# Managing plugins

> Plugin packages are installed on demand; how to have them in place before the first run.

However DRE is installed, only `dre` itself is. Every source, format and destination is a plugin package with its own version and releases (`duckdb-v1.0.0`, `xlsx-v1.0.2`, …): `dre init`, `dre run`, `dre validate` and `dre compile` download the ones a project declares, from GitHub Releases, and `dre.lock` pins them (see [the registry docs](https://getdre.com/docs/registry/)). A plugin’s version doesn’t follow DRE’s: any DRE runs any plugin release that speaks its [protocol](https://getdre.com/docs/protocol/).

To have them in place before the first run, e.g. on a machine or job that starts empty each time:

-   run `dre deps` in the project while building the image, or as its own CI or job step;
-   or point `DRE_PLUGINS_DIR` at a folder that outlives the run (a Databricks Volume, a shared mount, a folder in the image) and run `dre deps` once to fill it.

[Edit page](https://github.com/get-dre/dre/edit/master/docs/managing-plugins.md)

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