Agent plugins in VS Code

Agent plugins package related customizations, such as skills, agents, and tool integrations, so you can install them together. For example, a testing plugin can include a test-running skill, review agent, and reporting integration that are intended to work together.

This article shows you how to discover and install a plugin, verify it with a document-review workflow, and manage the installation. 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

Use the Agent Customizations editor to browse marketplaces and install plugins. You can also install a plugin directly from a Git repository or local folder. Available plugins and actions depend on the selected agent harness and organization policy.

Choose your harness before installing and use the same harness to verify the result. The walkthrough below uses Copilot.

Plugin marketplaces let you reuse workflows published by the community or your organization. If you don't need a bundle, the Customization Marketplace also provides discovery for individual skills and MCP servers from supported sources.

Install a plugin from a marketplace

1. Open the Agent Customizations editor by running Chat: Open Customizations from the Command Palette, selecting Open Customizations in the Chat view title bar, or selecting Customizations in the Agents window sidebar.

2. Browse available plugins from your configured marketplaces. Available sources depend on the selected harness and organization policy.

   • In the unified Customization Marketplace (Preview), select Browse and use the source menu to choose a plugin marketplace, or search across available sources.
   • If the unified Browse page isn't available, select Plugins and then Browse Marketplace to find available plugins.

3. Select a plugin to review its publisher, included customizations, and Plugin README, when provided.

4. Select Install to install a plugin.

   The first time you install a plugin from a new marketplace, VS Code shows a trust prompt. Review the marketplace source before confirming. Trusting a marketplace doesn't replace reviewing each plugin's contents, setup requirements, or future updates.

Install a plugin from source

You can install a plugin directly from a Git repository or local folder without adding a full marketplace first. For a repository URL, VS Code clones and installs the plugin.

1. In the Agent Customizations editor, select Plugins, then select the add (+) button next to User or Workspace, depending on where you want to install the plugin.

2. Enter a Git repository URL (for example, https://github.com/rwoll/markdown-review) or a local folder path.

Alternatively, run Chat: Install Plugin from Source from the Command Palette.

Try a document-review workflow

The community Markdown Review plugin provides a skill that opens a Markdown file in a browser for comments and returns the feedback to the agent. Use it to check the full workflow, not just whether a plugin appears in the editor.

For this example, open a local project with the Copilot harness. Install Node.js with npx available and use a machine where you can open a local browser. Review the plugin's README and bundled markdown-plan-review-feedback skill before installing.

1. Install the plugin from source using https://github.com/rwoll/markdown-review. Choose User for a personal trial.

2. Start a fresh Copilot session in your project and enter:

   Create plugin-review.md with a short documentation plan for this repository.
   Use the Markdown Review plugin to open it for my review, then summarize
   the feedback I submit. Do not change application code.
   

3. Inspect the skill and tool activity. Review any approval request before the publisher's CLI runs. The workflow launches a temporary local web server and opens the review UI in your browser.

4. Add a comment to the document in the browser, then submit your feedback.

5. Check that the agent receives your comment and accurately summarizes it. Confirm that the Markdown file exists and no application code changed.

The workflow succeeds when you can trace your browser comment back to the agent's response. If the browser doesn't open or feedback doesn't return, check the plugin's runtime requirements and command output before repeating the request.

After the trial, close the review tab and remove plugin-review.md if you don't need it. You can uninstall the plugin if you don't want to keep the workflow.

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. Discovered plugins from ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ appear on the Plugins page of the Agent Customizations editor.

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

In the Agent Customizations editor, select Plugins to view the plugins available to the selected harness. From this page, you can inspect, enable, disable, or uninstall plugins.

Select an installed plugin to open its details. Review its Plugin README and included customizations. Under Skills, select a skill to open its instructions.

Verify a plugin after installation

Installing a plugin makes its supported components available; it doesn't guarantee that an agent uses them for every task.

1. In the Agent Customizations editor, select Plugins and confirm that the plugin is listed and enabled for the intended harness and workspace.

2. Review the publisher's setup instructions and complete any required configuration. For bundled MCP servers, check server controls and connection requirements.

3. Start a fresh session with the intended harness and workspace. Confirm that the components you need are available. For example, run one of the plugin's skills if it appears in the / menu.

4. Try a small task you expect the plugin to help with, then review the agent's actions and result against a concrete outcome. For example, the document-review walkthrough checks that a submitted comment reaches the agent, not just that the skill runs.

If you only need a skill, consider using or adapting an existing skill instead of installing a plugin. To change and maintain a plugin, follow the plugin authoring reference.

