Lesson 5.2: Polyglot sidecar plugin

Difficulty: Intermediate | Duration: 15 min | Prerequisites: Lesson 5.1; Python 3.10+ (or your language of choice)

Overview

Not every protocol lives in .NET. Bowire's sidecar model lets you ship a plugin in any language — Python, Rust, Node, Go — as a separate process that speaks Bowire's plugin protocol over a local channel. Bowire supervises the sidecar; the workbench treats its protocol like any bundled one.

The shape

  • A sidecar is a small program that implements the plugin handshake (discover / invoke / stream) and is packaged as a .zip (or an oci:// reference).
  • Bowire launches it, forwards discovery + invocation, and renders the results in the sidebar — identical UX to a .NET plugin.
  • Use it when the wire's best client library is in another ecosystem (a Python SDK, a Rust protocol crate), or when your team simply isn't a .NET shop.

Steps

1. Author the sidecar

Implement the handshake in your language using the sidecar SDK for that ecosystem: respond to a discovery request with your services/methods, and to invoke requests with responses (stream frames where relevant). Keep it a single, self-contained program.

2. Package + install

bowire plugin install --file my-sidecar.zip
# also accepts an http(s):// URL or an oci:// registry reference:
bowire plugin install --file oci://registry.example.com/team/my-sidecar:1.0

Bowire routes on the shape: a .zip / oci:// is a sidecar (any language); a .nupkg is a .NET plugin (Lesson 5.1). Restart the workbench — the sidecar's protocol shows up like any other.

3. Run + verify

Discover against a target that speaks your protocol; the sidecar's methods render in the sidebar with the standard invoke pane. Bowire owns the sidecar's process lifecycle (start/stop/health — Lesson 5.4).

Key Takeaways

  1. Sidecars ship a plugin in any language as a .zip / oci:// package.
  2. bowire plugin install --file <zip|oci|nupkg> — one flag routes on shape (sidecar vs .NET).
  3. Same workbench UX — Bowire supervises the process; the protocol behaves like a bundled one.

What's Next

Continue: → Lesson 5.3: UI extension — semantic kinds

Reference