Implement Plugin Registry System with Environment Variable Control

[sirkitree]

Overview

Add a plugin registry system that allows enabling/disabling plugins via environment variables. This will allow different deployments (Lullabot vs Tugboat) to control which features are active without code changes.

Approach: Environment Variable Registry

Use a single environment variable with comma-separated plugin names:

ENABLED_PLUGINS=karma,factoids,help,uptime,botsnack,hello,conversions,add-prompt

Current Plugins

• karma
• factoids
• help
• uptime
• botsnack
• hello
• conversions
• add-prompt
• channel-security (pending from Feature Request: When adding the bot to new slack channels check that the channel is not shared (with customers) #74)

Implementation Tasks

1. Create src/services/plugin-registry.ts

   • Parse ENABLED_PLUGINS env var
   • Provide isPluginEnabled(pluginName: string) method
   • Default behavior if env var not set (all enabled or specific list?)

2. Update src/bot.ts plugin loader

   • Check registry before loading each plugin
   • Log which plugins are enabled/disabled on startup
   • Maintain existing error handling

3. Documentation

   • Update CLAUDE.md with plugin registry info
   • Update README with environment variable documentation
   • Add example .env entries

4. Testing

   • Test with various combinations of enabled plugins
   • Verify default behavior when ENABLED_PLUGINS not set
   • Ensure disabled plugins don't load

Benefits

• Per-deployment control (Lullabot vs Tugboat can have different configs)
• Simple to understand and manage
• No architecture changes needed
• Future-proof for new plugins

Related

• Feature Request: When adding the bot to new slack channels check that the channel is not shared (with customers) #74 - Channel security plugin needs to be optional for Tugboat deployment