# Installing plugins

Thanks to our developer community, the Kirby ecosystem has a large number of <a href="https://plugins.getkirby.com">free and paid plugins</a> that extend the functionality of Kirby. There are also several <a href="https://plugins.getkirby.com/developers/getkirby">official Kirby plugins</a> maintained by the Kirby team.

Once you have found one or more plugins that meet your needs, you will need to install them. Some plugins also require additional configuration options or some setup. All this information can be found in the documentation of the respective plugin.

There are usually four ways to install a plugin, which we will briefly describe here.

###  Download

Download the plugin via the download link and unzip. Then put the unzipped folder into the `/site/plugins/` folder of your Kirby project. If the `plugins` folder does not exist yet, create it first. The resulting folder structure should look like this:

```filesystem
site/
  plugins/
    plugin-name/
      composer.json
      index.php
      index.js
      README.md
      …
```

There may be more files and folders in the downloaded plugin folder, or some of the files/folders may not be present, it depends on the plugin.
###  Git

If you use <a href="https://git-scm.com/">Git</a> to version control your project, you can install plugins that are available from an online service like GitHub as a Git submodule:

```bash
git submodule add https://github.com/developer-name/plugin-name.git site/plugins/plugin-name
```
###  Composer

Many Kirby plugins also support installation via <a href="https://getcomposer.org/">Composer</a>, which is a PHP package manager that must be installed on your system. This installation method works best if <a href="https://getkirby.com/docs/guide/install-guide/composer">your project is managed via Composer</a> as well. Then you can run the following command from the root of your project:

```bash
composer require developer-name/plugin-name
```

This will automatically add the plugin to your `composer.json` and install the plugin in the `/site/plugins` folder.
###  Kirby CLI

The Kirby CLI helps you to make common tasks with your Kirby installations simpler. It also has a command to download and install plugins from a Git repo link:

```bash
kirby plugin:install https://github.com/developer-name/plugin-name.git
```

<info>
Note that some plugins may not support all installation types, so always consult their documentation. This may apply in particular to some paid plugins that are not publicly available and for which you may only receive a download link after purchase.
</info>