# Disable core plugin at startup
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-core-plugin-at-startup/281451
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Created:** [October 7, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-core-plugin-at-startup/281451 "2023-10-07T12:52:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@stevejr](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stevejr)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-core-plugin-at-startup/281451/1 "2023-10-07T12:52:38Z")
Continued from [Discourse v3.0.6 to v3.1.1 upgrade error - undefined method `register\_bookmarkable' for Bookmark:Class - #9 by stevejr](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-v3-0-6-to-v3-1-1-upgrade-error-undefined-method-register-bookmarkable-for-bookmark-class/281264/9)
Hi,
Is there a way to disable a core plugin at startup? I would like to disable the Chat plugin.
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-core-plugin-at-startup/281451/2 "2023-10-07T13:43:00Z")
hi @stevejr👋 chat isn’t a separate plug in anymore and ~~is part of core Discourse~~ is bundled as part of core. It can be disabled by unchecking admin-settings-chat enabled.
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### Author:  [@stevejr](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stevejr)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-core-plugin-at-startup/281451/3 "2023-10-07T13:46:39Z")
Thanks @Lilly.
Is there a way to disable it at startup rather than post-startup via the admin console?
I have an issue with an upgrade and I would like to test having Chat disabled at startup.
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-core-plugin-at-startup/281451/4 "2023-10-07T13:48:30Z")
just disable it and restart the server? i’m not sure what you are trying to accomplish. I suppose you can disable it in rails but not sure why you’d need to do that. it’s just a setting and part of core now, not a plug in.
Are you having issues with another plug in or something? what are you upgrading that you think is affected by chat?
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### Author:  [@stevejr](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stevejr)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-core-plugin-at-startup/281451/5 "2023-10-07T13:51:02Z")
The reason for disabling it is related to another post I opened - [Discourse v3.0.6 to v3.1.1 upgrade error - undefined method `register\_bookmarkable' for Bookmark:Class](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-v3-0-6-to-v3-1-1-upgrade-error-undefined-method-register-bookmarkable-for-bookmark-class/281264)
I know my install is not supported and that’s ok but the way the upgrades work is to deploy a new instance of discourse with the latest version. Due to this I need to disable Chat in the startup flow rather than post startup.
Hope that makes sense.
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### Author:  [@stevejr](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stevejr)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-core-plugin-at-startup/281451/6 "2023-10-07T13:58:11Z")
Looks like maybe I can set chat\_enabled to false in my site settings which hopefully will disable it.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2023, 1:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-core-plugin-at-startup/281451/7 "2023-10-07T13:59:44Z")
> [@How to remove the Discourse chat plugin completely from an install](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-remove-the-discourse-chat-plugin-completely-from-an-install/250848/1):
>
> The code is disabled in the admin settings but would prefer to not waste any bits loading this plugin which we don’t plan to use. Could not find any Discourse config parameter to disable this plugin from being loaded when the container is built (now we can only disable, but the plugin code is loaded). Ideally, for us, would be to have a config variable in the container build YML file which instructs the build to omit this plugin code (searched and did not find one). Thanks
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### Author:  [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-core-plugin-at-startup/281451/8 "2023-10-07T17:36:15Z")
Chat is still a plugin, it’s just shipped with core now, see:
> [@Chat plugin - \> Core](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-plugin-core/271437/2):
>
> Sorry Robert, We don’t have plans for this in the mid term. Im not sure what you are trying to do with qunit, but you could certainly achieve this with system specs.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2023, 5:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-core-plugin-at-startup/281451/9 "2023-10-07T17:46:03Z")
yea I meant to update my post. Jammy since reminded me they are"bundled" plugins still. In my head I tend to think of plugins being separate like theme components.