macrodeck-plugin inspect

Reports what installing an artifact or version directory would find, without a running host and without writing anything.

Examples

Inspect a packed artifact:

macrodeck-plugin inspect --artifact com.example.my-plugin-1.0.0.macroDeckPlugin

warning entrypoint-not-packed: Entrypoint 'linux-x64' declares 'runtimes/linux-x64/MyPlugin', which is not in the artifact.
warning entrypoint-not-packed: Entrypoint 'win-x64' declares 'runtimes/win-x64/MyPlugin.exe', which is not in the artifact.
com.example.my-plugin 1.0.0 (My Plugin)
A Macro Deck plugin.

Entrypoints:
  linux-x64: runtimes/linux-x64/MyPlugin (missing)
  osx-arm64: runtimes/osx-arm64/MyPlugin
  win-x64: runtimes/win-x64/MyPlugin.exe (missing)

Permissions: (none declared)

Languages: (none declared)

Dependencies: (none declared)

Conflicts: (none declared)

Icon packs: (none declared)

Compatibility:
  macroDeck: >=3.0.0

Signature: (not signed)

Entries: 346, uncompressed: 118565046 bytes, archive: 46689899 bytes, ratio: 2.5:1

Inspect a version directory before packing it:

macrodeck-plugin inspect --directory stage

Print the digest a signature is computed over:

macrodeck-plugin inspect --artifact com.example.my-plugin-1.0.0.macroDeckPlugin --show-digest

...
Digest to sign (base64): bWFjcm8tZGVjay1wbHVnaW4vMQpjb20uZXhhbXBsZS5teS1wbHVnaW4K...

Machine-readable output:

macrodeck-plugin inspect --artifact com.example.my-plugin-1.0.0.macroDeckPlugin --output json

{
  "pluginId": "com.example.my-plugin",
  "name": "My Plugin",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "A Macro Deck plugin.",
  "entrypoints": [
    {
      "rid": "linux-x64",
      "executable": "runtimes/linux-x64/MyPlugin",
      "arguments": [],
      "runtimeKind": "SelfContained",
      "dotnetVersion": null,
      "present": false
    },
    ...
  ],
  "permissions": [],
  "languages": [],
  "dependencies": [],
  "conflicts": [],
  "iconPacks": [],
  "compatibility": { "sdk": null, "macroDeck": ">=3.0.0", "protocolMinimum": null, "protocolMaximum": null },
  "signature": null,
  "entryCount": 346,
  "totalUncompressedBytes": 118565046,
  "archiveBytes": 46689899,
  "compressionRatio": 2.539415345490467,
  "warnings": [
    { "code": "entrypoint-not-packed", "message": "Entrypoint 'linux-x64' declares ..." },
    ...
  ],
  "digestBase64": null
}

Forgetting the input is a usage error - unlike validate and pack, inspect has no default:

macrodeck-plugin inspect

error no-selector: Specify one of --artifact or --directory. Unlike validate and pack, inspect has no default input.

Options

Option	Default	Description
`--artifact <path>`	-	Path to a `.macroDeckPlugin` artifact.
`--directory <path>`	-	A version directory containing `manifest.json`.
`--show-digest`	off	Also print the manifest’s signable digest, base64-encoded.
`--output <text\|json>`	`text`	How to render the result.

Exactly one of --artifact and --directory is required: neither is no-selector, both is too-many-selectors.

What is reported

Entrypoints, permissions, declared languages, dependencies, conflicts, icon packs, compatibility, signature shape, entry count, size and compression ratio.

inspect describes, it does not judge: it never runs the JSON Schema, never checks a declared file’s digest, never flags an undeclared file, and marks an unknown permission (unknown) without failing. Use validate for a verdict.

The one payload check is entrypoint presence: every declared entrypoint, for every RID, is checked against the real content. A missing one prints warning entrypoint-not-packed, is marked (missing) in the text report, and has "present": false in JSON (null when the payload could not be read, so presence was not checked). JSON also carries a top-level warnings[] of { code, message }. A single-platform build is a legitimate intermediate state, so this never changes the exit code.

Signature shape

Reported as one of not signed, well-formed ed25519 (not cryptographically verified), unverifiable (unrecognized algorithm) or invalid ed25519 length - shape only, as the signing section describes. inspect has no key material to verify against.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
`0`	The manifest was read; there is no “read fine but invalid” outcome.
`2`	Usage error: `no-selector` or `too-many-selectors`.
`3`	The input could not be read, e.g. `artifact-not-found`, `manifest-not-found`.

An artifact or manifest the reader rejects exits with the code for that reader error.