# Plugin

Plugins generally add global-level functionality to VuePress. There is no strictly defined scope for a plugin. You can find out more plugins at Awesome VuePress (opens new window).

# Examples

There are typically several types of plugins:

  1. Extend the page’s metadata generated at compile time. For example @vuepress/plugin-last-updated;
  2. Generate extra files before or after compilation. For example @vuepress/plugin-pwa;
  3. Inject global UI. For example @vuepress/plugin-back-to-top;
  4. Extend the CLI with custom commands. For example vuepress-plugin-export (opens new window).

Here is also a little slightly complicated plugin example @vuepress/plugin-blog (opens new window) that uses compile-time metadata to generate some dynamic modules and initialize them on the client-side by using enhanceAppFiles.

# Out of the Box

To keep things at a minimum, not all of the official plugins are shipped with VuePress. Here is the list of plugins that are pre-installed in the VuePress and the default theme, plugins that are not in the list below need to be installed manually (for example @vuepress/plugin-back-to-top).

# Plugins that come with VuePress

# Plugins that come with the default theme

# Architecture

The architecture of the whole plugin system is as follows:

Architecture of VuePress