- This plugin information is then saved to the plugin registry file (`$nu.plugin-path`), which acts as a cache

### Importing Plugins

Once added to the registry, the next time `nu` is started, the plugin will be imported and available in that session.

You can also immediately import (or reload) a plugin in the current session by calling `plugin use`. In this case, the name of the plugin (rather than the filename) is used without the `nu_plugin` prefix:

```nu
plugin use cool
```

It is not necessary to add `plugin use` statements to your config file. All previously registered plugins are automatically loaded at startup.

::: tip Note
`plugin use` is a parser keyword, so when evaluating a script, it will be evaluated first. This means that while you can execute `plugin add` and then `plugin use` at the REPL on separate lines, you can't do this in a single script. If you need to run `nu` with a specific plugin or set of plugins without preparing a cache file, you can pass the `--plugins` option to `nu` with a list of plugin executable files:

```nu
nu --plugins '[./my_plugins/nu_plugin_cool]'
```

:::

### Plugin Search Path

Nushell includes two `list` variables that can be used to set a search path for plugins. This only applies when registering plugins with `plugin add`, but it can be a nice shortcut
if you commonly add and remove plugins.

- `const NU_PLUGIN_DIRS`: A constant which takes effect immediately when set. However, as a constant, only certain commands may be used with it. It can be updated, for example, as seen in the [QuickStart above](#core-plugin-quickstart).
- `$env.NU_PLUGIN_DIRS`: An environment variable which is mutable and can accept any command that updates its list. However, changes to it will not take effect until the _next_ expression is parsed.

### Updating Plugins

When updating a plugin, it is important to run `plugin add` again just as above to load the new signatures from the plugin and allow Nu to rewrite them to the plugin file (`$nu.plugin-path`). You can then `plugin use` to get the updated signatures within the current session.

## Managing Plugins

Installed plugins are displayed using [`plugin list`](/commands/docs/plugin_list.md):

```nu
plugin list
# =>
╭───┬─────────┬────────────┬─────────┬───────────────────────┬───────┬───────────────────────────────╮
│ # │  name   │ is_running │   pid   │       filename        │ shell │           commands            │
├───┼─────────┼────────────┼─────────┼───────────────────────┼───────┼───────────────────────────────┤
│ 0 │ gstat   │ true       │ 1389890 │ .../nu_plugin_gstat   │       │ ╭───┬───────╮                 │
│   │         │            │         │                       │       │ │ 0 │ gstat │                 │
│   │         │            │         │                       │       │ ╰───┴───────╯                 │
│ 1 │ inc     │ false      │         │ .../nu_plugin_inc     │       │ ╭───┬─────╮                   │
│   │         │            │         │                       │       │ │ 0 │ inc │                   │
│   │         │            │         │                       │       │ ╰───┴─────╯                   │
│ 2 │ example │ false      │         │ .../nu_plugin_example │       │ ╭───┬───────────────────────╮ │
│   │         │            │         │                       │       │ │ 0 │ nu-example-1          │ │
│   │         │            │         │                       │       │ │ 1 │ nu-example-2          │ │
│   │         │            │         │                       │       │ │ 2 │ nu-example-3          │ │
│   │         │            │         │                       │       │ │ 3 │ nu-example-config     │ │
│   │         │            │         │                       │       │ │ 4 │ nu-example-disable-gc │ │
│   │         │            │         │                       │       │ ╰───┴───────────────────────╯ │
╰───┴─────────┴────────────┴─────────┴───────────────────────┴───────┴───────────────────────────────╯
```

All of the commands from installed plugins are available in the current scope: