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Brief Connect Plugins

What plugins are

Brief Connect plugins add features without changes to the core product. A plugin can add a record tab or panel, a custom action, or an automated response to a workflow event. Customers use plugins for requirements beyond the standard configuration, such as a custom dashboard or a department-specific integration.

How plugins work

A plugin package can contain server code, user interface components, or both. A Brief Connect administrator uploads the package through the Admin Panel and enables it for a configuration. Plugins use the Brief Connect Plugin SDK, a software development kit that provides access to application services. These services support record access, field updates, notifications and other application actions.

User requests to plugins pass through the Brief Connect API, the interface for application requests. These requests use the application authentication process. Permission checks in the application services control access to records and actions.

Plugins can also respond to background events using application authentication context.

Security

Plugins operate as trusted application code. Brief Connect combines development controls, security testing and administrator control to manage this risk.

  • Authored by Engage Squared. Our team writes every plugin using the same secure development process as the core product. This process includes code review, automated vulnerability scanning and controls for the OWASP Top 10.
  • Application authentication. User requests to plugins use the existing Brief Connect authentication process.
  • Framework restrictions. The server restricts the libraries available when it compiles plugin code. Browser network guards restrict selected network requests to permitted destinations.
  • Controlled by you. Administrators control which plugins are enabled in the active configuration. They can disable a plugin through the configuration process.