Plugin silently fails to load: @opencode-ai/plugin is only a devDependency, missing from OpenCode's npm-plugin install tree

[NieiR]

Summary

Installed as an npm plugin ("plugin": ["@cioffi_ai/opencode-memory@1.5.1"]), the package is downloaded by OpenCode into ~/.cache/opencode/packages/@cioffi_ai/opencode-memory@1.5.1/ at startup, but it never loads: no memory_* tools are registered and nothing is logged at any level. From the user's side the plugin simply does not exist.

Root cause

package.json lists @opencode-ai/plugin only under devDependencies, while the build keeps it external:

"build": "bun build ./src/index.ts --outfile dist/index.js --target node --format esm --external \"@opencode-ai/plugin\""

so the published dist/index.js starts with:

import { tool } from "@opencode-ai/plugin";

OpenCode installs npm plugins into the per-spec cache dir with a generated package.json that contains only the plugin spec as a production dependency, and it does not alias or provide @opencode-ai/plugin for npm plugins. Module resolution from the cached entry walks up:

• .../opencode-memory@1.5.1/node_modules (contains only @cioffi_ai/opencode-memory)
• .../packages/node_modules (absent)
• ~/.cache/opencode/node_modules (absent by default)
• ...

none of which provide @opencode-ai/plugin, so the dynamic import throws:

Cannot find module '@opencode-ai/plugin' from
'C:\Users\<user>\.cache\opencode\packages\@cioffi_ai\opencode-memory@1.5.1\node_modules\@cioffi_ai\opencode-memory\dist\index.js'

OpenCode swallows the load failure silently, hence the zero-log symptom.

Reproduction

1. OpenCode 1.18.30, Windows 11, Bun 1.3.14 (the resolution failure is OS-independent)
2. Add "plugin": ["@cioffi_ai/opencode-memory@1.5.1"] to the global config and restart
3. The package appears under ~/.cache/opencode/packages/@cioffi_ai/opencode-memory@1.5.1/, but sessions have no memory_* tools and the log has no plugin-related entry
4. bun run -e 'await import("<cached dist/index.js path>")' reproduces: Cannot find module '@opencode-ai/plugin'

For contrast, the same import succeeds when @opencode-ai/plugin is present anywhere on the resolution path (e.g. installed in a sibling project), and the plugin then initializes correctly and returns all 9 tools.

Suggested fix

Either move @opencode-ai/plugin from devDependencies to dependencies (this is what other npm plugins in the ecosystem do, e.g. opencode-mem), or bundle the tool helper into dist/index.js instead of marking the package external.

Workaround for affected users

Install the plugin package on the resolution path above the OpenCode plugin cache, then restart:

cd ~/.cache/opencode && bun add @opencode-ai/plugin

Verified working: after this the plugin loads and registers memory_read, memory_write, memory_update, memory_forget, memory_clear, memory_inspect, memory_why, memory_useful, memory_irrelevant.

Environment

• opencode 1.18.30 (bundled CLI), Windows 11 x64, Bun 1.3.14
• @cioffi_ai/opencode-memory 1.5.1

[cioffiAI]

Thanks for the precise reproduction — root cause confirmed and fixed on the v1.6-retrieval-relevance branch, included in the upcoming 1.6.0.

@opencode-ai/plugin moved from devDependencies to dependencies, so the production install OpenCode performs for npm plugins now contains the module that the built dist/index.js imports, and the load failure you traced is removed. Commit: 17b00f6

On the zero-log symptom: the throw happens at module import time, before any plugin code executes, so the plugin itself cannot log it — the swallowing is on the loader side. With the import resolved, initialization logs memory plugin loaded (...) through client.app.log again.

The new release gate bun run verify:package reproduces your resolution path automatically: build → pack → install in a clean temp dir outside the checkout → import "@cioffi_ai/opencode-memory" by package name → initialize → assert the 9 tools → dispose(). It was verified to fail with Cannot find module '@opencode-ai/plugin' when the dependency declaration is removed.

1.6.0 is not on npm yet — when it is, please retry on your Windows setup without the workaround and report back here. Your bun add @opencode-ai/plugin workaround remains the fix for 1.5.1 and earlier.

[cioffiAI]

Update: @cioffi_ai/opencode-memory@1.6.0 is live on npm — the missing runtime dependency is fixed, so the load failure you traced (and its silent symptom) should be gone on a clean install.

Please retry on your Windows setup without the bun add @opencode-ai/plugin workaround and report back here. If it still fails to load, the environment details from your report (opencode version, cache path) will be enough to dig further.