Publishing

Changelog

Changes to the Chataway app platform, the manifest, the SDK and these docs.

#2026-10-01 — Build in Chataway, local apps, connectors

Building

App projects: Apps → + New app scaffolds a local or cloud app, links it in developer mode and starts a builder chat. The App strip shows status, version and reloads, with Inspector, Use in… and Share.
Builder tools for the agent (every provider that has app tools): app_status, app_reload, app_call_tool, app_inspect, app_validate, app_screenshot_panel. Load errors reach the agent's next turn by themselves.
Publish from Chataway: Share → Publish to store… uses the account the Mac is signed in with — publisher pick or create, store checks with Ask agent to fix, permission changes, version bump, build, pack, upload and review status. The CLI path is unchanged.

Local apps

server.ts with the kernel API (ctx.tools, cards, jobs, storage, settings, secrets, prompts, agentContext, actions, project, host.media, files, accounts).
Isolation: apps from GitHub run in their own process — always; your own with Run isolated. Files, child processes and signals limited; network only to network.domains with the network grant, through an egress proxy; the macOS sandbox on top. Every ctx call returns a promise across the boundary — await them.
exec is labelled full access to this Mac everywhere: programs inherit Chataway's macOS privacy permissions.

Sharing

Install from GitHub: owner/repo[@ref], GitHub URLs (incl. monorepo folders), npm: packages and MCP URLs. Pinned to one commit, labelled Unverified, optional agent check, updates with a diff and fresh consent for wider access, revocation by commit range, Open source to fork into an app project.
Push to GitHub from the App strip (private by default) and install links: chataway.co/install?repo=…&ref=….

Connectors and dependencies

Connectors: hosted MCP servers added by URL with MCP sign-in (protected resource metadata, dynamic client registration, PKCE + resource); Popular connectors (Canva, Notion, Linear, Sentry, Stripe); approval before tools that aren't read-only.
accounts[].auth: "mcp" for cloud apps whose MCP server does its own OAuth.
Dependencies: requires.apps, requires.connectors, requires.optional. Apps wait for required apps; a newly required dependency is a widening (human review, consent again).

Instructions

ctx.prompts, ctx.agentContext and skills reach Codex (developer instructions), OpenCode (system), Cursor and Grok (a first-message preamble, re-sent on change) as well as Claude — one block per chat, capped at 6,000 characters.

Under the hood

One install pipeline for every source (store, GitHub/npm, connector, folder, developer link): the same validation, install sheet, consent, update and uninstall steps, so every app page reads the same way.
One manifest definition: the JSON Schema, the SDK's types, the validator copies, these docs' tables and the App builder skill's reference are all generated from it.

The first public version of the app platform.

Platform

Cloud apps (Level 1): a manifest, a static panel and a remote MCP endpoint. The store accepts only cloud apps.
Manifest v3 (pluginApiVersion: 3): publisher, categories, branding, remote, accounts, tool files / confirm / account, and the cloud grants files:receive, files:return, host:media, project:write.
Remote app runner: tools come from your MCP server over Streamable HTTP; only declared tools are registered; 120 s per call, 50 MB per response, 60 calls per minute per app.
File hand-off with per-project consent, prepare, accept and maxBytes; files returned from tools land in your app's storage.
Host services: resize, crop, convert, compress, trim, frame, extract_audio, concat, probe.
Connected accounts: OAuth 2.1 authorization code + PKCE through https://chataway.co/apps/oauth/callback.
Cards: confirm approval cards, elicitation as form cards, notice and gallery result cards via _meta["chataway/card"].
Panels: sandboxed webview with a CSP from remote.domains, host-drawn views and badges, live theme tokens.

Store

Publishers with DNS domain verification, developer tokens and device sign-in.
Automated checks on every upload; human review for first versions, permission changes, unverified publishers and flagged checks; automatic approval otherwise.
Ed25519-signed versions and revocation list.

Tools

@chataway/apps 0.1: manifest types and validator, panel bridge with a mock host, theme.css, server helpers, and the chataway CLI (init, dev, validate, pack, login, logout, publish, status).
create-chataway-app 0.1.
JSON Schema at /schemas/app-manifest-v3.json.