Overview

The Plex Plugin Framework (v2) is a Python 2.7 framework that provides a sandboxed environment for plug-in code. Plug-ins run inside Plex Media Server and can serve as:

  • Channels — provide browsable content via ObjectContainer / DirectoryObject hierarchies.

  • Metadata Agents — fetch and store metadata (posters, summaries, cast, etc.) for media items.

  • URL Services — resolve playable media URLs from website links.

Bundle Structure

MyPlugin.bundle/
├── Contents/
│   ├── Info.plist            # Plugin metadata & configuration
│   ├── DefaultPrefs.json     # Default preferences (see Preferences)
│   ├── Code/
│   │   └── __init__.py       # Plugin entry point
│   ├── Resources/            # Images, strings, etc.
│   ├── Helpers/              # External binaries (optional)
│   │   ├── MacOSX/i386/
│   │   ├── Windows/
│   │   └── Linux/i386/
│   ├── Libraries/
│   │   └── Shared/           # Third-party Python libraries
│   ├── Strings/              # Locale string files (optional)
│   │
│   │  # Old-style service directories (declared in Info.plist):
│   ├── URL Services/         # URL service modules
│   │   └── MyService/
│   │       └── ServiceCode.pys
│   ├── Search Services/      # Search service modules (optional)
│   ├── Related Content Services/  # Related content modules (optional)
│   │
│   │  # New-style service directories (with ServiceInfo.plist):
│   └── Services/
│       ├── ServiceInfo.plist # Service declarations
│       ├── URL/
│       │   └── MyService/
│       │       └── ServiceCode.pys
│       ├── Search/
│       ├── Related Content/
│       ├── Shared Code/      # Shared .pys modules
│       └── Resources/        # Service-specific resources

See Service API for full details on how services are organised and configured.

How the API is Exposed

The framework “publishes” API objects into the plug-in sandbox so they appear as global names. For example, HTTP, JSON, Log, Dict, ObjectContainer, etc. are all globally available in plugin code without explicit imports. This document lists each API under its global name as seen from plugin code.