Registry Web Service

Name: semrel
Author: SemRels

The SemRels Plugin Registry is live at registry.semrel.io. The Go web service provides the public plugin catalog, REST API, and authenticated admin workflows. The static plugins.json index remains available as a machine-readable compatibility endpoint.

Why a web service exists

Better discovery

A REST API makes it easier to search, filter, paginate, and inspect plugin versions.

Operational workflows

Admin endpoints unlock managed plugin and version updates instead of editing generated files by hand.

Registry UI and dashboard

The browser-based registry UI is live, with an authenticated admin dashboard for registry maintainers.

Current architecture

Public registry: the browser UI at registry.semrel.io
Admin dashboard: authenticated management views at registry.semrel.io/admin
Web service: Go API serving plugin discovery, versions, submissions, and administration
Compatibility index: static plugins.json for clients that consume the machine-readable index directly

REST API endpoints overview

Endpoint	Purpose
`GET /health`	Health check for load balancers and deployment verification
`GET /api/v1/plugins`	List plugins with pagination and optional `category`, `search`, and `sort` filters
`GET /api/v1/plugins/:id`	Fetch a single plugin by numeric ID or plugin name
`GET /api/v1/plugins/:id/versions`	List versions for a plugin with `limit` and `offset`
`POST /api/v1/plugins`	Create a plugin record (authentication required)
`PUT /api/v1/plugins/:id`	Update plugin metadata (owner or admin)
`DELETE /api/v1/plugins/:id`	Soft-delete a plugin (owner or admin)
`POST /api/v1/plugins/:id/versions`	Create a plugin version record (owner or admin)
`GET /api/v1/admin/status`	Return current admin and service status (admin access required)

Database and deployment

The production backend uses:

Go + Gin for the HTTP API
PostgreSQL 16 for persistent plugin and version data
golang-migrate to run SQL migrations automatically at startup
Docker for local development and container image builds

Important runtime settings:

Variable	Purpose
`PORT`	HTTP listen address
`DATABASE_URL`	PostgreSQL connection string
`MIGRATE_DIR`	Migration directory loaded on startup
`ENVIRONMENT`	Runtime mode such as `dev` or `prod`
`ADMIN_TOKEN`	Optional static admin credential for local development; production uses authenticated admin sessions

Local development starts PostgreSQL through docker compose and runs the API with go run main.go.

docker compose up -d
cp .env.example .env
go run main.go
curl http://localhost:8080/health

Admin dashboard

The authenticated admin dashboard is available for registry maintainers. It provides workflows to:

manage plugin records without editing generated files directly
review versions, checksums, and compatibility metadata
support moderation and operational visibility for registry maintainers

The public registry UI remains available without authentication for browsing plugins and versions.