Introduction

Open Choice is a desktop application for running computational tasks through a plugin ecosystem. You define what to run in plain-text .oce task files, install plugins that know how to execute those tasks, and Open Choice handles the rest — verifying plugins are trustworthy, running them, and streaming results back to the interface in real time.

What you can do with it

• Install plugins from the registry or from a local .ocplugin file
• Write task files in a simple TOML format that references the plugins you have installed
• Run tasks and watch progress, warnings, and output artifacts appear live
• Browse plugin help — every plugin ships with documentation for its commands, examples, and expected outputs
• Track experiments through the timeline — every run is recorded so you can revisit past results

How it works

A plugin is a native binary that implements a standard protocol. When you run a task, Open Choice passes a description of the task to the plugin, and the plugin streams structured events back — progress updates, output file paths, warnings, and a final result. The plugin does the work; Open Choice provides the runtime, the UI, and the trust model.

This separation means plugins can wrap anything: a Julia script, an R model, a statistical sampler, a data pipeline. As long as the binary speaks the protocol, Open Choice can run it.

How to read this guide

If you are new, start with Installation. The three pages in Getting Started take you from installation to running your first real task.

If you already have the app installed and want to understand a specific topic, jump directly to the relevant chapter.