Plugins
Plugins add new tools to Studio. Here is how to find and install them, and how to decide which ones to trust.
A plugin can add a panel, generate scenes, process resources or add a new kind of component to your objects. It runs right inside the editor, and nothing needs to be rebuilt.
A plugin can also bring code into the published project: things that move on their own, new triggers and steps for events, and its own section in Project settings.
Want to make your own? See Writing a plugin.
The Plugins panel
The panel has two tabs:
- My uploads — everything that is yours, in one list: plugin folders you are working on, plugins you have published and plugins you have installed. Here you can create a plugin, open a folder, reload it from disk, publish or unpublish it, and delete it.
- Creator Hub — plugins shared by everyone. Search them, filter by tag, and see screenshots, the author, the rating, the number of installs and favourites. Your own and installed plugins appear higher in the results.
When you type in the search box, both tabs merge into one list, with your plugins first.
Install a plugin
Installing adds a plugin to your editor only. Its icon appears in your toolbar.
To give a plugin to your whole team, add it to the project. It then appears for everyone who opens that project. Do this for tools the whole team uses, such as a style checker or a shared scene generator.
Plugins with code for the published project
Some plugins also run in the published project, for everyone who opens it. This code runs only in projects the plugin is added to.
When you add such a plugin to a project, the project keeps that version of its code. Previews, playtests and publications run it, even after the author publishes a newer one. When there is newer code, the plugin shows update available. Press Update in project to switch the project to it.
If you are the plugin's author and you added it yourself, the project runs each version you save. A published project runs the code it was published with, until you publish it again.
Unpublished plugins
When its author presses Unpublish, the plugin is deleted from the library. It disappears from everyone's editor and from every project it was added to. Its ratings and favourites are deleted too.
Trust and verification
A plugin can read and change your scene and resources. So the first time you open someone else's plugin, Studio asks you to confirm. Choose Don't ask again for this plugin to remember your answer for that plugin.
Install plugins the way you would install any browser extension: only the ones you have reason to trust.
A plugin lists the permissions it needs in its manifest, but Studio does not limit it to them. Every plugin can reach the whole project, whatever it lists.
Verified plugins
Reviewed means someone has read the code of this exact version of the plugin. It is not a rating of how good the plugin is.
When the author publishes new code, the plugin goes back to pending until it is reviewed again. Changing the description, tags or screenshots keeps the badge, because they do not run.
Verification can also switch off some of the prompts. Each one is set separately:
| Setting | What it switches off |
|---|---|
open | the confirmation when you open the plugin's panel |
autorun | the prompt before its self-starting parts run — see below |
warnings | the notices saying that we do not review plugin code |
A plugin can be verified with none of these. It then gets the badge, and every prompt stays. Reading the code and stopping the prompts are two separate decisions.
A panel runs only when you open it. A custom component or a
viewport overlay runs every time anyone opens the project. That is why autorun is a separate
setting.
These self-starting parts run only for a plugin that is trusted in your browser:
- a plugin you opened from a folder on your own computer;
- a plugin you allowed before: you pressed Allow, or chose Don't ask again for this plugin when you opened it;
- a plugin whose verification includes
autorun.
For any other plugin, they wait. A custom component shows a note with an Allow button instead of running. An overlay stays hidden. When the plugin has something to show, a small bar asks you to allow it. The answer is kept in this browser only, so another browser asks again.
It runs for everyone who opens the project, like the project's own scripts, so whoever adds the plugin decides this for the team. That is why the version is fixed when the plugin is added: new code reaches the project only when someone presses Update in project.
A plugin's verification status is one of none, pending, verified, rejected or revoked.
If a verification is revoked, your Don't ask again for this plugin choice for that plugin is cleared too,
because you agreed to different code.
Ratings and paid plugins
You can rate a plugin once, from one to five stars.
The author chooses who can install a plugin:
| Access | Who can install it |
|---|---|
| Free | everyone |
| Premium | people on a paid plan |
| Subscribers only | people with a paid subscription to the author's public profile |
In a project, the subscription of the project's organization counts. Your own plugins are always available to you.
A Subscribers only plugin's runtime code goes to everyone who opens the published project, and anyone can read it in their browser. The subscription decides who can add the plugin to a project, update it and publish with it.
When the subscription ends, a project that uses such a plugin cannot be published again: renew the subscription or remove the plugin. A project that is already published keeps working.
What you need
- To use plugins from the library: any browser.
- To build plugins from a folder on your computer: a Chromium-based browser, such as Chrome or Edge.
Next: Writing a plugin — build and publish your own.