Plugins
Plugins give LanMate “capabilities with a face”. Skills are manuals, connectors are channels — plugins are actual running programs: they can provide new tools in conversation and bring their own full pages.
Take the official Knowledge Base plugin: after installing, the sidebar gains a “Knowledge Base” entry that opens a full management page (create libraries, add documents, search). The agent can also answer questions in chat by citing content from your knowledge base.
Skills vs Connectors vs Plugins
| Skills | Connectors | Plugins | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essence | Methodology docs | External service channels | Running programs |
| Has UI | No | No | Can have full pages |
| Example | Weekly-report method | Feishu, DingTalk | Knowledge Base |
| Built by | Anyone | Service providers or orgs | Developers |
They often work together: installing a connector brings its companion skills; plugins can ship their own tools and open their own pages.
Installing
Sidebar “Extensions” → “Market” tab → Plugins:
- Find the plugin you need; click the card for details (description, version history, quick start)
- Click “Install” and confirm the “code will run in the main process” notice
- It enables automatically; the market card shows “Installed”
Self-developed plugins can also be imported from a local directory (“Install from Local Directory” at the top right of the Plugins tab).
What a Plugin Brings
- New tools: callable by the agent in conversation, protected by approval like any other tool
- Sidebar pages: a full feature page like Knowledge Base
- Right-panel views: small pages alongside the conversation (reference the plugin with @ to use its tools)
- Config pages: plugins that need parameters show a “Configure” entry on the installed card (secrets are stored encrypted, never echoed back)
Managing Installed Plugins
Extensions page → “Plugins” tab:
- Enable/disable: the toggle on each card, effective next session
- Master switch: turn off all user plugins at once (installed ones stay; flip back to restore)
- Update & rollback: update when the market has a new version; roll back if an update misbehaves
- Delete: optionally include plugin data (data is kept by default, so reinstalling picks up where you left off)
- Entry management: control which sidebar/right-panel entries show, and their order
Trust Switch
By default, write operations from a plugin’s pages ask each time. For plugins you developed yourself, you can turn on “Trust” — that plugin’s page operations stop prompting (in-conversation calls still go through approval). For self-built plugins you fully understand.
Using in Conversation
- Type
@to reference a plugin (same as @ experts and @ files); the agent prefers that plugin’s tools - The agent can also open a plugin’s page on its own when needed (e.g., searching the knowledge base)
Knowledge Base Plugin (Official Example)
The most typical plugin today — install and go:
- Sidebar “Knowledge Base” → New: name it, pick a documents folder, indexing starts automatically
- Supports PDF / Word / Excel / PPT / HTML / Markdown / code files
- Search: keyword (fully offline) or hybrid semantic (after configuring an embedding model)
- Ask in chat; the agent cites knowledge-base content with source paths
Documents are incrementally indexed; unchanged files are skipped.