own finally, or a failed DROP leaks the connection
+    }
+  }
+});
+
+// README tells an operator CREATEDB + CREATEROLE is enough and superuser is more than it needs.
+// That is a promise about their production credentials, so prove it rather than assert it.
+test("provisions through a CREATEDB + CREATEROLE account, without superuser", integration, async () => {
+  const pluginId = "storage-itest-lowpriv";
+  const provisioner = "storage-itest-provisioner";
+  const admin = postgres(ADMIN_URL, { connect_timeout: 10, max: 1, onnotice: () => {} });
+  try {
+    // The fresh provisioner below holds no ADMIN option on a role an earlier run left behind, so a
+    // leftover would fail the ALTER branch rather than the code being wrong.
+    await dropStorage(admin, [pluginId]);
+    await admin.unsafe(`DROP ROLE IF EXISTS ${quoteIdentifier(provisioner)}`);
+    await admin.unsafe(`CREATE ROLE ${quoteIdentifier(provisioner)} LOGIN CREATEDB CREATEROLE PASSWORD 'itest-provisioner'`);
+    const asProvisioner = new URL(ADMIN_URL);
+    asProvisioner.username = provisioner;
+    asProvisioner.password = "itest-provisioner";
+    const provision = () => provisionStorage({ adminUrl: asProvisioner.href, connectionLimit: 10, pluginIds: [pluginId], secret: SECRET });
+    await provision();
+    // Twice: the second run takes the ALTER branch, where naming a superuser-only attribute would
+    // fail — i.e. every redeploy after the one that worked.
+    await provision();
+
+    const owner = buildCredentials(baseUrlOf(ADMIN_URL), pluginId, SECRET);
+    await queryAs(owner.url, "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS notes (body text)");
+    const rows = (await queryAs(owner.url, "SELECT 1 AS ok")) as { ok: number }[];
+    assert.deepEqual(rows.map((row) => row.ok), [1]); // the plugin owns and can use what it was given
+  } finally {
+    try {
+      await dropStorage(admin, [pluginId]);
+      await admin.unsafe(`DROP ROLE IF EXISTS ${quoteIdentifier(provisioner)}`);
+    } finally {
+      await admin.end({ timeout: 5 });
+    }
+  }
+});

