paperclipai/paperclip · error

Plugin installed but manifest is missing

Error message

Plugin installed but manifest is missing

What it means

500 from POST /plugins/install. Fires when loader.installPlugin reports success but the discovered result has no manifest — installation succeeded on disk yet the manifest is absent, which indicates a loader bug rather than user error.

Source

Thrown at server/src/routes/plugins.ts:1213

      if (cloudManaged && !(await isWithinBundledPluginRoot(validated.canonicalPath))) {
        res.status(403).json({
          error:
            "cloud-managed instances may only install plugins from the bundled plugin catalog",
        });
        return;
      }
      canonicalLocalPath = validated.canonicalPath;
    }

    try {
      const installOptions = canonicalLocalPath !== undefined
        ? { localPath: canonicalLocalPath }
        : { packageName: trimmedPackage, version: version?.trim() };

      const discovered = await loader.installPlugin(installOptions);

      if (!discovered.manifest) {
        res.status(500).json({ error: "Plugin installed but manifest is missing" });
        return;
      }

      // Transition to ready state
      const existingPlugin = await registry.getByKey(discovered.manifest.id);
      if (existingPlugin) {
        await lifecycle.load(existingPlugin.id);
        const updated = await registry.getById(existingPlugin.id);
        await logPluginMutationActivity(req, "plugin.installed", existingPlugin.id, {
          pluginId: existingPlugin.id,
          pluginKey: existingPlugin.pluginKey,
          packageName: updated?.packageName ?? existingPlugin.packageName,
          version: updated?.version ?? existingPlugin.version,
          source: isLocalPath ? "local_path" : "npm",
        });
        publishGlobalLiveEvent({ type: "plugin.ui.updated", payload: { pluginId: existingPlugin.id, action: "installed" } });
        res.json(updated);
      } else {

View on GitHub (pinned to a7e689b3c3)

Solutions

1. Include the required field(s) in the request path, query, or body as named by the error message, then retry.
2. Check the API contract in packages/shared validators for the exact required shape of this endpoint.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at server/src/routes/plugins.ts:1197 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@a7e689b3c3 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ab8b952552b692b8. Report an issue: GitHub.