feat(core): integrate auto-installer with plugin loader for seamless plugin installation

[michaelbe812]

Summary

• Integrates auto-installer with plugin loader for automatic plugin package installation
• Provides seamless UX when plugin packages are missing

Problem Statement

Currently, when users try to use a plugin but the corresponding npm package is not installed, the plugin loader throws a PluginNotFoundError. This creates a poor user experience as users must manually install plugin packages before using them.

Solution

Integrated the existing auto-installer infrastructure with the plugin loader to automatically install missing plugin packages when:

• The package is a known @nx-plugin-openapi/* plugin
• Not running in a CI environment
• The package is genuinely missing (not other errors)

Changes

• Modified plugin-loader.ts to add auto-installation logic after fallback paths are tried
• Added comprehensive tests for auto-installation scenarios
• Handle installation failures gracefully with proper logging

Benefits

1. Seamless UX: Users don't need to manually install plugin packages
2. Maintains existing behavior: Fallback paths and error handling remain unchanged
3. Safe: Only attempts installation for known plugin packages in development environments
4. Leverages existing infrastructure: Uses the already-implemented auto-installer module

Testing

• All existing tests pass
• New tests added for auto-installation scenarios
• Linting passes
• Tested with missing packages, CI environments, and installation failures

Fixes #66

[michaelbe812]

Review summary

• Integration of auto-installer into plugin loader looks solid and scoped.
• Tests cover happy path, CI skip, non-scope packages, failure handling, and built-in mapping.
• Ran Nx tests across workspace locally; all suites passed. No regressions observed.

Suggestions (non-blocking)

1. Avoid repeated install attempts on failure: track failed auto-installs per package during process lifetime to prevent repeated attempts.
2. Add a test for createPlugin() after installation to exercise all export patterns, mirroring the default-export case.
3. Consider passing cwd/root into installPackages so installing occurs at workspace root when loadPlugin is invoked with opts.root.
4. Optional environment opt-out (e.g., NX_PLUGIN_OPENAPI_AUTO_INSTALL=false) for advanced users.

LGTM from a functionality standpoint. I can’t formally approve my own PR; please have another maintainer approve.

[graphite-app]

The installPackages() function appears to be asynchronous but is being called synchronously. This could lead to the retry import executing before the installation completes. Consider adding await:

await installPackages([pkg], { dev: true });

This ensures the installation fully completes before attempting to import the newly installed package.

Suggested change

	installPackages([pkg], { dev: true });
	await installPackages([pkg], { dev: true });

Spotted by Diamond



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