Packaging & install
A plugin ships as a single .atlasplugin file. During development you load a folder directly; to distribute it you build that folder into a validated package.
Build a package
The developer tools build your folder into a .atlasplugin, a ZIP with a checksum on every entry. On install Atlas verifies those checksums and blocks any entry that tries to escape the package directory, so a bad or crafted package cannot write outside its own install folder.
Where plugins live
Everything installed sits under %APPDATA%\Atlas\plugins. If that folder was already taken by unrelated data when Atlas first ran, the app falls back to %APPDATA%\Atlas App.
installed\publicPlugins installed from the catalog.installed\privateFirst-party and manually trusted plugins.devYour own development plugins, loaded by Import Local Project.packagesThe extracted copy of each package, kept alongside the install.The runtime loads from the installed and dev directories, keyed by manifest id. Editing a file in your source folder does not hot-reload the installed copy — reload the plugin from the Development tab, or bump its version and reinstall.
Install, reload, remove
Installing extracts the package and registers its manifest. Reloading a development plugin re-reads it from disk and remounts it with no app restart. Removing deletes the install folder; disabling keeps the files but stops it mounting. Your source files on disk are always left alone.