# How are plugins loaded automatically?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-plugins-loaded-automatically/61033
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [April 15, 2017, 2:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-plugins-loaded-automatically/61033 "2017-04-15T14:05:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kgish](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kgish)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2017, 2:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-plugins-loaded-automatically/61033/1 "2017-04-15T14:05:38Z")
I’d like to understand better how discourse automatically loads plugins, e.g all those placed in the `/plugins` directory.
How does a plugin can provide a mount point and its resources during initialization?
Can someone either explain this or point me to where I can find more information?
---
### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-plugins-loaded-automatically/61033/2 "2017-04-15T15:06:44Z")
Your best starting point is the `plugin/instance.rb` file
>
---
### Author:  [@kgish](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kgish)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-plugins-loaded-automatically/61033/3 "2017-04-15T16:47:22Z")
Yes that’s very useful for the plugin side, but I’m also interested in how the discourse side manages it.
---
### Author:  [@RGJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/RGJ)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-plugins-loaded-automatically/61033/4 "2017-04-15T17:22:17Z")
Don’t be misguided by the CustomEmoji class at the top, further in the file _is_ where the Discourse side manages it.