Enable or disable plugins

You can enable or disable a plugin for the current profile or a specific workspace:

1. In the Agent Customizations editor, select Plugins and open the plugin's details.
2. Use Enable or Disable to change its state for the current profile, or Enable (Workspace) or Disable (Workspace) for the current workspace. Use the button's dropdown menu to choose the scope.

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

Policy-managed plugins are identified as managed by policy, and their toggles are locked.

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.

Uninstall plugins

In the Agent Customizations editor, select Plugins, open the plugin's details, and select Uninstall.

You can't uninstall a plugin required by your organization, including through its bundled skills, prompts, or other customizations.

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

A plugin marketplace is a Git repository containing a catalog of plugin definitions. Add community or organization marketplaces in the Agent Customizations editor, or configure their sources in Settings.

Adding a marketplace makes its plugins available to browse. It does not install or enable them.

Manage marketplaces in the Customizations editor (Preview)

1. Open the Agent Customizations editor and select Browse.
2. Open the source menu and select Configure Marketplaces.
3. Select Add Marketplace and enter a GitHub repository, Git repository URL, or local repository URI. Only add marketplaces you trust.
4. Return to Browse and select the added marketplace from the source menu to browse its plugins.

To manage an existing marketplace, select it in Configure Marketplaces. Available actions depend on the selected harness and include Browse, Refresh Marketplace, Open Folder, and Remove Marketplace. Use Back to return to the marketplace list.

Organization-managed marketplaces can't be removed, and some harnesses also protect built-in marketplaces. If prompted to Remove Marketplace and Plugins, review which plugins will be uninstalled before confirming.

Configure marketplaces in Settings

You can discover plugins from marketplaces such as copilot-plugins and awesome-copilot. To configure additional marketplaces in Settings, use chat.plugins.marketplaces Open in VS Code Open in VS Code Insiders (Experimental). See marketplace source formats and revision selection for syntax and examples.

Use local plugins

To install a plugin from a local folder, use Install a plugin from source in the Agent Customizations editor.

If you're developing a plugin or need to register an existing directory without installing it, follow local plugin registration with the Experimental chat.pluginLocations Open in VS Code Open in VS Code Insiders setting.

Use plugins in remote windows

You can use plugins stored on a remote machine when you work with Remote - SSH, WSL, Dev Containers, or Remote - Tunnels. The Copilot harness runs in the remote environment, where it loads the plugin's custom agents, skills, and hooks.

In the connected window, use the Agent Customizations editor's Plugins page to view and manage installed plugins.

To register an existing plugin directory on the remote machine without installing a copy:

1. Run Preferences: Open Remote Settings (JSON) from the Command Palette in the remote window.

2. Add chat.pluginLocations Open in VS Code Open in VS Code Insiders (Experimental) with the plugin's path on the remote filesystem. For the configuration syntax, see local plugin registration.

3. Start a new chat with the Copilot harness and verify the plugin's components.

Hooks run on the remote machine or inside the container. Install their required runtimes and tools, such as Node.js, there rather than only on your local computer.

Update plugins

In the Agent Customizations editor, select Plugins, then select Check for and Apply Updates (the refresh icon) next to an installed-plugin group. Alternatively, run Chat: Update Plugins from the Command Palette.

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

Plugins can also update automatically when extensions.autoUpdate Open in VS Code Open in VS Code Insiders is enabled. Plugins sourced from npm or PyPI never update automatically. Use the update action in the Agent Customizations editor and review the confirmation prompt before the install command runs.

Consider this update behavior when deciding whether to trust a plugin. Review changes to its bundled tools, hooks, and setup requirements when adopting an update. Disable a plugin you no longer trust rather than leaving its components available.

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).

In the Local harness, VS Code shows a notification the first time a chat message is sent. To browse and install plugins from the project's marketplaces, open the Agent Customizations editor and select Browse, or select Plugins > Browse Marketplace if the unified Browse experience is unavailable.

In the Copilot harness, .github/copilot/settings.json supplies repository plugin and marketplace defaults. You can turn off optional plugins in Plugins in the Agent Customizations editor without changing the shared defaults. Enterprise-managed settings take precedence over repository defaults and your choices.

For the configuration fields, naming rules, and a complete example, see workspace plugin settings. Review a recommended plugin before enabling it, just as you would a plugin you discover yourself.

Manage plugins with slash commands

As an alternative to the Agent Customizations editor, enter /plugin in a Copilot harness session to view completions for plugin and marketplace operations. Use the interface where you installed the plugin, because its inventory is separate from the editor's. For the command catalog and limitations, see plugin management commands.

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

• In the Agent Customizations editor, select Plugins, then select Check for and Apply Updates (the refresh icon).
• 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