.. _plugins_overview:

===============
IPython plugins
===============

IPython has a plugin mechanism that allows users to create new and custom
runtime components for IPython. Plugins are different from extensions:

* Extensions are used to load plugins.
* Plugins are a more advanced configuration system that gives you access
  to the running IPython instance.
* Plugins are traited and configurable.

At this point, the documentation of our plugin system is minimal. If you are
interested in creating a new plugin, see the following files:

* :file:`IPython/extensions/parallelmagic.py`
* :file:`IPython/extensions/autoreload.py`

As well as our documentation on the :ref:`configuration system <config_overview>`
and :ref:`extensions <extensions_overview>`.