Agent plugins in VS Code

Agent plugins bundle related customizations into one installable setup. Use a plugin to adopt a shared workflow instead of assembling its skills, agents, and tool integrations individually. For example, a testing plugin can package a test-running skill, review agent, and reporting integration that are intended to work together.

This article shows you how to discover, install, configure, update, and troubleshoot plugins. To create or package a plugin, see the agent plugin authoring reference.

If you only need a project rule or a single skill, start with an individual customization. Choose a bundle when its components support a workflow you want to adopt together.

What plugins provide

Plugins can provide the following customizations. The selected harness and plugin format determine which components are available.

Installed plugin customizations appear alongside your locally defined ones. For example, skills from a plugin show up in Configure Skills, and MCP servers appear in the MCP server list. Installing an automation template does not start an automation; review and configure it before turning it on.

Check the plugin's supported clients and components before installing. See Cross-tool compatibility for how portable and client-specific components differ.

Discover and install plugins

You can browse and install plugins from marketplaces or directly from a Git repository.

Manage plugins with slash commands

In a Copilot harness session, enter /plugin in the chat input to view completions for plugin and marketplace operations.

Marketplace plugins use the qualified identity <plugin>@<marketplace>. Use this identity when plugins in multiple marketplaces have the same name. Command completion suggests valid marketplace and plugin identities for each operation.

Plugins installed directly from a Git repository can be updated or uninstalled, but they can't be enabled or disabled. To stop using a directly installed plugin, uninstall it. Included and centrally managed marketplaces can't be removed.

Install a plugin from a marketplace

Install a plugin from source

You can install a plugin directly from a Git repository URL without adding a full marketplace first.

• Run Chat: Install Plugin From Source from the Command Palette.

• Alternatively, select Install Plugin from Source on the Plugins page of the Agent Customizations editor.

Enter a Git repository URL (for example, https://github.com/rwoll/markdown-review) and VS Code clones and installs the plugin.

Plugins installed by GitHub Copilot CLI

VS Code automatically discovers plugins that you install with the GitHub Copilot CLI to enable you to use them also in VS Code. Plugins from ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ appear in the Agent Plugins - Installed view alongside plugins you installed from a marketplace or from source.

The CLI stores plugins under ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/<marketplace>/<plugin>/. Plugins installed directly from a Git URL (rather than from a marketplace) live under the _direct bucket, for example ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/_direct/github--moda-linter--copilot-plugin/.

View installed plugins

The Agent Plugins - Installed view in the Extensions view shows the plugins you have installed. From this view, you can enable, disable, or uninstall plugins.

You can also manage installed plugins from the Chat view by selecting Open Customizations in the title bar, and then selecting Plugins.

Enable or disable plugins

You can enable or disable a plugin globally or for a specific workspace:

• Use the context menu on a plugin in the Agent Plugins - Installed section of the Extensions view.

• Use the Agent Customizations editor to toggle a plugin's enabled state.

The enable/disable state is stored separately from the plugin configuration, so it does not affect shared workspace settings.

When a plugin is disabled, its skills, agents, hooks, MCP servers, slash commands, and automation templates are no longer available. For example, skills from a disabled plugin do not appear in Chat: Configure Skills, and automation templates do not appear in Templates from Plugins. Disabled plugins appear with a dimmed style in the Agent Customizations editor and Extensions view.

Uninstall plugins

To remove a plugin, right-click it in the Agent Plugins - Installed view and select Uninstall. Plugins installed from an external source (such as npm, PyPI, or an external Git repository) are removed from disk. Plugins that are inlined in a marketplace repository remain on disk but are no longer active.

Configure plugin marketplaces

You can discover plugins from marketplaces such as copilot-plugins and awesome-copilot. To configure additional marketplaces, use chat.plugins.marketplaces Open in VS Code Open in VS Code Insiders (Experimental).

Marketplaces are Git repositories that contain plugin definitions. You can reference them in several formats:

• Shorthand: owner/repo for public GitHub repositories. For example, anthropics/claude-code. Append #<ref> to select a branch, tag, or full 40-character commit SHA.
• HTTPS git remote: a full URL ending in .git. For example, https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code.git.
• SCP-style git remote: SSH-style references. For example, git@github.com:anthropics/claude-code.git.
• file URI: a file:/// path to a marketplace repository already cloned on disk.

For reproducible installations, use a full 40-character commit SHA, such as owner/repo#<commit-sha>. VS Code installs plugins from that exact revision. Branch and tag references use the revision they resolve to when the marketplace is fetched.

