# Package Plugin > Build the upload archive for a plugin payload in this distribution repository. Use when asked to package the plugin, produce the submission zip, cut a plugin release artifact, or prepare a Codex/OpenAI Plugin Portal upload. Covers host selection, the pre-flight gates, and what to do after the archive exists. - Skill: `nexu-io/package-plugin` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add nexu-io/package-plugin` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/nexu-io/package-plugin/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: Nexu (https://skillmd.com/u/nexu-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/nexu-io/package-plugin --- # Package a plugin payload ## The archive is host-specific, not portable There is one archive per host, built from one `plugins///` payload. Never treat a built archive as a generic "OpenDesign plugin zip" and never hand a Codex archive to another host. The payload's own contents are host conventions: | Payload member | Why it is host-specific | | --- | --- | | `.codex-plugin/plugin.json` | The manifest directory name is Codex's convention. Another host reads a different directory. | | `open-design.package.json` | Declares `schemaVersion: "open-design-codex-cloud-package/v3"` and `minimumCodexCliVersion`. | | `skills//agents/openai.yaml` | Per-skill interface metadata keyed by host. A different host reads a different filename in `agents/`. | The repository layout encodes the same rule: `plugins///`, described under "Host directory convention" in `AGENTS.md`. Codex is the only validated host in this revision. The host-neutral parts — `README.md`, `SKILL.md`, `assets/` — are shared *content*, not a shared *package*. They only become installable once wrapped in one host's manifest. ## Build it ```bash node scripts/package-plugin.mjs ``` `--host` defaults to `codex`, the only host with packaging rules. Useful flags: - `--host ` — pick a different host payload. - `--plugin ` — required only when `plugins//` holds more than one plugin. - `--out-dir ` — archive destination; defaults to `.tmp/plugin-upload` (gitignored). - `--skip-gates` — skip the validator and package tests. Use only for a throwaway inspection build, never for one you intend to upload. - `--json` — machine-readable result, including the archive `sha256`. The archive lands at `.tmp/plugin-upload/-plugin-.zip` for Codex. That filename has no host token because 0.5.2 was submitted to the Portal under it and submission records should stay continuous; every host added later gets `--plugin-.zip` instead. ## What the script refuses to do Each of these is a real failure mode that would otherwise ship a broken or mislabelled archive, so treat a rejection as a bug in the payload, not as an obstacle to work around: - **Unknown host.** A host with no entry in the script's `HOSTS` table is rejected rather than packaged with guessed conventions. - **Foreign interface file.** A Codex payload carrying `agents/claude.yaml` (or any non-`openai.yaml` interface) is rejected — that is exactly the cross-host leak this split exists to prevent. - **Wrong package contract.** A payload whose `*.package.json` declares another host's `schemaVersion`. - **Stale provenance.** `release-manifest.json` `plugin.contentListSha256`, `plugin.version`, or `plugin.path` disagreeing with the payload on disk. This is the common one: someone edited the payload and forgot to regenerate the digest. The error prints the regeneration command. - **OS junk or symlinks.** `.DS_Store`, `__MACOSX/`, `Thumbs.db`, `desktop.ini`, or any symlink inside the payload. Unless `--skip-gates` is passed, it also runs `scripts/validate-distribution.mjs` and `tests/distribution-contract.test.mjs` first, and reports their results. ## Reproducibility The same reviewed tree always produces the same archive bytes. Entries are emitted in a fixed C-collation order, `zip -X` drops platform extra fields, and staged mtimes are normalized to `release-manifest.json`'s `generatedAt` with `TZ=UTC`. Two consecutive runs must yield the same `sha256`; if they do not, something is writing into the payload between runs — find it before uploading. Record the printed `archive sha256` alongside the submission so the uploaded bytes can be re-derived later. ## Adding a new host Do not package a host by loosening a check. Add its entry to `HOSTS` in `scripts/package-plugin.mjs` with all of: - `manifestPath` — where that host reads the plugin manifest. - `packageContractSchema` — the `schemaVersion` its package contract must declare. - `agentInterfaceFile` — the filename it reads inside each skill's `agents/`. Then create the validated payload at `plugins///`, extend `scripts/validate-distribution.mjs` and `tests/distribution-contract.test.mjs` to cover it, and only then build. `AGENTS.md` requires a validated host-specific package before a host directory is added at all. ## After the archive exists The archive is a Portal upload artifact only. It is **not** the normal user installation route — users install through the Git marketplace (`codex plugin marketplace add nexu-io/open-design-agent-plugins`), which reads `plugins/codex/open-design/` from `main` directly and never touches this zip. The reverse substitution fails too: a GitHub source download ("Download ZIP", or a repository/PR archive) is not an upload artifact. It nests the manifest under `/plugins///`, and the Portal requires it at the archive root. If someone reports "Plugin manifest not found", check which file they uploaded before looking at the payload. Before submitting, confirm the reviewer-facing records match the version you just built: `docs/SUBMISSION_TEST_CASES.md`, and the `validation` block in `release-manifest.json` (entries marked `not-rerun-for-` still refer to an older candidate and must be re-run against the Portal's own validators).