# Advice on Installing Plugins
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-installing-plugins/155496
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Created:** [June 21, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-installing-plugins/155496 "2020-06-21T18:08:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@nap](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nap)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-installing-plugins/155496/1 "2020-06-21T18:08:24Z")
I’m new to administering a Discourse forum, so pardon this question.
I’m considering installing about 10 plugins listed at [https://github.com/discourse/all-the-plugins/tree/master/plugins](https://github.com/discourse/all-the-plugins/tree/master/plugins) onto our new Discourse site.
Before I go ahead and install them, I’m wondering if there are any ‘gotchas’ that I should be aware of? I’m thinking of things like compatibility issues, forsaken plugins, etc. Will any of the plugins listed cause potential problems with updates to the core Discourse engine in the future?
Is there a reference I can read that will give me an appreciation for the developer’s policy in this regard?
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### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-installing-plugins/155496/2 "2020-06-21T18:20:34Z")
Have you read through this?
> [@Install plugins on a self-hosted site](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157):
>
> warning This guide assumes that you have a self-hosted standard installation. We only support the standard method of install here, so these instructions assume you have a [standard install](https://meta.discourse.org/t/142537?silent=true). warning This guide only applies to self-hosted Discourse instances. If you are using a managed hosting service, the available plugins are controlled by your hosting provider. For example, on our hosting [these specific plugins](https://www.discourse.org/plugins) are available by hosting tier. information_source As of mid-2025, [many p…](https://meta.discourse.org/t/373574)
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### Author:  [@nap](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nap)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-installing-plugins/155496/3 "2020-06-21T18:26:35Z")
@ondrej, thnx for the link.
Is it possible to install plugins from the Admin Plugin UI or does this have to be done by editing the `app.yml` file?
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### Author:  [@nap](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nap)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-installing-plugins/155496/4 "2020-06-21T18:28:59Z")
I’m beginning to see a bit of a trend in the admin aspects of Discourse.
It appears that the forum admin controls many parameters that a `server admin` role is usually responsible for, and here there is a need for ssh access to the server. Unfortunately, this is not always possible, nor desirable for that matter.
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2020, 8:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-installing-plugins/155496/5 "2020-06-21T20:34:41Z")
> [@nap](#):
>
> I’m wondering if there are any ‘gotchas’ that I should be aware of
If they aren’t official, then there is some chance that they’ll break when you upgrade.
Yes, you’ll need ssh access to install plugins. Even with discourse\_docker, which will let you upgrade without ssh access, you still need to do a command line upgrade a few times a year.
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### Author:  [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 2:50am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-installing-plugins/155496/6 "2020-06-22T02:50:07Z")
Desirable or not, that’s how Discourse is built and runs.
Discourse isn’t a website, it’s a Javascript application, and that application is built from the app.yml. Plugins are pulled down during that build process.
If you dislike the delineation and it’s going to have an operational impact I would suggest looking for a different open source discussion platform.