Overview: Plugins
Plugin architecture and compatibility connect an extension's code and persisted state with the host's supported contracts.
A plugin participates in the server's discovery, invocation and shutdown relationships. Compatible loading is one checkpoint; feature behavior, dependencies and existing data add others. The two pages explain that lifecycle so replacing an assembly is understood as more than changing a filename.
Plugin architecture
A server plugin adds code to the host's extension lifecycle, using supported discovery and interfaces while sharing the host's execution resources.Plugin compatibility
Plugin compatibility requires a supported relationship among host interfaces, runtime dependencies, platform assets and persisted data, not merely a successfully loaded package.