Profile Plugins

What it does

A profile plugin renders as a card on a user's profile. It displays beneath the user's name, avatar, and bio. Multiple profile plugins stack vertically on the same profile.

When to use this context

Use profile plugins for:

User metadata: game rank, streaming status, music now playing
Activity: recent achievements, contribution graphs, activity stats
Social links: verified accounts, portfolio, website
Presence badges: online/offline, timezone, location

The identity model

Profile plugins have a unique security model because they appear on other users' profiles.

Profile owner (ctx.user): The user whose profile is being viewed. Always provided, with no grant needed.
Viewer (the current user looking at the profile): Never exposed. Dissent.getUser() and every other call outside the profile lane (below) is refused.

This prevents plugins from leaking the viewer's identity to external services. What a profile plugin can show comes from ctx.user (the owner's display name) and ctx.config (values set for this card), plus the few calls in the profile lane — it cannot fetch anything from the internet.

Minimal example

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <script src="https://app.dissent.chat/sdk/v1/dissent-plugin-sdk.iife.js"></script>
  <style>
    * { box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0; }
    body {
      font-family: system-ui, sans-serif;
      background: transparent;
      color: rgba(255,255,255,0.85);
      padding: 16px;
    }
    .card {
      display: grid;
      gap: 12px;
    }
    .stat {
      display: flex;
      justify-content: space-between;
      align-items: center;
    }
    .label {
      font-size: 13px;
      color: rgba(255,255,255,0.5);
      text-transform: uppercase;
      letter-spacing: 0.5px;
      font-weight: 600;
    }
    .value {
      font-size: 16px;
      font-weight: 700;
    }
    .error {
      font-size: 12px;
      color: #ff6b6b;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <div class="card">
    <div class="stat">
      <span class="label">Player</span>
      <span class="value" id="player">—</span>
    </div>
    <div class="stat">
      <span class="label">Main game</span>
      <span class="value" id="game">—</span>
    </div>
    <div class="stat">
      <span class="label">Rank</span>
      <span class="value" id="rank">—</span>
    </div>
    <div id="error" class="error"></div>
  </div>
  <script>
    async function main() {
      const ctx = await Dissent.init({
        onFallback: () => {
          document.getElementById('error').textContent = 'Running outside Dissent';
        },
      });

      // Apply theme
      for (const [k, v] of Object.entries(ctx.theme)) {
        document.documentElement.style.setProperty(k, v);
      }

      // ctx.user is the profile owner — the person whose profile is being viewed
      document.getElementById('player').textContent = ctx.user?.displayName ?? '—';

      // ctx.config holds the values set for this card
      document.getElementById('game').textContent = ctx.config.game ?? '—';
      document.getElementById('rank').textContent = ctx.config.rank ?? '—';

      // Theme updates
      Dissent.on('theme:change', (theme) => {
        for (const [k, v] of Object.entries(theme)) {
          document.documentElement.style.setProperty(k, v);
        }
      });
    }

    main().catch(err => console.error(err));
  </script>
</body>
</html>

The profile lane

A profile frame has no server install and no channel, and it is shown to visitors. It may make only these requests; everything else is refused with <action> is not available to profile plugins, whatever the manifest declares:

Action	Permission	SDK
`presence:read`	none	— (send the raw request) — the profile owner's public presence
`storage:localGet` / `storage:localSet` / `storage:localDelete`	`storage:local`	`Dissent.storageLocal.*` — kept on the viewer's device

So the only permission a profile plugin can use is storage:local. If its manifest declares it, anyone viewing the card — the owner included — first sees a Requires permission tile, and the consent card offers exactly that permission. Other declared permissions are left off the card, because the frame would refuse them anyway.

Gotchas

Only the profile lane. getUser(), fetch(), storage.*, postMessage() and the rest are refused in profile context. The manifest tier makes no difference here.
Viewer identity never available. Dissent.getUser() is refused in profile context. The plugin can only see the profile owner, in ctx.user.
Consent is per device. A profile plugin's grant is stored in the viewer's browser, not on the node, so each device asks once. The record is kept apart from the plugin's own storage:local data, which cannot read or change it.
ctx.channel is undefined in profile context. Don't rely on it.
Users add their own plugins. Profile owners go to User Settings → Profile and click "Add Plugin" to enable it for themselves. They're in full control.

Profile Plugins ​

What it does ​

When to use this context ​

The identity model ​

Minimal example ​

The profile lane ​