#749 Support Multiple Private Backends/Tools

[tariqksoliman]

Closes #749

With Claude (bedrock)

Overview

This PR implements a flexible plugin system that allows MMGIS to support multiple private
backend and tool directories through wildcard pattern matching. Previously, MMGIS only
supported single hardcoded directories for private plugins (/API/MMGIS-Private-Backend and
/src/essence/MMGIS-Private-Tools). This enhancement enables teams to maintain multiple
plugin sources from different repositories while keeping them gitignored.

Changes Made

1. Backend Plugin System (API/setups.js)

• Modified getBackendSetups() to dynamically discover and load all directories matching
  patterns:
  • Private-Backend (e.g., My-Private-Backend, MMGIS-Private-Backend)
  • Plugin-Backend (e.g., NASA-Plugin-Backend, Custom-Plugin-Backend-v2)
• Added informative logging when plugins are loaded
• Maintains backward compatibility with existing MMGIS-Private-Backend

2. Tool Plugin System (API/updateTools.js)

• Modified updateTools() to dynamically discover and load all directories matching patterns:
  • Private-Tools (e.g., My-Private-Tools, MMGIS-Private-Tools)
  • Plugin-Tools (e.g., NASA-Plugin-Tools, Mission-Plugin-Tools-v2)
• Added informative logging when tools are loaded
• Maintains backward compatibility with existing MMGIS-Private-Tools

3. Git Configuration (.gitignore)

• Added wildcard patterns to automatically ignore all plugin directories:
  /API/*Private-Backend*
/API/*Plugin-Backend*
/src/essence/*Private-Tools*
/src/essence/*Plugin-Tools*

4. Documentation Updates

• README.md: Added new "Plugins" section explaining the plugin system
• CONTRIBUTING.md: Added comprehensive plugin development instructions for both tools and
  backends
• Documentation Site: Added plugin system overview to the Contributing guide
• Configure UI: Added informational "Custom Tools" card in the Tools tab

Benefits

• Multiple Plugin Sources: Teams can maintain separate plugin repositories (e.g.,
  mission-specific, organization-specific)
• Flexible Naming: Any directory containing the keywords works (e.g., Mars-Private-Tools-v2,
  JPL-Plugin-Backend)
• Override Capability: Plugins can override standard tools/backends by using the same names
• Backward Compatible: Existing private directories continue to work
• Zero Configuration: All plugin directories are automatically discovered and gitignored

Usage Examples

Backend Plugins:

• /API/NASA-Plugin-Backend/
  • /CustomDraw/
    • setup.js
    • routes/
    • models/

Tool Plugins:

• /src/essence/Mission-Private-Tools/
  • /CustomInfo/
    • config.json
    • InfoTool.js
    • InfoTool.css

Testing

• Created test plugin directories to verify automatic discovery
• Confirmed plugins are loaded with npm start (backends) and npm run build (tools)
• Verified git properly ignores all plugin directories
• Tested that plugins can override standard tools/backends

Notes

• Backend plugins only require npm start to be loaded (no build step needed)
• Tool plugins require npm run build to be included in the frontend bundle
• Plugin loading order is deterministic (alphabetical within each category)
• All plugin directories matching the patterns are automatically gitignored

This implementation provides a clean, flexible way for teams to maintain private or
mission-specific functionality while benefiting from MMGIS core updates.

[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
9 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud