Summary

Companion issue for an exploratory draft PR that prototypes a Studio extension system.

The idea is to let Studio stay lean by default while still making room for advanced workflows that do not need to live directly in core. The first shape is intentionally constrained: trusted local extensions only, installed from a Git URL or local directory into the Studio config directory.

Scope to discuss

• Extension manifest and discovery under the Studio config directory.
• Settings UI for install, uninstall, enable, and disable.
• Renderer contribution points for sidebar sections, main content panels, settings tabs, account sections, and root providers.
• A generic namespaced RPC bridge for extension-owned main-process handlers.
• Fail-closed behavior for disabled, missing, unknown, or unsupported extensions.
• Keeping reusable runtime capabilities in Studio core while extension-specific UI and workflows live outside core.

Non-goals for the first version

• Public marketplace.
• Arbitrary remote JavaScript loading.
• Full VS Code extension API parity.
• Broad access to Studio internals.
• A stable public extension API before dogfooding a trusted pilot.

This issue is meant to give maintainers a place to discuss the architecture before treating the draft PR as merge-ready.