--- title: "Plugins" sidebar_position: 40 --- Mattermost supports plugins that offer powerful features for extending and deeply integrating with both the Server and Web/Desktop Apps. Share constructive feedback [on our forum post](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/plugin-system-upgrade-in-mattermost-5-2/5498) or join the [Toolkit channel](https://community.mattermost.com/core/channels/developer-toolkit) on our Mattermost community server. ## Features ### Customize user interfaces Write a Web App plugin to add to the channel header, sidebars, main menu, and more. Register your plugin against a post type to render custom posts or wire up a root component to build an entirely new experience. All this is possible without having to fork the source code and rebase on every Mattermost release. ### Launch tightly-integrated services Launch and manage Server plugins as services from your Mattermost server over RPC. Handle events via real-time hooks and invoke Mattermost server methods directly using a dedicated plugin API. ### Extend the Mattermost REST API Extend the Mattermost REST API with custom endpoints for use by Web App plugins or third-party services. Custom endpoints have access to all the features of the standard Mattermost REST API, including personal access tokens and OAuth 2.0. See the [Mattermost Server SDK Reference](/developers/integrate/reference/server) and [Mattermost Client UI SDK Reference](/developers/integrate/reference/webapp) documentation for details on available server API endpoints and client methods. ### Simple development and installation It's simple to set up a plugin development environment with the [mattermost-plugin-starter-template](https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-plugin-starter-template). Just select "Use this template" when cloning the repository. Please see the [developer setup](https://developers.mattermost.com/integrate/plugins/developer-setup) and [developer workflow](https://developers.mattermost.com/integrate/plugins/developer-workflow) pages for more information. Read the plugins [overview](/developers/integrate/plugins/overview) to learn more.