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Plugins

Hydron ships with the workflows most firmware teams need. Plugins cover the rest.

A plugin extends Hydron with capabilities built for a specific workflow: a vendor toolchain, a board bring-up routine, an internal review standard, a protocol decoder. Install one and it becomes available the same way built-in tools are, in both the CLI and the VS Code extension.

Install

Open the Hydron Marketplace from the chat pane, browse or search, and click Install. Pick the scope from the dropdown on the install button first.

Installed plugins appear under Installed, where you can enable, disable, update, or remove them.

Run /plugins in a session to open the plugin manager. It is also reachable from the command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P.

From the picker you can browse and search the marketplace, install at global or project scope, enable or disable, update, or remove.

Global compared with project scope

Both scopes install from the same marketplace. The only difference is where the plugin is available.

Global Project
Available in Every project on this machine The current project only
Best for Toolchains and habits you carry across boards Board or product-specific workflows
Shared with teammates No, local to your machine Yes, when the project config is committed
Typical example Your compiler or debugger integration A bring-up checklist for one flight controller

When a plugin is installed at both scopes, the project version wins. That lets a project pin a specific version without disturbing your global setup.

Tip

Commit your project-scoped plugin config alongside your firmware. A teammate who clones the repo and runs hydron gets the same plugin set, the same way they inherit your project's datasources.

Manage plugins

Action VS Code CLI
Browse the marketplace Marketplace panel /plugins
Install Install button /plugins then Install
Enable or disable Installed tab /plugins then toggle
Update Update button /plugins then Update
Remove Uninstall button /plugins then Remove

Disabling keeps a plugin installed but hides its capabilities. Use it to narrow what the agent can reach during a focused debug session.

Plugins add to the context Hydron carries. If a session starts feeling slow or unfocused, disable what you are not using and run /compact.

Review before you install

Plugins run as part of your session and can reach your project files and tools. Treat installing one the way you would treat adding a dependency to your firmware build.

  • Check the publisher and the plugin's stated permissions before installing.
  • Prefer project scope for anything you are still evaluating.
  • Remove plugins you no longer use rather than leaving them disabled indefinitely.

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