# Plugins
<a name="plugins"></a>

Plugins for the Agent Toolkit for AWS are single-install packages that bundle the AWS MCP Server configuration and a curated set of agent skills. Instead of manually configuring MCP endpoints and installing skills individually, you install one plugin and your agent is ready to work with AWS.

Plugins are available for Claude Code and Codex. They are open source and published on GitHub at [aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws](https://github.com/aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws).

**Topics**
+ [Available plugins](#available-plugins)
+ [Installing plugins](#installing-plugins)
+ [What a plugin contains](#what-plugin-contains)
+ [Updating plugins](#updating-plugins)

## Available plugins
<a name="available-plugins"></a>
+ **aws-core** — The primary plugin for the Agent Toolkit for AWS. Includes the AWS MCP Server configuration and default skills covering the most common AWS workflows: service selection, infrastructure as code (CDK and CloudFormation), serverless, containers, storage, observability, billing and cost management, SDK usage, and deployment. This plugin is recommended for all AWS developers.
+ **aws-agents** — Skills for building AI agents on AWS using API Gateway, Bedrock AgentCore, and related services.
+ **aws-data-analytics** — Skills for data lake, analytics, and ETL workflows using Amazon Simple Storage Service Tables, AWS Glue, Amazon Athena, and related services.

## Installing plugins
<a name="installing-plugins"></a>

### Claude Code
<a name="install-claude-code"></a>

In Claude Code:

```
/plugin marketplace add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws
/plugin install aws-core@agent-toolkit-for-aws
/reload-plugins
```

### Codex
<a name="install-codex"></a>

In your terminal:

```
codex plugin marketplace add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws
```

Then launch Codex and run `/plugins` to browse and install the **aws-core** plugin.

### Agents that do not support plugins
<a name="install-other-agents"></a>

If your agent does not support plugins, you can configure the AWS MCP Server directly. See [Setting up the AWS MCP Server](getting-started-aws-mcp-server.md) for instructions.

## What a plugin contains
<a name="what-plugin-contains"></a>

Each plugin contains the following:
+ **Plugin manifest** (`.claude-plugin/plugin.json` or `.codex-plugin/plugin.json`) — The plugin metadata including name, description, and version.
+ **Skills directory** (`skills/`) — Agent skills included in the plugin.
+ **MCP configuration** (`.mcp.json`) — AWS MCP Server endpoint configuration.

## Updating plugins
<a name="updating-plugins"></a>

Plugins update automatically when your agent client refreshes its marketplace data. You can also update manually by running the update command in your agent client.