Plugins package customizations for compatible Copilot surfaces. Plugin formats, components, and supported locations vary by surface. Use the documentation for the surface where you plan to install the plugin.
Plugin manifests
A plugin is described by a plugin.json manifest. Agent Plugins defines a portable plugin format for compatible surfaces. The manifest is at the plugin directory's root and declares the Agent Plugins schema. For Agent Plugins 1.0, use https://agent-plugins.org/schemas/1.0.0/plugin.schema.json. Copilot CLI also recognizes the 1.1.0 schema.
The shared Agent Plugins format defines standard locations for some components. Support for those components can differ by surface:
| Component | Agent Plugins location | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Skills | skills/ | Compatible surfaces can discover skills at this location. |
| MCP servers | mcp.json at the plugin root | Compatible surfaces can discover MCP server configuration at this location. |
| Surface-specific components | A namespaced directory such as com.github.copilot/ | Availability and supported components depend on the surface. |
An Agent Plugins 1.0 directory can use this structure:
my-plugin/
├── plugin.json
├── skills/
│ └── deploy/
│ └── SKILL.md
├── mcp.json
└── com.github.copilot/
├── agents/
│ └── helper.agent.md
├── commands/
├── rules/
├── hooks/
│ └── hooks.json
└── lsp.json
The plugin.json manifest declares the Agent Plugins schema. The skills/ and root mcp.json locations are defined by Agent Plugins. The com.github.copilot/ directory contains Copilot-specific components, not portable Agent Plugins components. Which components a surface loads from this directory depends on that surface. For the Copilot CLI, see GitHub Copilot CLI-Plug-In-Referenz.
Copilot CLI also supports a legacy Copilot plugin format. It uses different component discovery behavior and configurable component paths. For manifest fields, validation, file locations, and CLI-specific behavior, see GitHub Copilot CLI-Plug-In-Referenz.
Visual Studio Code documents its plugin authoring format and supported behavior in the Agent Plugins authoring reference. Do not assume that a component or manifest behavior supported on one surface is supported on another.
Marketplace catalog
A marketplace.json catalog provides metadata about a marketplace and lists plugins in its top-level plugins array. Each plugin entry can include its name, description, version, and source. The source identifies where the plugin files are located. For Copilot CLI, marketplace.json is the only required marketplace component. Other surfaces can have additional requirements.
The marketplace name comes from its name field, not from the repository name. A plugin identifier combines the plugin name with the marketplace name:
PLUGIN-NAME@MARKETPLACE-NAME
Keep marketplace and plugin names stable when settings refer to them. Changing a marketplace name changes the plugin identifiers used by those settings.
Catalog fields and supported file locations can vary by surface. For the Copilot CLI's full marketplace catalog fields and locations, see GitHub Copilot CLI-Plug-In-Referenz. For steps to publish a catalog in a GitHub repository, see Creating and sharing a plugin marketplace on GitHub.
Use plugins
Adding a marketplace makes its plugins available to browse. Installing a plugin adds it to a surface. Enabling a plugin makes its components available in sessions on that surface. For surface-specific instructions, see: