vendor-preferences

Vendor preferences and contacts

Preferences are private. They live in the user's overlay, never in the plugin repository:

python3 <plugin-root>/scripts/liaison.py paths    # overlay_dir

There's one file per vendor, <overlay_dir>/<vendor-id>.json. Create the directory and the file if they don't exist. Read the file before writing to it, and merge into it; never replace the whole file.

Shape

{
  "channels": [
    {"id": "feedback-email", "type": "email", "target": "feedback@example.com",
     "visibility": "private", "purposes": ["feature"], "status": "confirmed",
     "source": "user, YYYY-MM-DD", "notes": "Not published; from the user."}
  ],
  "prefer": {
    "feature": {"channel": "feedback-email", "why": "User prefers email for feature requests."}
  },
  "avoid": ["reddit"],
  "contacts": [
    {"id": "jane", "name": "Jane Doe", "role": "Developer advocate", "organisation": "Example Ltd",
     "methods": [{"type": "whatsapp", "value": "+10000000000"}, {"type": "email", "value": "jane@example.com"}],
     "relationship": "Met at a conference; happy to take product feedback directly.",
     "use_for": ["feature", "bug"],
     "etiquette": "Informal; batch small things rather than messaging often.",
     "last_contact": "YYYY-MM-DD"}
  ],
  "notes": "",
  "vendor": null
}

• prefer.<purpose>.channel can name a public channel id from vendors/<id>/vendor.json, a private channel defined in this file, or contact:<contact id>.
• avoid lists channel ids never to suggest for this vendor.
• vendor holds a full private vendor definition (the same shape as vendor.json) for a vendor that isn't in the public data. Leave it out otherwise.
• Contacts are personal data. They stay in this file and are never copied into the repo, a public post or a log line.

After writing

Run python3 <plugin-root>/scripts/liaison.py validate <vendor-id>, then route <vendor-id> <purpose>. Show the user that the preference now ranks first, or the warning that explains why it doesn't (for example, a public channel preferred for security).