[[plugin-management]]
== Plugin Management

The `plugin` script is used to install, list, and remove plugins. It is
located in the `$ES_HOME/bin` directory by default but it may be in a
{ref}/setup-dir-layout.html[different location] if you installed Elasticsearch
with an RPM or deb package.

Run the following command to get usage instructions:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
sudo bin/plugin -h
-----------------------------------

[IMPORTANT]
.Running as root
=====================
If Elasticsearch was installed using the deb or rpm package then run
`bin/plugin` as `root` so it can write to the appropriate files on disk.
Otherwise run `bin/plugin` as the user that owns all of the Elasticsearch
files.
=====================

[[installation]]
=== Installing Plugins

The documentation for each plugin usually includes specific installation
instructions for that plugin, but below we document the various available
options:

[float]
=== Core Elasticsearch plugins

Core Elasticsearch plugins can be installed as follows:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
sudo bin/plugin install [plugin_name]
-----------------------------------

For instance, to install the core <<analysis-icu,ICU plugin>>, just run the
following command:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
sudo bin/plugin install analysis-icu
-----------------------------------

This command will install the version of the plugin that matches your
Elasticsearch version.

[float]
=== Community and non-core plugins

Non-core plugins provided by Elasticsearch, or plugins provided by the
community, can be installed from `download.elastic.co`, from Maven (Central
and Sonatype), or from GitHub.  In this case, the command is as follows:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
sudo bin/plugin install [org]/[user|component]/[version]
-----------------------------------

For instance, to install the https://github.com/lmenezes/elasticsearch-kopf[Kopf]
plugin from GitHub, run one of the following commands:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
sudo bin/plugin install lmenezes/elasticsearch-kopf <1>
sudo bin/plugin install lmenezes/elasticsearch-kopf/1.x <2>
-----------------------------------
<1> Installs the latest version from GitHub.
<2> Installs the 1.x version from GitHub.

When installing from Maven Central/Sonatype, `[org]` should be replaced by
the artifact `groupId`, and `[user|component]` by the `artifactId`.  For
instance, to install the
https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch-mapper-attachments[mapper attachment]
plugin from Sonatype, run:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
sudo bin/plugin install org.elasticsearch/elasticsearch-mapper-attachments/2.6.0 <1>
-----------------------------------
<1> When installing from `download.elastic.co` or from Maven Central/Sonatype, the
    version is required.

[float]
=== Custom URL or file system

A plugin can also be downloaded directly from a custom location by specifying the URL:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
sudo bin/plugin install [url] <1>
-----------------------------------
<1> must be a valid URL, the plugin name is determined from its descriptor.

For instance, to install a plugin from your local file system, you could run:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
sudo bin/plugin install file:///path/to/plugin.zip
-----------------------------------

[[listing-removing]]
=== Listing and Removing Installed Plugins

[float]
=== Listing plugins

A list of the currently loaded plugins can be retrieved with the `list` option:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
sudo bin/plugin list
-----------------------------------

Alternatively, use the {ref}/cluster-nodes-info.html[node-info API] to find
out which plugins are installed on each node in the cluster

[float]
=== Removing plugins

Plugins can be removed manually, by deleting the appropriate directory under
`plugins/`, or using the public script:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
sudo bin/plugin remove [pluginname]
-----------------------------------

After a Java plugin has been removed, you will need to restart the node to complete the removal process.

=== Other command line parameters

The `plugin` scripts supports a number of other command line parameters:

[float]
=== Silent/Verbose mode

The `--verbose` parameter outputs more debug information, while the `--silent`
parameter turns off all output.  The script may return the following exit
codes:

[horizontal]
`0`:: everything was OK
`64`:: unknown command or incorrect option parameter
`74`:: IO error
`70`:: any other error

[float]
=== Custom config directory

If your `elasticsearch.yml` config file is in a custom location, you will need
to specify the path to the config file when using the `plugin` script.  You
can do this as follows:

[source,sh]
---------------------
sudo bin/plugin -Des.path.conf=/path/to/custom/config/dir install <plugin name>
---------------------

You can also set the `CONF_DIR` environment variable to the custom config
directory path.

[float]
=== Timeout settings

By default, the `plugin` script will wait indefinitely when downloading before
failing. The timeout parameter can be used to explicitly specify how long it
waits. Here is some examples of setting it to different values:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
# Wait for 30 seconds before failing
sudo bin/plugin install mobz/elasticsearch-head --timeout 30s

# Wait for 1 minute before failing
sudo bin/plugin install mobz/elasticsearch-head --timeout 1m

# Wait forever (default)
sudo bin/plugin install mobz/elasticsearch-head --timeout 0
-----------------------------------

[float]
=== Proxy settings

To install a plugin via a proxy, you can pass the proxy details in with the
Java settings `proxyHost` and `proxyPort`. On Unix based systems, these
options can be set on the command line:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
sudo bin/plugin install mobz/elasticsearch-head -DproxyHost=host_name -DproxyPort=port_number
-----------------------------------

On Windows, they need to be added to the `JAVA_OPTS` environment variable:

[source,shell]
-----------------------------------
set JAVA_OPTS="-DproxyHost=host_name -DproxyPort=port_number"
bin/plugin install mobz/elasticsearch-head
-----------------------------------

=== Settings related to plugins

[float]
=== Custom plugins directory

The `plugins` directory can be changed from the default by adding the
following to the `elasticsearch.yml` config file:

[source,yml]
---------------------
path.plugins: /path/to/custom/plugins/dir
---------------------

The default location of the `plugins` directory depends on
{ref}/setup-dir-layout.html[which package you install].

[float]
=== Mandatory Plugins

If you rely on some plugins, you can define mandatory plugins by adding
`plugin.mandatory` setting to the `config/elasticsearch.yml` file, for
example:

[source,yaml]
--------------------------------------------------
plugin.mandatory: mapper-attachments,lang-groovy
--------------------------------------------------

For safety reasons, a node will not start if it is missing a mandatory plugin.
