Docker: persist uploaded plugins

[latonz]

Thank you for this great piece of software!

I've deployed Matterbridge to my home server using Docker Compose and the provided template. However, I've encountered an issue with plugin persistence.

After uploading and installing a custom-made plugin, everything works fine, but once I recreate the container, the uploaded plugin is no longer found. I see the following error:

Failed to resolve plugin path /usr/local/lib/node_modules/matterbridge-pihole/package.json: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/usr/local/lib/node_modules/matterbridge-pihole/package.json'

What’s the recommended way to persist uploaded plugins when using Docker Compose?

[Luligu]

Hi,
thanks for your appreciation.

Best option is to deploy it in the Matterbridge directory so is always available when the container is recreated even if the plugin is not published to npm.
Then add it using the path (consider matterbridge is running in the container so something like /root/Matterbridge/yourplugin.

[Luligu]

Means you still run it from npm.
Run matterbridge -logstorage and you see the entry point of your plugin.
If still not working check your docker compose volume map.
Adding a plugin already registered does nothing actually... even if you use path cause it resolves differently.

[latonz]

You are correct, matterbridge -logstorage shows path: /usr/local/lib/node_modules/matterbridge-pihole/package.json.
I tried npm run npmPack, copying the resulting tgz file to /root/Matterbridge/matterbridge-pihole.tgz and running matterbridge -add /root/Matterbridge/matterbridge-pihole.tgz. This resulted in an error. I then unzipped the file and tried matterbridge -add /root/Matterbridge/matterbridge-pihole/package.json which worked successfully. After that i ran matterbridge -enable /root/Matterbridge/matterbridge-pihole/package.json which also succeeded. Now matterbridge -logstorage shows /root/Matterbridge/matterbridge-pihole/package.json as path which seems to be correct. However, the plugin still fails to load:

[07:34:07.106] [PluginManager] Failed to load plugin matterbridge-pihole: Cannot find package 'matterbridge' imported from /root/Matterbridge/matterbridge-pihole/dist/module.js
Error [ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND]: Cannot find package 'matterbridge' imported from /root/Matterbridge/matterbridge-pihole/dist/module.js
[07:34:09.438] [Matterbridge] The plugin matterbridge-pihole is in error state.

If i upload the exact same tgz file via the Matterbridge UI everything works fine.

Is there a reason, why uploaded plugins are not stored automatically in a persistent location?

[Luligu]

Not that way.
Cd /Matterbridge
Then git clone your plugin
Cd your plugin
Install, link matterbridge and build

It needs to have the whole structure not a tgz.

In this way your plugin is loaded from /Matterbridge/yourplugin

[latonz]

So, does that mean I need the entire development environment inside the Matterbridge container? Is there a specific reason why uploaded plugins aren’t persisted in a way that allows them to survive container recreations, for example when updating the container with Watchtower?

[Luligu]

Not at all.
Matterbridge/yourplugin is outside the container.
Is a volume.
Your plugin in dev stage will always be found and loaded even if you pull a new matterbridge image or recreate the container.
Btw if you publish it to npm is probably easier.