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Distribute a Plugin

Once a plugin is built, this guide takes it from draft to installed in your developers' agents. For creating the plugin and its components, see Create a Plugin. For a guided end-to-end walkthrough, see the Package and Publish a Plugin tutorial.

Prerequisites​

You need:

  • admin access to Willow
  • a plugin with at least one component
  • to sync to GitHub: Plugin Settings configured with a marketplace name and a GitHub sync mechanism

Download for local testing​

From the plugin edit page, select Download to export a zip formatted for a platform. Use this to test the plugin locally before publishing to the marketplace.

Download dropdown on the plugin edit page showing Download for Cursor and Download for Claude
  • Download for Cursor
  • Download for Claude

Publish​

A plugin must have status: active to appear in the marketplace. Draft plugins are visible only to admins.

To publish, either use Create & Publish when creating the plugin, or publish an existing draft from its row on the Plugins list.

Only organization-level plugins (no owner) are published. User-owned plugins remain private.

Let users install from the Connect portal (beta)​

Published plugins can be offered to end users directly inside the Connect portal, without any GitHub sync or per-client setup. When enabled, a Plugins page appears in the Connect sidebar where users browse, search, and install published plugins into their coding agents in one click.

Beta feature

This is gated by the Plugins in Connect beta feature, which is off by default. Enable it under Settings > Beta Features. To request access to beta features, contact Willow.

  1. Open Settings > Beta Features.
  2. Turn on Plugins in Connect.
Beta Features settings panel with the Plugins in Connect toggle highlighted, described as showing the Plugins page in the Connect portal so end users can browse, search, and install published plugins

Once enabled, your published organization plugins appear on the Connect portal's Plugins page. See the user guide, Install Plugins from Connect, for the end-user experience.

Target platforms​

A plugin inherits the organization's default marketplace platforms from Plugin Settings. To target a different set for one plugin, turn on Override defaults in its Plugin Details and check the platforms it should target: Cursor, Claude, GitHub Copilot, Codex.

Marketplace preview​

Before syncing, use the Marketplace Preview tree on the plugin edit page to confirm the file structure Willow will generate. See The edit page.

Sync to GitHub​

Publishing makes a plugin eligible for marketplace sync. Two mechanisms are available and can run side by side, configured in Plugin Settings:

  • Managed (Willow-hosted): a private repo Willow maintains for you. See Managed Marketplace Sync.
  • Custom (your GitHub): your own repository with configurable sync modes, branches, and webhooks. See GitHub Integration.

When sync is active, the Plugins list shows a status banner with the sync mode, target repository, and enabled platforms.

Install the marketplace in your agents​

Once your plugins are synced to GitHub, follow the platform-specific guide to make them available to your developers:

Tips​

  • Wrap standalone MCP servers, skills, or toolkits in a plugin if you want them distributed through the marketplace.
  • Enable auto-create in Plugin Settings to avoid manually wrapping every new entity.
  • Use the marketplace preview to verify the file structure before syncing.

What to do next​

On this page