src/plugin-host/storage.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+// Per-plugin Postgres storage: the naming, credential and DDL rules (README → Plugin storage).
+// Pure — the connecting half lives in storage-provisioning.ts, so `web` never loads a driver.
+
+import { createHmac } from "node:crypto";
+import type { Plugin } from "./plugin.ts";
+
+// Database and role share one name, so reconnecting needs nothing looked up. The prefix also keeps
+// a plugin id from ever naming an Ory database.
+export const NAME_PREFIX = "plugin_";
+
+// Postgres truncates an identifier at 63 bytes, which would silently collide two long ids.
+export const MAX_STORAGE_PLUGIN_ID_LENGTH = 63 - NAME_PREFIX.length;
+
+export interface StorageCredentials {
+  database: string;
+  host: string;
+  password: string;
+  port: number;
+  url: string;
+  user: string;
+}
+
+export function storageName(pluginId: string): string {
+  return `${NAME_PREFIX}${pluginId}`;
+}
+
+export function isValidStoragePluginId(pluginId: string): boolean {
+  return Buffer.byteLength(pluginId) <= MAX_STORAGE_PLUGIN_ID_LENGTH; // Postgres counts bytes, not characters
+}
+
+export function storagePluginIds(plugins: Plugin[]): string[] {
+  return plugins.filter((plugin) => plugin.storage).map((plugin) => plugin.id);
+}
+
+// Derived, never stored — which is what keeps the host free of state it would have to persist.
+// Whoever holds the secret holds every plugin's database.
+export function derivePassword(secret: string, pluginId: string): string {
+  return createHmac("sha256", secret).update(pluginId).digest("base64url");
+}
+
+// `baseUrl` names the server and its connection parameters, and carries no credentials of its own.
+export function buildCredentials(baseUrl: string, pluginId: string, secret: string): StorageCredentials {
+  const name = storageName(pluginId);
+  const password = derivePassword(secret, pluginId);
+  const url = new URL(baseUrl);
+  url.username = name;
+  url.password = password;
+  url.pathname = `/${name}`;
+  return { database: name, host: url.hostname, password, port: Number(url.port) || 5432, url: url.href, user: name };
+}
+
+// CREATE ROLE/DATABASE bind no parameters, so the name and password are quoted into the statement.
+export function quoteIdentifier(name: string): string {
+  return `"${name.replaceAll('"', '""')}"`;
+}
+
+export function quoteLiteral(value: string): string {
+  return `'${value.replaceAll("'", "''")}'`;
+}
+
+export function orphanNames(existing: string[], provisioned: string[]): string[] {
+  return existing.filter((name) => name.startsWith(NAME_PREFIX) && !provisioned.includes(name)).sort();
+}
+
+export interface ProvisionPlan {
+  connectionLimit: number;
+  databaseExists: boolean;
+  name: string;
+  password: string;
+  roleExists: boolean;
+}
+
+export function provisionSql(plan: ProvisionPlan): string[] {
+  // Interpolated unquoted, and Postgres reads a negative limit as "unlimited" — the opposite of the point.
+  if (!Number.isSafeInteger(plan.connectionLimit) || plan.connectionLimit < 1) {
+    throw new Error(`storage: connectionLimit must be a positive integer, got ${plan.connectionLimit}`);
+  }
+  const identifier = quoteIdentifier(plan.name);
+  // No NOSUPERUSER: naming SUPERUSER in an ALTER is superuser-only, and CREATE defaults to it anyway.
+  const attributes = `LOGIN NOCREATEDB NOCREATEROLE CONNECTION LIMIT ${plan.connectionLimit} PASSWORD ${quoteLiteral(plan.password)}`;
+  return [
+    plan.roleExists ? `ALTER ROLE ${identifier} WITH ${attributes}` : `CREATE ROLE ${identifier} ${attributes}`,
+    // CREATE DATABASE ... OWNER needs SET ROLE on the owner, and PG16+ gives a CREATEROLE account
+    // ADMIN but *not* SET on the roles it creates — so it grants itself membership first. A
+    // superuser could skip this; issuing it anyway is what keeps a least-privilege account working.
+    ...(plan.databaseExists ? [] : [`GRANT ${identifier} TO CURRENT_USER`, `CREATE DATABASE ${identifier} OWNER ${identifier}`]),
+    `REVOKE ALL ON DATABASE ${identifier} FROM PUBLIC`,
+    `GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE ${identifier} TO ${identifier}`,
+  ];
+}

src/postgres.test.ts

@@ -3,14 +3,46 @@
 // verified by booting postgres in CI/e2e; this catches edits.
 import { test } from "node:test";
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
-import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { readdirSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
 
 const read = (p: string) => readFileSync(new URL(`../${p}`, import.meta.url), "utf8");
 const ORY_DATABASES = ["hydra", "keto", "kratos"]; // one DB per Ory service
 
-test("init SQL gives each Ory service its own database", () => {
+function sourceFiles(dir = "src"): string[] {
+  const out: string[] = [];
+  for (const entry of readdirSync(new URL(`../${dir}/`, import.meta.url), { withFileTypes: true })) {
+    if (entry.isDirectory()) out.push(...sourceFiles(`${dir}/${entry.name}`));
+    else if (entry.name.endsWith(".ts")) out.push(`${dir}/${entry.name}`);
+  }
+  return out.sort();
+}
+
+test("init SQL gives each Ory service its own database, and leaves plugin databases to bootstrap", () => {
   const sql = read("ory/postgres/init/init.sql");
   for (const db of ORY_DATABASES) {
     assert.match(sql, new RegExp(`CREATE DATABASE ${db}\\b`, "i"), `creates ${db}`);
   }
+  // This file runs once, on an empty data dir — a plugin database added here would never appear for
+  // a plugin dropped in later. bootstrap provisions them on every boot instead.
+  assert.doesNotMatch(sql, /plugin_/i, "no plugin database is seeded here");
+  // PUBLIC keeps CONNECT unless it is revoked, which would put every plugin role on the auth plane.
+  for (const db of ORY_DATABASES) {
+    assert.match(sql, new RegExp(`REVOKE CONNECT ON DATABASE ${db} FROM PUBLIC`, "i"), `${db} is closed to PUBLIC`);
+  }
+});
+
+// AGENTS.md records that the driver runs the provisioning DDL in bootstrap and nothing else. A
+// single value imported from the wrong module puts it in web's graph without changing behaviour,
+// so nothing but this would notice.
+test("the Postgres driver reaches bootstrap only, never web's import graph", () => {
+  const files = sourceFiles();
+  assert.ok(files.length > 40, "walks the source tree");
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    files.filter((f) => /^import .*"postgres"/m.test(read(f))), // an import line, not a mention of one
+    ["src/plugin-host/storage-provisioning.ts", "src/plugin-host/storage.test.ts"],
+  );
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    files.filter((f) => !f.endsWith(".test.ts") && /from "[^"]*storage-provisioning\.ts"/.test(read(f))),
+    ["src/auth/bootstrap.ts"],
+  );
 });

