golem-manage-plugins

Agent Building

Managing Golem plugins — listing available plugins, installing and configuring plugins via golem.yaml or CLI, and understanding built-in plugins like the OTLP exporter.

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Managing Golem Plugins

Plugins extend component and agent behavior without modifying application code. Currently, the only plugin type is Oplog Processor — a WASM component that receives and processes the operation log entries produced by agents (e.g., exporting traces, logs, or metrics).

Built-in Plugins

Golem ships with the following built-in plugins, automatically registered and available in every environment:

Plugin Name	Type	Description
`golem-otlp-exporter`	Oplog Processor	Exports agent telemetry (traces, logs, metrics) to any OTLP-compatible collector (Jaeger, Grafana, Datadog, etc.)

golem-otlp-exporter Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
`endpoint`	Yes	OTLP collector endpoint URL (must start with `http://` or `https://`)
`headers`	No	Comma-separated `key=value` pairs sent as HTTP headers (e.g., `x-api-key=secret,auth=token`)
`signals`	No	Comma-separated telemetry types to export: `traces`, `logs`, `metrics`. Default: `traces`
`service-name-mode`	No	How to set the `service.name` attribute: `agent-id` (default) uses the worker ID, `agent-type` uses the component ID

Installing Plugins via golem.yaml

Add plugins to a component or agent in golem.yaml using the plugins field:

components:
  my-app:service:
    plugins:
      - name: golem-otlp-exporter
        version: "1.1.5"
        parameters:
          endpoint: "http://localhost:4318"
          signals: "traces,logs,metrics"

agents:
  MyAgent:
    plugins:
      - name: golem-otlp-exporter
        version: "1.1.5"
        parameters:
          endpoint: "https://otel-collector.example.com:4318"
          headers: "x-api-key=my-secret-key"
          signals: "traces,logs"
          service-name-mode: "agent-type"

Plugin Installation Fields

Field	Required	Description
`name`	Yes	Plugin name (e.g., `golem-otlp-exporter`)
`version`	Yes	Plugin version string
`account`	No	Account that owns the plugin (omit for built-in plugins)
`parameters`	No	Key-value map of plugin-specific configuration

Template Substitution in Plugin Parameters

Plugin parameter values support Jinja-style template substitution using {{ VAR_NAME }}. At deploy time, these are resolved against the host machine's environment variables:

plugins:
  - name: golem-otlp-exporter
    version: "1.1.5"
    parameters:
      endpoint: "{{ OTLP_ENDPOINT }}"
      headers: "x-api-key={{ OTLP_API_KEY }}"

If a referenced variable is missing, deployment fails with the list of unresolved variables. See the golem-add-env-vars skill for full details on the substitution syntax.

Using Templates

Plugins can be defined in componentTemplates and inherited via the cascade system:

componentTemplates:
  observability:
    plugins:
      - name: golem-otlp-exporter
        version: "1.1.5"
        parameters:
          endpoint: "http://localhost:4318"
          signals: "traces,logs,metrics"

components:
  my-app:service:
    templates: [rust, observability]

Plugin Merge Modes

When plugins are inherited from templates, the pluginsMergeMode field controls how they combine:

Mode	Behavior
`append` (default)	Add new plugins after inherited ones
`prepend`	Add new plugins before inherited ones
`replace`	Discard inherited plugins, use only the ones defined here

components:
  my-app:service:
    templates: [observability]
    pluginsMergeMode: replace
    plugins: []                    # Remove all inherited plugins

Per-environment Plugin Configuration

Use presets and environments to vary plugin parameters across deployment targets:

CLI outputs mask plugin parameter values by sensitive-looking parameter names. If a plugin parameter contains a secret, use a name containing words such as secret, token, password, or key so commands like component get, component manifest-trace, and deploy mask it by default.

components:
  my-app:service:
    plugins:
      - name: golem-otlp-exporter
        version: "1.1.5"
        parameters:
          endpoint: "http://localhost:4318"
    presets:
      production:
        pluginsMergeMode: replace
        plugins:
          - name: golem-otlp-exporter
            version: "1.1.5"
            parameters:
              endpoint: "https://otel.prod.example.com:4318"
              headers: "x-api-key={{ OTLP_API_KEY }}"
              signals: "traces,logs,metrics"

environments:
  local:
    server: local
    componentPresets: debug
  production:
    server: cloud
    componentPresets: production

Managing Plugins via CLI

Listing Available Plugins

golem plugin list                     # List all registered plugins

Installing a Plugin on a Component (imperative)

golem component plugin install \
  --component-name my-app:service \
  --plugin-name golem-otlp-exporter \
  --plugin-version "1.1.5" \
  --priority 0 \
  --param endpoint=http://localhost:4318 \
  --param signals=traces,logs

Viewing Installed Plugins

golem component plugin get \
  --component-name my-app:service

Updating a Plugin

golem component plugin update \
  --component-name my-app:service \
  --plugin-to-update 0 \
  --priority 1 \
  --param endpoint=https://new-endpoint:4318

Uninstalling a Plugin

golem component plugin uninstall \
  --component-name my-app:service \
  --plugin-to-update 0

Declarative vs Imperative

Declarative (golem.yaml): Preferred for repeatable setups. Plugins are installed/updated on golem deploy. Configuration lives in version control.
Imperative (CLI): Useful for quick one-off installations, debugging, or environments where the manifest is not available.

When using golem deploy, the manifest is the source of truth — any plugins defined in golem.yaml are reconciled with the deployed state.

Plugin Priority

When multiple plugins are installed, priority determines their execution order. Plugins with higher priority values are applied first. Priority is set explicitly via the CLI's --priority flag; in golem.yaml, the order in the plugins list determines priority (first entry = highest priority).

Documentation

App manifest reference: https://learn.golem.cloud/app-manifest
Full docs: https://learn.golem.cloud

Related Skills

For enabling the built-in golem-otlp-exporter plugin and exporting telemetry from agents, load the language-specific skill: golem-enable-otlp-rust, golem-enable-otlp-ts, golem-enable-otlp-scala, or golem-enable-otlp-moonbit