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Implementation Plan: Connectors (First-Party Communication-Channel Plugins)

Feature ID: connectors Spec: spec.md Status: Draft v1 Owner: Product (Ruslan) Date: 2026-07-18

Additive-only. Every phase adds category strings, capability constants, tables (nullable scope columns), packages, and services. Nothing in the existing notification-channel / aggregator / MCP surfaces is renamed or removed. Each entity change ships its migration in the same PR (apps/api/src/migrations/<unix>-*.ts).

This is a continuous program. The durable deliverables are the connector category, the IConnectorPlugin contract, and the routing/pairing/session services. Providers land one at a time against that stable contract.

Phase 1 — Category, contract, facade, Slack outbound​

Goal: a first-party bidirectional-capable plugin category exists, and slack-connector can send a message end-to-end from the UI.

  • P1.1 Add 'connector' to PLUGIN_CATEGORIES (packages/plugin/src/contracts/plugin-manifest.types.ts).
  • P1.2 Add CONNECTOR + CONNECTOR_SLACK / _DISCORD / _WHATSAPP / _NOTION / _MICROSOFT_365 to PLUGIN_CAPABILITIES (packages/plugin/src/contracts/facade-capabilities.ts).
  • P1.3 Define IConnectorPlugin + DTOs (ConnectorMetadata, ConnectorCapabilityFlags, ConnectorInboundRequest/Event, ConnectorReply, ConnectorRecordInput/Result, ConnectorPollResult, ConnectorCallOptions, isConnectorPlugin) in packages/plugin/src/contracts/capabilities/connector.interface.ts. Re-use ChannelSendInput/ChannelSendResult/ChannelTargetConfig/ChannelVerification from notification-channel.interface.ts. Export from the package barrel.
  • P1.4 BaseConnectorPlugin (packages/plugin/src/abstract/base-connector.ts): per-connectorId NUL-keyed idempotency cache, SSRF-guarded fetch, signature-verify toolkit (HMAC + ed25519, constant-time, timestamp-skew clamp), default onLoad/onUnload.
  • P1.5 connectors entity (packages/agent/src/entities/connector.entity.ts, Tier A) + repository + register in packages/agent/src/database/database.config.ts ENTITIES (no autoLoadEntities — explicit registration is mandatory, else EntityMetadataNotFoundError). @EncryptedJsonColumn for targetConfig.
  • P1.6 Migration <unix>-AddConnectorsTable.ts.
  • P1.7 ConnectorFacadeService (packages/agent/src/facades/connector.facade.ts): send / verifyConnection (outbound only this phase), owner-scoped lookup, secret redaction + length cap, PluginUsageEvent (new PluginUsageCapability.CONNECTOR). Trigger.dev connector-delivery dispatcher interface + in-process fallback (mirror the notification facade's optional dispatcher).
  • P1.8 PluginUsageCapability.CONNECTOR enum value (packages/agent/src/entities/plugin-usage-event.entity.ts).
  • P1.9 REST: apps/api/src/connectors/connectors.controller.ts + connectors.service.ts + connectors.module.ts — GET/POST /, PATCH/DELETE /:id, POST /:id/verify, POST /:id/test. DTO whitelist + targetConfig byte cap + ParseUUIDPipe + @Throttle (copy the notification-channels controller posture).
  • P1.10 slack-connector package (packages/plugins/slack-connector/): package.json (@slack/web-api), tsup.config.ts, tsconfig.json, vitest.config.ts, src/slack-connector-plugin.ts (outbound chat.postMessage, verifyConnection = auth.test), src/index.ts singleton.
  • P1.11 Web UI: apps/web/.../settings/integrations/connectors/ — connectors list + Add-Connector wizard (schema-driven form, x-secret password inputs, verify step, test-send). New "Connectors" group on /settings/plugins.
  • P1.12 Bridge: NotificationChannelFacadeService optional resolver can target a connectors row so connectors appear in the event-subscriptions matrix (no data copy).
  • P1.13 Tests: Vitest for slack-connector (send happy-path, idempotency, verifyConnection); Jest for ConnectorFacadeService (outbound, owner-scope IDOR, redaction); API e2e for CRUD + test-send.

Phase 2 — Discord, inbound, pairing, chat-everything routing​

Goal: an external message routes to an Agent and gets a reply, gated by pairing and isolated per conversation.

  • P2.1 Entities (Tier C, no @ManyToOne on scope FKs) + repositories + ENTITIES registration: connector_identities, connector_pairing_codes, connector_conversations, connector_message_log.
  • P2.2 Migration <unix>-AddConnectorInboundTables.ts (all four tables + indexes/uniques).
  • P2.3 Extend IConnectorPlugin usage: wire verifyInbound / handleChallenge / parseInbound / reply through ConnectorFacadeService.handleInbound.
  • P2.4 Inbound webhook route POST /api/connectors/inbound/:connectorId (@Public, rawBody capture, resolve-by-id → verify → challenge → parse → 202/401). Mirror composio-triggers fail-closed shape.
  • P2.5 ConnectorRoutingService (packages/agent/src/connectors/connector-routing.service.ts): inbound dedupe, identity/pairing resolution, session resolve/create (composite user:channel:conversation key + conversations link), dispatch to the chat-everything engine as the paired user under the routed Agent's AgentPermissions, reply via the connector.
  • P2.6 Untrusted-content fencing on inbound text before the engine (reuse apps/mcp fence-untrusted/sanitize approach).
  • P2.7 Pairing: POST /:id/pairing-codes (mint, hashed at rest, ≤15-min TTL, single-use, throttled), redeem path inside ConnectorRoutingService, GET /:id/identities, DELETE /:id/identities/:identityId, GET /:id/conversations.
  • P2.8 discord-connector package (packages/plugins/discord-connector/): @discordjs/rest + discord-interactions; outbound Routes.channelMessages, inbound Interactions (verifyKey ed25519, PING→PONG), reply.
  • P2.9 slack-connector inbound: Events API verifyInbound (v0 HMAC + skew clamp), handleChallenge (url_verification), parseInbound (message/app_mention), reply (threaded chat.postMessage).
  • P2.10 Web UI: per-connector inbound URL (copyable), default Agent/Team + routing-mode selector, pairing panel (mint code + instructions), identities + conversations tabs.
  • P2.11 Tests: signature-verify (valid/invalid/replayed/skewed) per plugin; pairing (mint/redeem/expiry/single-use/revoke); routing (unpaired→prompt, paired→agent reply, session isolation, inbound dedupe); e2e Discord Interactions + Slack Events round-trip.

Phase 3 — WhatsApp / Notion / Microsoft 365 + catalog repo​

  • P3.1 whatsapp-connector — Cloud API; X-Hub-Signature-256 verify; template-only outbound + 24h window; metered getPricing.
  • P3.2 notion-connector — transport: 'poll'; Trigger.dev scheduled poll() per enabled connector; createRecord (pages / DB rows); Notion verification token.
  • P3.3 microsoft-365-connector — Microsoft Graph; mail / Teams / files; Graph change-notification subscriptions + clientState verify + subscription-renewal loop.
  • P3.4 Discord Gateway socket transport for free-form (non-slash) messages — a long-lived worker; poll-vs-socket operational decision (§11.5).
  • P3.5 ever-works/connectors catalog repo — connector manifests + icons + setup guides + npm package refs; wire the plugin-catalog service to read it (agent-templates/ADR-011 analog) + EW-693 dynamic distribution (registry install-on-use).
  • P3.6 Docs: per-provider operator setup guides (create the Slack app, Discord bot, WhatsApp number, Notion integration, M365 app registration).

Phase n — Continuous​

Additional providers (Telegram bidirectional, Linear, GitHub, CRM connectors) as increments against the stable contract. Team-based routing, OAuth identity linking, and multi-workspace resolution fold in per demand (spec §11).

Dependencies​

  • Depends on: plugin registry + loader (shipped); @EncryptedJsonColumn + secret resolution (shipped); Trigger.dev job runtime (shipped); notification-channel DTOs + SSRF guards (shipped, reused).
  • Integrates with: chat-everything engine (inbound routing target), event-subscriptions (outbound bridge), tenants-and-organizations (scope columns), Agents (AgentPermissions, routing target).
  • Independent of: the existing *-channel notification plugins and the Composio/Make/SIM/Zapier/Activepieces aggregators — both keep shipping unchanged.

Constitution gates​

  • I Plugin-first — each connector is its own packages/plugins/* package.
  • II Capability-driven — selection via PLUGIN_CAPABILITIES.CONNECTOR*.
  • III Database — new tables via TypeORM migrations in the same PR; explicit ENTITIES registration.
  • IV Job runtime — outbound delivery + poll via Trigger.dev; no BullMQ.
  • V Forward-only migrations — additive tables, nullable scope columns.
  • VI Tests — Vitest per plugin + Jest for facade/routing + e2e for inbound round-trips.
  • VII Secret hygiene — bot tokens / signing secrets x-secret + encrypted targetConfig + x-envVar.
  • VIII Additive — *-channel plugins, aggregators, MCP untouched; connectors are a superset.
  • IX Behaviour-first — spec covers observable send/pair/route/reply semantics.
  • X Security — mandatory fail-closed inbound verification, pairing gate, session isolation, Agent-permission clamp.