17. English–Chinese plugin glossary
This reference standardizes Simplified Chinese terminology for plugin authoring and documentation review, including distinctions that affect execution and authorization. Each entry links to its contract; detailed behavior belongs to that contract and the current implementation.
1. Usage conventions
- On first use, a Chinese explanation may use “中文术语 (English term)”; use the preferred Chinese term thereafter. Keep Agent in plugin prose, optionally introducing it as 智能体. Use 代理 for a network proxy.
- Preserve identifier spelling and case, including
agent.extension,manifest.renderer,sessionIdandturnId; translated labels are not API names. - Distinguish host (宿主) from a network host (主机), and runtime (运行时) from elapsed running time (运行时长). Qualify the component and API when discussing processes, authorization or IDs.
- The Chinese terms guide technical explanations. Quote UI labels, logs and protocol literals with their original names.
2. Execution and trust
| English term | Preferred Chinese | Meaning and usage | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agent | Agent（智能体） | The model-driven execution loop that reasons and invokes tools. Use Agent in plugin prose; reserve proxy for a network intermediary. | Agent runtime |
| Host | 宿主 | PI-Desktop as the application that loads plugins and supplies APIs. Name Electron Main or Rust host-core when the responsible component matters. | Process model |
| Rust host-core | Rust 宿主核心 | The Rust component that owns SQLite, durable host state and native host operations; distinct from the Electron main process. | Process model |
| Agent Runtime | Agent 运行时 | The Node runtime that integrates the agent loop, model calls, tools and agent extensions. Runtime means the execution environment, not elapsed time. | Agent runtime |
| Sidecar | 伴随进程（sidecar） | A host-managed child process, such as Rust host-core or the Node Agent Runtime. Specify which sidecar; the word alone does not identify a trust boundary. | Process model |
| Plugin process | 插件进程 | The separate Electron utilityProcess that evaluates a plugin main entry. Its raw Node APIs retain the operating-system user's privileges. | Spec 01 |
| Renderer | 渲染器 | The Electron process that renders UI. Distinguish the application renderer, which hosts trusted renderer extensions, from isolated plugin panel/view pages. | Process model |
| Process isolation | 进程隔离 | Running plugin main code in a separate process so it has no live Electron Main objects. This does not confine raw Node filesystem or network access. | Spec 04 |
3. Plugin contributions
| English term | Preferred Chinese | Meaning and usage | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plugin | 插件 | The manifest-based unit of installation, enablement, permissions and contributions in PI-Desktop. Agent extensions are contributions owned by a plugin. | Spec 01 |
| Manifest | 插件清单（manifest） | The manifest.json declaration of identity, entries, permissions and contributed features. A declaration requests a capability; it is not itself user authorization. | Spec 02 |
| Contribution / contribution point | 贡献项／贡献点 | A contribution is a declared feature, such as a command or theme; a contribution point is the host-defined place or field accepting it, such as contributes.commands. | Spec 02 |
| Command | 命令 | A registered action callable from the command palette or an authorized shortcut. A command registration does not by itself register an Agent tool. | Spec 09 |
| Agent tool | Agent 工具 | An operation exposed to the Agent with a name, description, argument schema and execute handler. Plugin tool names are namespaced by the host. | Spec 03 |
| Skill | 技能 | A discoverable instruction document whose body can be loaded into model context. A skill is not an executable ExtensionAPI module or an MCP server. | Spec 01 |
| MCP server | MCP 服务器 | A Model Context Protocol server whose tools can be exposed to the Agent. Plugin contributions declare stdio or HTTP transport with the corresponding permission. | Spec 02 |
| Background service | 后台服务 | A declared resident service registered by the plugin and started/stopped under host supervision inside the plugin process. It is not a separate OS service. | Spec 05 |
| Provider | 服务提供方（Provider） | A host provider record representing a model-service integration, including its protocol and authentication configuration. Plugin provider contributions create host-owned records. | Spec 02 |
| Adapter | 适配器 | An implementation layer that maps a protocol or API onto the runtime, such as a speech adapter or the Desktop ExtensionAPI adapter. Name the adapted interface. | Spec 16 |
| Agent extension / trusted extension | Agent 扩展／受信任扩展 | A contributes.agentExtensions module executed inside the Agent sidecar through the supported ExtensionAPI subset, requiring agent.extension. It does not run in the plugin main process. | Spec 16 |
| Renderer extension | 渲染器扩展 | The ES module named by manifest.renderer, loaded into the application renderer with renderer.extension. It shares the host document; UI slots are not a sandbox. | Spec 13 |
4. UI surfaces
| English term | Preferred Chinese | Meaning and usage | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plugin panel | 插件面板 | The isolated HTML entry named by manifest.ui.panel, opened in a separate BrowserWindow with the ui.panel permission. A floating widget is a panel placement, not a renderer extension. | Spec 03 |
| Work panel view | 工作面板视图 | A contributes.views HTML surface docked in the application work panel. It uses the same panel bridge and isolation policy as detached plugin panels. | Spec 03 |
