> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.arupa.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Inter-plugin communication

> Choose how plugins share state and exchange messages.

Inter-plugin communication (IPC) lets plugins cooperate through capabilities
provided by the Arupa Kernel. Plugins do not need to share memory or connect to
each other's internal transports. The Kernel provides the communication
boundary and applies the same behavior to WASM and gRPC plugins.

Choose the mechanism based on what you need to share:

* [KV storage](./ipc-kv) provides shared in-memory state organized by namespace
  and key. Use it for values that other plugins may read or update later.
* [Plugin messages](./ipc-message) provide synchronous, point-to-point
  request/response communication. Use them when one plugin needs another plugin
  to perform an operation immediately and return a result.

KV values are not durable and plugin messages are not queued or persisted. If
data must survive a Kernel restart, store it in a durable system outside these
IPC mechanisms. If a request must be delivered asynchronously or to multiple
plugins, define that behavior explicitly in your application rather than
assuming that the Kernel will queue or broadcast it.

Both mechanisms carry data across the plugin boundary through the generated
protocol bindings. Keep the data format and ownership rules clear between the
plugins that participate in the communication.