src/server.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { createApp } from "./http/app.ts";
 import { loadConfig } from "./config.ts";
 import { createDenylist } from "./auth/denylist.ts";
 import { discoverPlugins } from "./plugin-host/discovery.ts";
+import { HOST_API_VERSION } from "./plugin-host/plugin.ts";
 import { withTimeout } from "./auth/fetch-timeout.ts";
 import { runBootHooks } from "./plugin-host/hooks.ts";
 import { createHydraAdmin } from "./auth/hydra-admin.ts";
@@ -13,8 +14,14 @@ import { createKratosAdmin } from "./auth/kratos-admin.ts";
 import { createKratosPublic } from "./auth/kratos-public.ts";
 import { createLogger, tracedFetch } from "./logger.ts";
 import { loadMenuConfig } from "./ui/menu-config.ts";
+import { resolveSettings, settingsEnvNames, strayNames } from "./plugin-host/settings.ts";
+import { buildCredentials, storagePluginIds, type StorageCredentials } from "./plugin-host/storage.ts";
 
 const config = loadConfig(); // validates the env (incl. enforced secrets) — fails loud at boot
+// The storage secret is in `config` now, so drop it from the environment before ANY plugin code
+// runs: a plugin module's top level evaluates during discovery, long before onBoot. Defence in
+// depth, not a boundary (AGENTS.md) — and only ever move this line earlier, never later.
+delete process.env["PLUGIN_DB_SECRET"];
 // App-level logger: structured, OTLP-capable when OTLP_ENDPOINT is set. The hot path clones it
 // per request for access logging + a trace span (src/http/app.ts); console-only otherwise.
 const log = createLogger({ format: config.logFormat, level: config.logLevel, otlpEndpoint: config.otlpEndpoint, otlpProtocol: config.otlpProtocol, serviceName: config.serviceName });
@@ -44,7 +51,42 @@ log.info("plugins discovered", { count: plugins.length, ids: plugins.map((p) =>
 const i18n = createI18n(await loadI18n({ logger: log, pluginIds: plugins.map((p) => p.id) }));
 log.info("locales loaded", { locales: i18n.available.join(", ") });
 
-await runBootHooks(plugins); // plugin onBoot — after discovery, before listen; a throw aborts boot
+// A plugin's database credentials are derived, never stored — so the only thing that can be missing
+// is the server itself. Refuse at boot rather than at that plugin's first query, hours later.
+const pluginDbUrl = config.pluginDbUrl;
+const declaresStorage = storagePluginIds(plugins);
+if (declaresStorage.length > 0 && pluginDbUrl === undefined) {
+  throw new Error(`config: PLUGIN_DB_URL must be set — these plugins declare storage: ${declaresStorage.join(", ")}`);
+}
+
+const storageCredentials = new Map<string, StorageCredentials>();
+if (pluginDbUrl !== undefined) {
+  for (const id of declaresStorage) storageCredentials.set(id, buildCredentials(pluginDbUrl, id, config.pluginDbSecret));
+}
+// Operator-supplied plugin settings, resolved against the environment the manifests declared. A bad
+// or missing value is refused here rather than at that plugin's first use, hours later.
+const settings = resolveSettings(plugins, process.env, { requireSecureSecrets: config.requireSecureSecrets });
+if (settings.errors.length > 0) throw new Error(`Plugin settings:\n${settings.errors.map((e) => `  - ${e}`).join("\n")}`);
+// A stray is usually a typo in the very variable the operator meant to set — naming it turns two
+// unrelated-looking errors into one. Reported, never acted on.
+const strays = strayNames(process.env, settingsEnvNames(plugins));
+if (strays.length > 0) log.warn("settings variables no installed plugin declares", { variables: strays.join(", ") });
+
+// onBoot is the only way storage credentials and settings are handed over, so without one they are
+// resolved and undeliverable. A warning, not a refusal — the plugin still works, it just gets neither.
+for (const [what, ids] of [
+  ["settings", plugins.filter((plugin) => plugin.settings?.length && !plugin.hooks?.onBoot)],
+  ["storage", plugins.filter((plugin) => plugin.storage && !plugin.hooks?.onBoot)],
+] as const) {
+  if (ids.length > 0) log.warn(`plugins declare ${what} but have no onBoot to receive it`, { plugins: ids.map((plugin) => plugin.id).join(", ") });
+}
+
+// plugin onBoot — after discovery, before listen; a throw aborts boot.
+await runBootHooks(plugins, (plugin) => {
+  const storage = storageCredentials.get(plugin.id);
+  const values = settings.values.get(plugin.id);
+  return { ...(values ? { settings: values } : {}), ...(storage ? { storage } : {}) };
+});
 
