OpenBI SDK

Plug-ins give OpenBI Studio’s agent new hands and the studio new tabs. A plug-in is a small .NET library built on the OpenBI SDK: it runs inside the studio, reads the open model and runs OAX queries on it, and keeps its own settings on the user’s computer. The SDK is free of charge.

What a plug-in is

A plug-in is a folder with a manifest, plugin.json, and a .NET 10 assembly with a class that implements IStudioPlugin. When it is turned on, the studio makes that class and hands it IStudioHost, the studio’s side of the contract:

Part	What it is
`plugin.json`	Who the plug-in is: its id, name, version, publisher, its assembly and entry class, the oldest studio it runs in.
`IStudioPlugin`	What you write: its tabs, its agent tools, what it tells agents about them.
`IStudioHost`	What the studio gives: the open model and OAX, settings and secrets, sign-ins, privacy, the Activity panel.
`PluginView`	A tab under SPECIALTY in the studio’s navigation, if the plug-in has any.

The SDK is plain .NET 10, with no user interface library, so a plug-in’s logic and agent tools build and test on Windows, macOS or Linux. Only its tabs belong to one studio: WPF in the Windows studio, Avalonia in the Mac studio.

How a plug-in runs

In the studio’s process, with the user’s rights. It is not a sandbox, which is why the studio runs only signed plug-ins, on Windows and on a Mac.
In a load context of its own: its libraries are its own, loaded from its folder, while what the studio has (the SDK, ModelContextProtocol, WPF or Avalonia) is the studio’s.
When it is turned on, in Specialty modules or by your organization’s policy. Its tools then join the studio’s agent endpoint, beside the studio’s own.
In OpenBI Studio only: plug-ins don’t run in OpenBI Server.

Specialty modules

Under SPECIALTY in the studio’s navigation, + opens Specialty modules: the plug-ins on this computer, each with its publisher, version, where it is installed and the SDK contract it was built against, a switch to turn it on or off, and Remove. Install a plug-in… installs one from its zip (see Packaging and distribution).

Plug-ins never come with OpenBI Studio: each is a download of its own, from www.openbi.no/sdk/ or from its publisher. Norway Analytics’ free plug-ins are there, Customer Service among them (see Example: Customer Service).

The SDK and its versions

The SDK’s version is OpenBI Studio’s: the current download, on www.openbi.no/sdk/, is OpenBI SDK 0.3.74, for OpenBI Studio 0.3.74 and later. Its contract with the studio has a version of its own, 1.2, which OpenBI Studio 0.3.73 and later have, and they run every 1.x plug-in (see Versioning).