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HVE Core Identity and Channels

One Product Identity​

HVE Core publishes one plugin named hve-core and one VS Code extension named ise-hve-essentials.hve-core.

Root plugin.json lists every component for both. .github/plugin/marketplace.json holds one hve-core entry that points to the repository root and doesn't repeat that list. Plugin clients read the root README and LICENSE; the VSIX packages extension/README.md and extension/LICENSE.

Copilot Plugin​

The plugin has one registration, microsoft/hve-core, which follows main in both VS Code and Copilot CLI. It has no PreRelease or Stable channels and no published-release assurance. Updating it pulls the current main content.

VS Code Extension Channels​

The extension is published to the VS Code Marketplace in Stable and PreRelease channels. Both carry the same components under the same identity, ise-hve-essentials.hve-core, and differ in version and cadence. PreRelease uses odd minor versions and Stable uses even minor versions, so Stable can lag PreRelease and newer main content.

This numbering describes how releases are published, not how VS Code selects or updates a channel. How VS Code behaves when you switch between channels has not been confirmed.

The release workflows are configured to promote source from main to a release/prerelease branch and then to release/stable. A promotion merge creates no tag; release-please then opens a managed pull request on the target branch, and merging it creates the channel's prerelease-v<version> or v<version> tag and draft release. Release branches, tags, and published releases hold release history, and PreRelease publication doesn't sync versions or CHANGELOG.md back into main.

Those two release branches don't exist in the repository right now, so the workflows that run on them can't start until the branches are created. Whether to restore or retire this promotion path is tracked in issue #3117.

When the release workflow publishes a channel release, it applies review and release gates, produces one VSIX with SBOM and provenance files for that exact tag, attaches attestations, and verifies provenance. That release assurance covers the published extension only. The plugin follows main and has none.

Membership Parity​

Stable and PreRelease contain the same agents, instructions, and distributable skills, and choosing a channel never filters them. The component list includes tracked package-scoped artifacts at their canonical paths and excludes skills with a top-level noncommercial license qualifier.

Copilot Marketplace Registration​

Install the Plugin and Copilot Plugin have the install and update steps for VS Code and Copilot CLI. If you registered a release-channel or tag ref earlier, follow Replace an Earlier Registration.

Repository Adoption​

For a repository-owned copy, use the installer to copy every manifest component. Schema version 2 records selection.profile and selection.components, does not assign package ownership, and never copies hooks.

After Installation​

With the plugin installed:

  1. Agents appear in the Copilot Chat agent picker.
  2. Instructions apply to matching files through their applyTo patterns.
  3. Skills become available for semantic or explicit invocation, and user-invocable skills appear as slash commands. In VS Code, plugin skills carry the plugin name as a prefix, such as /hve-core:rpi-research.

The VS Code extension delivers the same agents and skills to Copilot sessions, but its instructions may not reach them. Use the plugin when you rely on path-specific instructions. See Use the VS Code Extension.

The hve-core plugin includes RPI Agent and the /rpi-research, /rpi-plan, /rpi-implement, and /rpi-review entry points.

🤖 Crafted with precision by ✨Copilot following brilliant human instruction, then carefully refined by our team of discerning human reviewers.