---
title: "Overview"
sidebar_position: 10
---

Plugins are defined by a manifest file and contain at least a server or web app component, or both.

The [Plugin Starter Template](https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-plugin-starter-template) is a starting point and illustrates the different components of a Mattermost plugin.

A more detailed example is the [Demo Plugin](https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-plugin-demo), which showcases many of the features of plugins.

If you'd like to better understand how plugins work, [see the contributor documentation on plugins](/developers/contribute/more-info/server/plugins).

### Manifest
The plugin manifest provides required metadata about the plugin, such as name and ID. It is defined in JSON or YAML. This is `plugin.json` in both the [sample](https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-plugin-starter-template/blob/master/plugin.json) and [demo](https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-plugin-demo/blob/master/plugin.json) plugins.

See the [manifest reference](/developers/integrate/plugins/manifest-reference) for more information.

### Server
The server component of a plugin is written in Go and runs as a subprocess of the Mattermost server process. The Go code extends the [MattermostPlugin](https://godoc.org/github.com/mattermost/mattermost/server/public/plugin#MattermostPlugin) struct that contains an [API](/developers/integrate/reference/server#API) and allows for the implementation of [Hook](/developers/integrate/reference/server#Hooks) methods that enable the plugin to interact with the Mattermost server.

The sample plugin implements this simply in [plugin.go](https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-plugin-starter-template/blob/master/server/plugin.go) and the demo plugin splits the API and hook usage throughout [multiple files](https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-plugin-demo/tree/master/server).

Read more about the server-side of plugins [here](/developers/integrate/plugins/components/server).

### Web/desktop app
The web app component of a plugin is written in JavaScript with [React](https://react.dev/) and [Redux](https://redux.js.org/). The plugin's bundled JavaScript is included on the page and runs alongside the web app code as a [PluginClass](/developers/integrate/reference/webapp#pluginclass) that has initialize and uninitialize methods available for implementation. The initialize function is passed through the [registry](/developers/integrate/reference/webapp#registry) which allows the plugin to register React components, actions and hooks to modify and interact with the Mattermost web app.

The sample plugin has a [shell of an implemented PluginClass](https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-plugin-starter-template/blob/master/webapp/src/index.tsx), while the demo plugin [contains a more complete example](https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-plugin-demo/blob/master/webapp/src/plugin.jsx).

The desktop app is a shim of the web app, meaning any plugin that works in the web app will also work in the desktop app.

Read more about the web app component of plugins [here](/developers/integrate/plugins/components/webapp).

### Mobile app
Currently there is no mobile app component of plugins but it is planned for the near term.