 const server = createApp({
   // Canonical-host redirect target (off-host GET/HEAD visitors are sent here). Opt-in: omitted unless
@@ -64,8 +106,9 @@ const server = createApp({
   menu,
   plugins,
   secureCookies: config.secureCookies,
+  settingsCatalog: settings.catalog,
 }).listen(config.port, () => {
-  log.info("listening", { port: config.port, url: config.appUrl ?? `http://localhost:${config.port}` });
+  log.info("listening", { apiVersion: HOST_API_VERSION, port: config.port, url: config.appUrl ?? `http://localhost:${config.port}` });
 });
 
 // Drain in-flight requests on container stop instead of cutting them mid-response, then flush any

todo.md

@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 ## Unfinnished work
 
-- [ ] Add a way to configure plugins directly when installing. **Decided: the manifest declares it, not an `.env`** — a declared schema is validatable at boot, so a missing or mistyped setting fails loud and named the way a stray `package.json` now does, and the picker/docs can be generated from the declaration. Open: where the operator *supplies* the values (env var per key, a `config/` file, or both), and whether a secret may be declared at all.
 - [ ] Rename the plugin "admin" to something less generic, like "auth-admin" or "users-groups-admin".
 - [ ] Guard the group paths against self-lockout, or accept them explicitly. The self-revoke guard covers only your own *direct* grants on the Users screen; unticking a permission on a group you belong to, removing yourself from that group, or deleting it can all still strip your own effective access with no warning. Recorded in AGENTS.md as a known gap — the robust fix is a "last effective holder" check, which needs a reverse Keto query.
 - [ ] The permission picker has no concurrency baseline, so two operators editing the same user/group silently discard each other's change. Sketch: post the rendered set as a hidden baseline; if it no longer matches Keto, re-render with "this changed while you had the page open" rather than applying.
@@ -14,7 +13,7 @@
 - [ ] Decide whether Playwright's `workers` should be pinned. Unset, it sizes the pool from `os.cpus()`, which reports the host's cores regardless of a container CPU quota — and with `retries: 0` a starved runner turns a slow test straight into a red gate. Fine on the current act_runner; revisit if CI ever runs constrained.
 - [ ] Record the browser floor Plainpages requires, and whether the fallback is the contract or a courtesy. The stylesheet needs `:has()` (Dec 2023); the menus need the popover API (Safari 17) and CSS anchor positioning for placement (newer still, and unguarded — the `@supports` test covers popover only). An iPadOS 16 tablet, capped at Safari 16, therefore gets panels flowing inline rather than working menus. Either state a supported floor or accept the fallback for those devices; nobody has rendered that path on real hardware.
 - [ ] Decide whether the profile dropdown still earns a dropdown. It holds one item, Sign out, behind a click, and its "Signed in as X" head repeats what the trigger already shows.
-- [ ] Trim whitespace around the verification code — a copy+pasted code from the email fails, today as a browser `pattern` refusal rather than a Kratos rejection. **Own session.** No zero-JS fix exists: `pattern` is rejective and cannot transform, so loosening it only lets the untrimmed value through. The real fix is a host-side proxy of the flow POST, which is feasible and half-built — `submitFlow` (`src/auth/kratos-public.ts:132`) already relays cookies and normalises a 422 `redirect_browser_to`, and has no callers outside tests. CSRF improves rather than breaks: the host already writes Kratos' cookie onto its own origin (`src/auth/routes.ts:77`), so the POST becomes same-origin, and `form-action 'self'` could finally join the CSP. Two risks: one `flow.ui.action` serves all five flows, so this rewrites the sign-in path, not just code entry; and Go's nosurf checks Referer only over https, which no test here covers. **Check first:** `kratos-admin.ts:75` returns a `recovery_link` alongside the code — if the stock courier mail carries one (unverified), a template change fixes the UX with no host code. Code entry has no E2E coverage today either way.
+- [ ] Trim whitespace around the verification code — a copy+pasted code from the email fails, today as a browser `pattern` refusal rather than a Kratos rejection, now carrying a digits-only hint so that refusal isn't bare. The paste still fails. **Own session.** No zero-JS fix exists: `pattern` is rejective and cannot transform, so loosening it only lets the untrimmed value through. The real fix is a host-side proxy of the flow POST, which is feasible and half-built — `submitFlow` (`src/auth/kratos-public.ts:132`) already relays cookies and normalises a 422 `redirect_browser_to`, and has no callers outside tests. CSRF improves rather than breaks: the host already writes Kratos' cookie onto its own origin (`src/auth/routes.ts:77`), so the POST becomes same-origin, and `form-action 'self'` could finally join the CSP. Two risks: one `flow.ui.action` serves all five flows, so this rewrites the sign-in path, not just code entry; and Go's nosurf checks Referer only over https, which no test here covers. **Check first:** `kratos-admin.ts:75` returns a `recovery_link` alongside the code — if the stock courier mail carries one (unverified), a template change fixes the UX with no host code. Code entry has no E2E coverage today either way.
 - [ ] Guard against the double-clicked submit, without client-side JavaScript. A non-technical user clicks a button twice when nothing happens fast enough, so a second identical POST is an expected event, not misuse — today it creates two users, mints two recovery codes, or registers two OAuth2 clients. Constraints: HTML/CSS only, and it must not break an action that is *legitimately* repeatable. Sketch: a CSS-only affordance so the second click has nothing to hit, paired with the host recognising a duplicate on the server — same session, route and payload within a short window — then logging and dropping it. Open questions: what identifies "the same submission" (a one-time token minted into each rendered form beats hashing the payload, and the CSRF plumbing already mints per-request tokens), the window length, where the record lives given the app is stateless, and how a plugin declares a route repeatable.
 - [ ] Decide the caching contract for rendered pages. Responses carry `Vary: Accept-Language` but nothing sets `Cache-Control`, so a shared cache has no instruction and a signed-in page is not marked `private`. Either set the headers deliberately (public cacheable, gated `private, no-store`) or record in AGENTS.md that the reverse proxy owns this.
 - [ ] Decide whether the single generic Keto `Resource` namespace should become per-domain namespaces (`Shift`, `Document`, …), as Ory's own examples model it. One global `Resource` bucket is the project's own "no catch-all names" rule applied to namespaces. A design question, not a naming one.
@@ -36,6 +35,8 @@ Prioritized. Overall verdict: architecture is sound; these are refinements.
 
