Local Plugin MCP Activation Design

Goal

Make the bundled Qiongli Lite MCP server reliably usable from local plugin installs across Codex App, Codex CLI, Claude Code, and Claude Desktop local plugin paths. Web-only and remote-cloud execution are out of scope.

Scope

Supported local surfaces:

• Codex App and Codex CLI marketplace plugin installs.
• Claude Code marketplace plugin installs.
• Claude Desktop local/direct plugin installs when the client accepts Claude plugin bundles.
• Claude Desktop MCPB as a provider-only fallback.

Out of scope:

• Claude.ai web, Codex Cloud, hosted remote MCP, and any remote shared server.
• Requiring users to install Node, Python, npm, pip, or the full Qiongli CLI for Marketplace Lite provider tools.

Current State

v1.18.0-beta.1 already packages the Rust Lite executable as bin/qiongli-literature-provider.

Codex artifacts declare MCP through .codex-plugin/plugin.json pointing to plugin-root .mcp.json. Local codex mcp list confirms that this form is loaded by Codex CLI.

Claude artifacts declare MCP inline in .claude-plugin/plugin.json, which matches Claude Code documentation for plugin-provided MCP servers. Claude also supports plugin-root .mcp.json, but inline declaration keeps the server visible in the manifest.

The missing release gate is not structural presence. It is activation evidence: the release validator must launch the plugin-declared command and prove that the server answers initialize and tools/list.

Design

Add a marketplace activation validator that:

1. Loads the plugin MCP declaration from the same manifest path the client uses.
2. Resolves plugin-local variables such as ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}.
3. Starts the declared stdio command from the declared working directory.
4. Sends MCP initialize and tools/list JSON-RPC requests.
5. Requires the Lite provider tools that prove the server is not an empty MCP process:
   • qiongli_literature_status
   • qiongli_literature_search
   • qiongli_task_plan

The validator stays local-only. It does not add remote HTTP MCP, web activation, or cloud startup expectations.

Packaging Policy

Keep the current platform manifests:

• Codex: .codex-plugin/plugin.json plus plugin-root .mcp.json.
• Claude: .claude-plugin/plugin.json with inline mcpServers.
• Claude Desktop MCPB: standalone manifest.json plus bundled executable.

Do not move provider secrets into plugin manifests. Credentials remain in shared provider config or client-sensitive MCPB fields.

Acceptance Criteria

• Codex and Claude materialized plugin payloads can launch the declared MCP server from their plugin roots.
• Marketplace artifact validation reports MCP startup checked for Codex, Claude Code, and Claude Desktop direct plugin artifacts.
• The validator fails if the binary is missing, not executable, cannot start, or returns no required Lite tools.
• Existing full Python CLI behavior remains unchanged.