Add the new party-link plugin

[HavardPede]

Party Link — remote party control

link: https://github.com/HavardPede/party-link

What is this?

A Plugin Hub plugin that connects RuneLite to an external server over a persistent WebSocket connection for remote party management.

The player pairs once with a server URL and a one-time code. After that, the plugin authenticates automatically on login, identifies the player's RSN to the server, and receives commands in real time:

• JOIN_PARTY — sends an in-game invitation. The player must type ::join to accept.
• LEAVE_PARTY — removes them from their current party automatically.
• ROLE_CHANGE — displays a role notification.

Each command is acknowledged after execution. That is the full scope.

Why?

Finding the right group for PvM content is clunky. You juggle Discord, manually shared passphrases, and someone always joins the wrong party.

Imagine you want to run Theatre of Blood. You open potionstorage.com, find a group that needs a mage, and join the listing. Once the group is full, the site pushes a JOIN_PARTY to everyone's client. Each player sees:

You have been invited to join a party as mage. Type ::join to accept.

One command, and the whole group is in the same RuneLite party. When the raid is over and the group disbands on the site, the plugin leaves the party automatically so no one lingers in a dead session. The site knows which player is which because the plugin reports their RSN after pairing — no manual name entry needed.

That is what this plugin enables: external tools handle discovery and matchmaking, Party Link handles the bridge into RuneLite.

A note on automatic leaving

Joining requires explicit player action (::join), but leaving is automatic when the server sends LEAVE_PARTY, for example when a group disbands or a player is removed from a listing. Leaving reduces server load rather than adding to it and prevents stale sessions from lingering. Happy to hear if the team would prefer confirmation here as well.

Server-agnostic

The plugin speaks an open WebSocket protocol documented in docs/protocol.md. Any server can implement it. A live reference implementation is available at potionstorage.com.

Potential future addition: world reporting

Having the plugin report the player's current world would let a site show "join X's party — world 302" without the player saying it manually. I held off because world information can be used to locate players for PK-ing. Reporting it to a server the player has explicitly paired with feels different from broadcasting it publicly, but I wanted to flag it rather than ship it quietly.

[runelite-github-app]

New plugin party-link: https://github.com/HavardPede/party-link/tree/de729a81255179b1678033a062e3050de4353de6

[runelite-github-app]

This plugin requires a review from a Plugin Hub maintainer. The reviewer will request any additional changes if needed.

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Internal use only: Reviewer details Maintainer details

[raiyni]

We aren't going to allow a plugin that automatically joins/rejoins parties for users

[HavardPede]

We aren't going to allow a plugin that automatically joins/rejoins parties for users

Thank you for your swift feedback, @raiyni. Thats a real shame, though. What is the blocking risk?
And what would be potential alternatives you would be okay with, if the current implementation is not allowed?

What about using chat commands? When accepted to a party, the user could use a chat command to join. so the chat would show something along the lines of:

you have been accepted to party "theatre of blood". type ::join to join the party.

I assume its the action of joining and leaving specifically that is the issue here, not the websocket implementation.

[coopermor]

The party server is already under high load. Having people automatically join parties they may not be using is even more load. Chat commands or actions to join a party manually are fine

[HavardPede]

The party server is already under high load. Having people automatically join parties they may not be using is even more load. Chat commands or actions to join a party manually are fine

Thanks for the insight, @coopermor. In theory would leaving parties automatically then be an acceptable feature? Or would this also require a manual action?

[HavardPede]

I have now updated the plugin with the ::join command, you no longer automatically join. I kept the automatic leaving feature, as from my understanding this will actually reduce the load on the party server, and will be a better user experience. Hope this is better, @coopermor and @raiyni 😃