Private repositories are also supported. If a public lookup fails, VS Code falls back to cloning the repository directly.

When a marketplace index declares a plugin at a relative path, VS Code verifies the repository, resolved revision, and path before installation. Sources with a missing revision, an invalid path, or an ambiguous path match are rejected.

Marketplace plugins can also reference external package sources such as npm or PyPI packages. For the full marketplace plugin schema, see the Claude Code plugin marketplace documentation.

// settings.json
"chat.plugins.marketplaces": [
    "anthropics/claude-code"
]

Use local plugins

If you manually clone or download a plugin, you can register it with chat.pluginLocations Open in VS Code Open in VS Code Insiders (Experimental). This setting maps local plugin directory paths to an enabled or disabled state. Set the value to true to enable the plugin, or false to keep it registered but disabled.

// settings.json
"chat.pluginLocations": {
    "/path/to/my-plugin": true,
    "/path/to/another-plugin": false
}

Update plugins

VS Code checks for plugin updates when you run Extensions: Check for Extension Updates from the Command Palette, or automatically every 24 hours when extensions.autoUpdate Open in VS Code Open in VS Code Insiders is enabled.

Updating pulls down changes from cloned marketplace repositories and checks for new versions of externally sourced plugins.

Plugins sourced from npm or PyPI never update automatically. Instead, they show an Update button in the Extensions view. Selecting the button prompts you to confirm before running the install command. If an update is found during a background check, no action is taken until you explicitly select Update.

Workspace plugin recommendations

Projects can recommend plugins for team members by configuring plugin settings in the workspace settings (.claude/settings.json or .github/copilot/settings.json).

VS Code shows a notification the first time a chat message is sent. You can view the recommended plugins by opening the Extensions view and filtering by @agentPlugins @recommended.

Specify the following fields in the settings file to configure workspace plugin recommendations:

• extraKnownMarketplaces: registers additional marketplaces for the project. These marketplaces appear when you search @agentPlugins in the Extensions view.

• enabledPlugins: lists plugins that should be enabled by default.

{
  "extraKnownMarketplaces": {
    "company-tools": {
      "source": {
        "source": "github",
        "repo": "your-org/plugin-marketplace"
      }
    }
  },
  "enabledPlugins": {
    "code-formatter@company-tools": true
  }
}

Cross-tool compatibility

Agent Plugins is an open standard for packaging skills and MCP servers across compatible clients, including GitHub Copilot in VS Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, and the GitHub Copilot app. Other components, such as custom agents, slash commands, rules, hooks, and automation templates, can be client-specific.

VS Code also supports existing Copilot, Claude, and legacy OpenPlugin formats. Support for a package format doesn't guarantee that every component works in every harness or client. Check the plugin's requirements. For file layouts and client-specific namespaces, see the plugin authoring compatibility reference.

Troubleshooting

Plugin does not appear after installation

• Confirm that agent plugins are enabled: check that chat.plugins.enabled Open in VS Code Open in VS Code Insiders is set to true.
• Verify the plugin's name field follows the naming rules for its format. Agent Plugins 1.0 names use lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, and periods. Legacy Copilot plugin names use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens. Slashes and colons aren't supported.
• Check that plugin.json is in a recognized location.

Skills from a plugin do not load

• Open the SKILL.md file and check the name field in the YAML frontmatter. The name must be plain kebab-case without namespace prefixes (for example, test-runner, not myorg/test-runner). Invalid names cause the skill to be silently skipped.
• Make sure the skill directory name matches the name field in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Plugin version does not update

• Run Extensions: Check for Extension Updates from the Command Palette to trigger an update check.
• If you maintain the plugin, review its versioning and update requirements.

Plugin installation fails after retry

Retry the installation. VS Code validates marketplace repository caches and replaces incomplete or invalid caches automatically.

If installation still fails, review the error for an invalid repository, revision, or plugin path. If the source is valid and retry continues to fail, run Help: Report Issue. Don't delete or modify the internal plugin cache manually.

Author a plugin

Use the agent plugin authoring reference to create a package or inspect its configuration:

• Package structure: Manifest fields, supported formats, and plugin environment variables.

• Automation templates: Package prompts and schedules.

• MCP servers: Server configuration, paths, and interaction with other servers.

• Hooks: Hook configuration, paths, and events.

Related resources

• Finding and installing plugins for GitHub Copilot CLI
• GitHub Copilot CLI plugin reference