---
title: Working with plugins
description: Logstash has a rich collection of input, filter, codec, and output plugins. Check out the Elastic Support Matrix to see which plugins are supported at...
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/logstash/pull/18555/reference/working-with-plugins
---

# Working with plugins
<admonition title="macOS Gatekeeper warnings">
  Apple’s rollout of stricter notarization requirements affected the notarization of the 9.2.3 Logstash artifacts. If macOS Catalina displays a dialog when you first run Logstash, you need to take an action to allow it to run. To prevent Gatekeeper checks on the Logstash files, run the following command on the downloaded `.tar.gz` archive or the directory to which was extracted:
  ```sh
  xattr -d -r com.apple.quarantine <archive-or-directory>
  ```
  For example, if the `.tar.gz` file was extracted to the default logstash-9.2.3 directory, the command is:
  ```sh
  xattr -d -r com.apple.quarantine logstash-9.2.3
  ```
  Alternatively, you can add a security override if a Gatekeeper popup appears by following the instructions in the *How to open an app that hasn’t been notarized or is from an unidentified developer* section of [Safely open apps on your Mac](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202491).
</admonition>

Logstash has a rich collection of input, filter, codec, and output plugins. Check out the [Elastic Support Matrix](https://www.elastic.co/support/matrix#matrix_logstash_plugins) to see which plugins are supported at various levels.
Plugins are available in self-contained packages called gems and hosted on [RubyGems.org](https://rubygems.org/). Use the plugin manager script--`bin/logstash-plugin`--to manage plugins:
- [Listing plugins](#listing-plugins)
- [Adding plugins to your deployment](#installing-plugins)
- [Updating plugins](#updating-plugins)
- [Removing plugins](#removing-plugins)
- [Advanced: Adding a locally built plugin](#installing-local-plugins)
- [Advanced: Using `--path.plugins`](#installing-local-plugins-path)


## No internet connection?

If you don’t have an internet connection, check out [Offline Plugin Management](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/logstash/pull/18555/reference/offline-plugins) for information on [building](/elastic/logstash/pull/18555/reference/offline-plugins#building-offline-packs), [installing](/elastic/logstash/pull/18555/reference/offline-plugins#installing-offline-packs), and [updating](/elastic/logstash/pull/18555/reference/offline-plugins#updating-offline-packs) offline plugin packs.

### Proxy configuration

Most plugin manager commands require access to the internet to reach [RubyGems.org](https://rubygems.org). If your organization is behind a firewall, you can set these environments variables to configure Logstash to use your proxy.
```shell
export http_proxy=http://localhost:3128
export https_proxy=http://localhost:3128
```


## Listing plugins

Logstash release packages bundle common plugins. To list the plugins currently available in your deployment:
```shell
bin/logstash-plugin list 
bin/logstash-plugin list --verbose 
bin/logstash-plugin list '*namefragment*' 
bin/logstash-plugin list --group output 
```


## Adding plugins to your deployment

When you have access to internet, you can retrieve plugins hosted on the [RubyGems.org](https://rubygems.org/)public repository and install them on top of your Logstash installation.
```shell
bin/logstash-plugin install logstash-input-github
```

After a plugin is successfully installed, you can use it in your configuration file.

## Updating plugins

Plugins have their own release cycles and are often released independently of Logstash’s core release cycle. Using the update subcommand you can get the latest version of the plugin.
```shell
bin/logstash-plugin update 
bin/logstash-plugin update logstash-input-github 
```


### Major version plugin updates

To avoid introducing breaking changes, the plugin manager updates only plugins for which newer *minor* or *patch* versions exist by default. If you wish to also include breaking changes, specify `--level=major`.
```shell
bin/logstash-plugin update --level=major 
bin/logstash-plugin update --level=major logstash-input-github 
```


## Removing plugins

If you need to remove plugins from your Logstash installation:
```shell
bin/logstash-plugin remove logstash-input-github
```


### Advanced: Adding a locally built plugin

In some cases, you may want to install plugins which are not yet released and not hosted on RubyGems.org. Logstash provides you the option to install a locally built plugin which is packaged as a ruby gem. Using a file location:
```shell
bin/logstash-plugin install /path/to/logstash-output-kafka-1.0.0.gem
```


### Advanced: Using `--path.plugins`

Using the Logstash `--path.plugins` flag, you can load a plugin source code located on your file system. Typically this is used by developers who are iterating on a custom plugin and want to test it before creating a ruby gem.
The path needs to be in a  specific directory hierarchy: `PATH/logstash/TYPE/NAME.rb`, where TYPE is *inputs* *filters*, *outputs* or *codecs* and NAME is the name of the plugin.
```shell
# supposing the code is in /opt/shared/lib/logstash/inputs/my-custom-plugin-code.rb
bin/logstash --path.plugins /opt/shared/lib
```