 ## Finnished work
 
+- [x] Configure a plugin at install time: the manifest declares `settings`, the operator sets one `PLUGIN_SETTING_<ID>_<KEY>` variable per key, and the resolved values arrive on `onBoot` typed from the declaration. Read-only admin screen at `/admin/plugin-settings`.
+- [x] Give a plugin persistent storage: `storage: true` provisions a Postgres database + login role named `plugin_<id>`, credentials arrive on `onBoot`, passwords are derived from `PLUGIN_DB_SECRET` rather than stored.
 - [x] Refuse a stray `package.json`/`node_modules` in `config/` by name, as plugin folders already are.
 - [x] Let Renovate reach the example plugins' manifests (`ignorePaths` overrides `config:recommended`).
 - [x] The seeded admin is granted each permission once — `seedPermissions` dedupes and the grant PUT is idempotent.

tsconfig.json

@@ -24,5 +24,5 @@
     "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
     "skipLibCheck": true
   },
-  "include": ["auto-release", "config", "examples/config", "examples/plugins", "plugin-api", "plugins", "registry-cleanup", "src"]
+  "include": ["config", "examples/config", "examples/plugins", "plugin-api", "plugins", "registry-cleanup", "release-tooling", "src"]
 }

views/index.ejs

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
         <p>${t("dashboard.starter.intro")}</p>
         <p>${t("dashboard.starter.replace")}</p>
 <pre class="code-block"><code>export default definePlugin({
-  apiVersion: "1.0.0",
+  apiVersion: "0.2.0",
   // view names plugins/&lt;id&gt;/views/&lt;view&gt;.ejs, rendered in this same shell
   dashboard: (ctx) =&gt; ({ view: "dashboard", data: { /* … */ } }),
 });</code></pre>