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Nuplane is a host-neutral runtime control plane for NuGet packages. It resolves packages, reconciles desired and actual state, maintains a deterministic local store, and emits change signals that your host can react to.

Why start here?

This wiki is a hybrid hub:

  • it is self-sufficient for evaluation and first-use learning;
  • it treats current repository behavior as the canonical product story;
  • it links to repository-owned samples, roadmap notes, and accepted specs when deeper validation or fast-moving detail would otherwise create drift.

What Nuplane is for

Nuplane exists to let .NET applications install, update, and load NuGet packages at runtime — without a restart.

  • Applicability: Core
  • Use it when you want to drop a .nupkg into a watched folder (or push to a feed) and have the package resolved, loaded into the running process, and available for type discovery within seconds.
  • Use it when you need deterministic package resolution, transactional updates, runtime package-state visibility, and host-controlled reactions to package changes.
  • Do not expect it to define plugin entry points, own your dependency-injection container, or dictate activation semantics. Your host keeps those decisions.

Practical use cases

Scenario What you get
Hot-reload plugin systems Drop a .nupkg into a folder; the running app discovers the new plugin types seconds later.
Modular feature delivery Update individual feature packages at runtime without a full redeployment.
SaaS per-tenant extensions Load per-tenant behaviour packages dynamically, isolated per load context.
Workflow and rule engines Deploy new steps or validators as packages and pick them up live.
Internal tool hosts Push a new package version to a watched folder; the host auto-reconciles.

Audience routes

Evaluator route

Start here if you are deciding whether Nuplane is relevant.

  1. Overview — why Nuplane exists, what it does, and what it does not do
  2. Getting Started — the recommended first-use path
  3. Concepts and Glossary — optional terminology backstop

Integrator route

Start here if you want to move from evaluation to first use.

  1. Overview
  2. Getting Started
  3. Usage Guide
  4. Concepts and Glossary for terminology lookups

Contributor route

Start here if you need architecture and repository-to-concept mapping.

  1. Overview
  2. Architecture Guide
  3. Concepts and Glossary
  4. Source References to see which repo artifact owns deeper detail

What you will find in this wiki

  • Evaluator framing: purpose, value proposition, capabilities, and non-goals
  • Integrator guidance: recommended setup path, scenario selection, and sample-backed next steps
  • Contributor orientation: module map, control loop, and terminology normalization

What stays repository-owned

The wiki intentionally links out to repository-owned sources for:

  • full validation command sets and sample walkthrough depth;
  • roadmap-phase detail and accepted feature history;
  • maintainer or operator runbook material;
  • low-level implementation specifics that are better anchored in code or specs.

See Source References for the ownership matrix.

Stability and applicability labels

This wiki uses the shared label set from _Footer:

  • Core
  • Optional Module
  • Phase-Based
  • Recently Changed
  • Evolving

These labels clarify applicability without replacing current repository behavior as the canon.

Canonical repository anchors

Next step

If you are new to Nuplane, continue to Overview.