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`packer plugins install` command reference

website/content/docs/commands/plugins/install.mdx

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packer plugins install command reference

<Note>

Starting August 1st, 2025, the source for many official HashiCorp-maintained Packer plugins is moving from GitHub releases to the official HashiCorp release site, releases.hashicorp.com. Refer to Install HashiCorp-maintained plugins for more information.

</Note>

The packer plugins install command downloads and installs the most recent version of a plugin binary. Refer to Installing Plugins for additional information about installing plugins.

Description

Use the packer plugins install command to manually install plugins instead of specifying plugins in a template and initializing Packer. Refer to the packer init command documentation for information about installing plugins specified in a Packer template during initialization.

Third-party plugin verification

HashiCorp only verifies plugins from GitHub under thehashicorp/* namespace. We recommend that you vet and verify any third-party plugins you want to install.

Installation directory

By default, Packer installs plugins into the plugins directory at $HOME/.config/packer/plugins on Unix and %APPDATA%\packer.d\plugins on Windows, but you can specify a different directory using the PACKER_PLUGIN_PATH environment variable. Plugin installation requires access to temporary files under TMPDIR`. If the system's temp directory is non-writable or non-executable, use TMPDIR to override the location of the temporary file store used by Packer. Refer to the Packer configuration reference for additional information.

Usage

Use the following syntax to run the packer plugins install command:

Examples

Specify a version number to install a specific version of the plugin. The following example installs the version 1.0.1 of my-plugin from a remote source:

shell-session
$ packer plugins install github.com/hashicorp/my-plugin 1.0.1

Use the --path option to specify a local plugin binary. The following example installs my-plugin from a local binary:

shell-session
$ packer plugins install --path my-plugin github.com/hashicorp/my-plugin

Arguments

You can pass the following arguments:

  • <plugin-binary-source>: A remote source where the plugin binary is available. To remotely download from a source, the plugin must be hosted on GitHub. For locally-sourced binaries, you must also include the --path option. Refer to Installing Plugins for additional information about installing plugins.
  • <plugin version>: A specific version of the plugin to download and install. Packer accepts semantic version numbers that follow the <major>.<minor>.<patch> format. If omitted, the command installs the latest plugin version.

Options

You can use the following options:

--path: Use this option to specify a local plugin binary. You must use this option to install plugins from a local source. --force: Use this option to force Packer to reinstall the plugin.