browser/platform/protocol/server-lifecycle.md

Server Plugin and Instance Lifecycle Contract

Installed Server Plugin

An installed game management plugin is reusable. It defines a server type, but it is not a server instance.

The plugin marketplace API is a platform-facing projection over this installed registry metadata. It is not a package store, billing system, provider marketplace, or cloud host sales surface.

States

• installed: plugin manifest and schemas are valid.
• disabled: plugin cannot create new servers but existing instances remain inspectable.
• invalid: plugin failed validation and cannot create or manage instances.
• updating: plugin version is being changed.

Server Instance

A server instance is created from one installed game management plugin and is later bound to the generated Run endpoint when that Run registers. Platform stores the instance and projections; Run owns observed lifecycle execution on the machine.

States

• draft: instance record exists and is awaiting Run-owned lifecycle bootstrap or reports.
• installing: Run reports that plugin-owned install/bootstrap work is active.
• ready: install/bootstrap succeeded without starting a supervised process, and the server can start.
• running: server process is running.
• stopped: server process is stopped.
• failed: last lifecycle operation failed.
• deleted: instance is no longer active.

Invariants

• One GamePlugin installation may own many ServerInstance records.
• A ServerInstance must keep its own config version, artifacts, jobs, log streams, and permissions.
• Updating a plugin must not silently mutate existing server instances without a recorded reconcile job.
• Deleting a plugin must be blocked or explicitly require handling existing server instances first.

Lifecycle Actions

• create: validate plugin and create the instance record without requiring a run endpoint, deployment target, or runtime profile.
• start: record/authorize operator intent and route bounded control to the bound Run when applicable; generated Run startup is driven by its package-local autonomous lifecycle plan.
• stop: record/authorize operator intent and route bounded control to the bound Run when applicable. Run runs the plugin-declared graceful stop step first and escalates to bounded termination only when that action declares fallback: "terminate".
• restart: queues the plugin-declared stop action for a running or stopped instance and queues the plugin-declared start action after the terminal stop job succeeds. A failed or cancelled stop leaves the instance failed and never starts the server.
• update: queues the plugin-declared install/update action for a running, stopped, ready, or failed instance and queues the plugin-declared start action after the update job succeeds. The plugin owns the graceful close inside its install action, so an update never replaces server files under a live process.
• delete: stop server when needed, preserve or remove artifacts according to policy, mark deleted.

Implemented Workflow Routes

• GET /api/v1/plugin-marketplace/plugins lists plugin marketplace summaries from registry metadata with status, server type, capability, and keyword filters.
• GET /api/v1/plugin-marketplace/plugins/{id} returns one registry-backed marketplace detail.
• POST /api/v1/plugin-marketplace/plugins/{id}/state applies metadata-only install, enable, or disable state changes.
• POST /api/v1/server-instances/workflows/create validates an installed plugin, server name, idempotency key, and plugin-declared create inputs when provided. It creates the instance without requiring a deployment target, run endpoint, or runtime profile. Generated Run packages carry the autonomous lifecycle plan that Run consumes on startup; registration confirms binding/auth and does not enqueue bootstrap lifecycle jobs.
• POST /api/v1/server-instances/{id}/start validates the instance is ready or stopped, checks the expected config version, verifies the plugin start action and run endpoint process.start capability, and queues a start job.
• POST /api/v1/server-instances/{id}/stop validates the instance is running, checks the expected config version, verifies the plugin stop action and run endpoint process.stop capability, and queues a stop job.
• POST /api/v1/server-instances/{id}/restart validates the instance is running or stopped, checks the expected config version, verifies the plugin stop action and run endpoint process.stop capability, and queues the plugin-declared stop job recorded as a restart lifecycle operation.
• POST /api/v1/server-instances/{id}/update validates the instance is running, stopped, ready, or failed, checks the expected config version, verifies the plugin install action and run endpoint process.install capability, and queues the plugin-declared install/update job recorded as an update lifecycle operation.
• Server-scoped raw config read/diff/approve routes are not product APIs. AI-assisted configuration uses reviewable AI config-diff approvals and typed dispatch metadata without returning raw config text to plugin pages.
• POST /api/v1/file-operations/dispatch queues scoped files.read or files.write jobs for logical server/plugin file keys after role and permission checks.
• GET /api/v1/metrics/server-instances returns bounded per-server metrics for instances visible to the authenticated user.

Workflow route responses include the accepted action, bounded server instance metadata, and bounded job metadata. They do not expose run session tokens, host paths, raw credentials, direct sockets, AI provider keys, or plugin action file contents.

Server metrics responses are bounded and platform-mediated. They do not expose host filesystem paths, run sockets, raw credentials, direct storage backends, or AI provider keys.

Config write approval and file dispatch are platform-mediated. They carry logical keys such as server.properties or logs/latest.log, scoped refs such as input://... or artifact://..., and bounded job metadata only. They do not mutate local files in the platform process and do not expose raw host paths, run credentials, direct sockets, AI provider keys, or inline large payloads.

Marketplace state actions update only registry install state. They do not download packages, dispatch run jobs, execute plugin bridge code, write server files, expose package bytes, or contact external services. Package acquisition and runtime execution remain deferred to explicit future changes.

Lifecycle Projection

Platform-visible lifecycle state is a projection from Run-reported facts. Terminal run job results update the associated server instance when the job capability is a lifecycle capability for explicit Platform-authorized operations:

• process.install + succeeded marks the instance ready.
• process.start + succeeded marks the instance running.
• process.stop + succeeded marks the instance stopped.
• process.install, process.start, or process.stop + failed or cancelled marks the instance failed.

Active start and stop jobs do not introduce separate starting or stopping states in this change. Operators can inspect pending job state through the job list while the instance remains in its last terminal server state.

A terminal succeeded restart or update job queues the plugin-declared start action for the same instance and config version with idempotency key <restart|update key>:start. The follow-up start runs through the same start validation as an explicit operator start. Active start, stop, restart, and update jobs do not introduce separate starting, stopping, restarting, or updating states; operators can inspect pending job state through the job list while the instance remains in its last terminal server state.

Plugin-Declared Graceful Stop

Run performs no game-specific shutdown logic. A plugin stop action may declare a gracefulStop step in actions/stop.json:

"gracefulStop": {
  "executableKey": "bin/scum-stop.cmd",
  "environment": { "SERVER_STOP_SHUTDOWN_COMMAND": "Quit" },
  "timeoutMs": 300000,
  "fallback": "terminate"
}

Run runs that declared script first, then reads the supervised process state. If the process has exited, the stop result reports a graceful stop. If it is still running, Run applies the declared fallback: report fails the job so the operator can intervene, and terminate escalates to the existing bounded termination path. The shutdown command, player notice, wait budget, and Steam app id stay in plugin-owned files and manifest declarations; Run and Platform only implement the generic mechanism.

Plugin-Declared Build Comparison

A plugin may declare a steam.update dependency probe with targetKey (the SteamCMD executable binding), steamAppId, and an optional platform list. Run queries the published build for the app's public branch with SteamCMD and compares it with the installed build recorded in steamapps/appmanifest_<appId>.acf under the instance's declared server install root, falling back to the SteamCMD directory. The probe reports bounded evidence of the form installed=<build> latest=<build> update=yes|no (or update=unknown) so the management console can light up an update action without embedding game policy in the platform.