| UI slot | UI 插槽 | A host-defined mount point where a renderer extension registers a component with pi.slots.register. It belongs to the host document, unlike an isolated HTML view. | Spec 13 |
| Composer | 消息输入框（Composer） | The chat input surface that holds the draft and attachments. Distinguish a user-invoked composer transform from an Agent tool or automatic message submission. | Spec 03 |
5. Authorization and execution context
| English term | Preferred Chinese | Meaning and usage | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permission | 权限 | A named host API capability, such as fs.read or agent.extension, declared in manifest.permissions. Its risk label is not a grant. | Spec 13 |
| Grant | 授权 | The host-recorded approval of a requested permission. Brokered API admission checks declared and granted permissions together, plus applicable resource constraints. | Spec 04 |
| Consent / confirmation | 用户同意／用户确认 | The user's answer to a host-owned approval prompt, such as an out-of-scope file request. Do not assume every permission check opens a first-use prompt. | Spec 04 |
| Activation scope | 激活范围 | The global or project-limited selection controlling where an enabled plugin applies. It does not grant filesystem access or replace permission grants. | Spec 01 |
| Filesystem scope | 文件访问范围 | Root-relative patterns in manifest.fs.read.scope, manifest.fs.write.scope and manifest.fs.delete.scope bound brokered file operations. Distinguish these from the plugin's activation scope. | Spec 04 |
| Plugin-private data directory | 插件私有数据目录 | The calling plugin's directory returned by pi.plugin.getDataPath(), separate from its code and the host database. Private namespacing is not an OS sandbox. | Spec 11 |
| Workspace | 工作区 | The current project-folder context reported by pi.workspace.get(), including a primary root and optional group roots. Reading this metadata grants no file access; a remote-project: identity is not a local path. | Spec 03 |
| Project / project group | 项目／项目组 | A project row and a logical folder group are different host entities. The projectId on each pi.projects.list() result row identifies a project; the projectId returned by pi.workspace.get() identifies a group. These IDs are not interchangeable. | Spec 03 |
| Session | 会话 | The Agent conversation identified by sessionId, with its own transcript and runtime context. It is distinct from a Chromium session partition. | Spec 03 |
| Turn | 回合 | One host-tracked execution within a session, identified by turnId. It can include multiple model requests and tool calls; a terminal state need not mean task success. | Spec 03 |
| Model context | 模型上下文 | The messages and instructions prepared for a model request. session.getLlmContext returns a bounded, compaction-aware projection of the invoking tool session, not unrestricted transcript access. | Spec 03 |
6. Communication and isolation
| English term | Preferred Chinese | Meaning and usage | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPC | 进程间通信（IPC） | Communication across process boundaries. Application renderer IPC, the plugin-process channel and the panel bridge have different callers and callable vocabularies. | Spec 12 |
| RPC | 远程过程调用（RPC） | A request/response invocation across a boundary. Remote here does not require a network host; the plugin broker also exchanges calls over local process messaging. | Spec 12 |
| Broker | 调用中介（broker） | The Electron Main dispatcher that routes plugin pi.* calls, checks permissions and resource policy, and invokes host services. It is not a network proxy. | Spec 12 |
| Panel bridge | 面板桥接接口 | The preload-exposed window.pluginBridge interface used by isolated panel/view pages. It does not expose the plugin process's full pi object. | Spec 03 |
| Message bus | 消息总线 | Host-routed publish/subscribe messaging between plugins, bounded by declared topics/patterns and grants. A received payload conveys data, not additional authority. | Spec 04 |
| Sandbox | 沙箱 | An enforced execution boundary. Plugin panel/view pages have Electron sandboxing and no Node integration; plugin main code and trusted renderer/Agent extensions have different trust models. | Spec 04 |
| Session partition | Chromium 会话分区 | The per-plugin Chromium storage/cookie session used by panel/view pages. It is not an Agent session or a separate OS user. | Spec 04 |
| Egress allowlist | 出站访问白名单 | The manifest.net.domains rules checked on host-mediated network paths. The separate net.anyHost grant controls allowlist exemptions; other endpoint restrictions still apply. This policy does not sandbox raw Node networking. | Spec 04 |
| Network proxy | 网络代理 | A configured intermediary for outbound HTTP/SOCKS traffic. Keep proxy distinct from Agent and from the plugin call broker. | ADR 0177 |
7. Lifecycle
| English term | Preferred Chinese | Meaning and usage | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enabled / loaded | 已启用／已加载 | Enabled is the persisted user choice; loaded means the current runtime instance is present. A registry entry alone is not proof that the process is running. | Spec 05 |
| Hot reload | 热重载 | Reloading a development plugin after source changes. The host checks the recorded permission/file-scope approval; a manifest edit does not silently widen the approved reach. | Spec 10 |
| Unload / uninstall | 卸载运行实例／卸载插件 | Unload ends the runtime instance and withdraws resources while retaining private data. Uninstall removes the registry row and managed code/private data by default, while preserving development source. | Spec 11 |