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Plugins 101

Learn about plugins, how to install them, and how they work

10 min read
Plugins

Plugins 101

Plugins are what make your PinchKit agent actually useful. Think of them as apps for your AI assistant — each one gives it new superpowers.

What Are Plugins?

A plugin is basically a set of tools your agent can use. Without plugins, your agent is just a very expensive chatbot. With plugins, it becomes your personal automation wizard.

Each plugin connects your agent to a different service or gives it new capabilities:

- GitHub Plugin: Your agent can create repos, commit code, manage issues

- Vercel Plugin: Deploy websites with a single message

- EVM Wallet Plugin: Handle crypto transactions and DeFi stuff

- And many more...

How Plugins Work

Here's the magic: when you ask your agent to do something, it figures out which plugins it needs and uses them automatically.

For example:

  • You: "Deploy my React app to Vercel"
  • Agent thinks: *I need the GitHub plugin to get the code and the Vercel plugin to deploy it*
  • Agent does the work: Pulls your code, builds it, and deploys to Vercel
  • You: Get the live URL in seconds

    • Available Plugins

    🐙 GitHub Integration

    What it does: Complete GitHub repository management

    Cool stuff you can do:

  • "Create a new repo called 'my-awesome-project'"
  • "Commit these changes with the message 'fix: update homepage'"
  • "Create an issue about that bug we discussed"
  • "Show me my recent activity"
  • "Clone this repository"

    • What you need: GitHub Personal Access Token

    Best for: Developers, anyone who uses GitHub

    ▲ Vercel Deploy

    What it does: Deploy web apps and static sites to Vercel

    Cool stuff you can do:

  • "Deploy my portfolio site"
  • "Update the environment variables for my project"
  • "Show me the deployment logs"
  • "Roll back to the previous version"
  • "Set up a custom domain"

    • What you need: Vercel API Token

    Best for: Web developers, anyone building websites

    🚀 Render Services

    What it does: Manage cloud services on Render

    Cool stuff you can do:

  • "Deploy my API to Render"
  • "Check the logs for my backend service"
  • "Scale up my database"
  • "Update environment variables"
  • "Get service status and metrics"

    • What you need: Render API Key

    Best for: Full-stack developers, backend services

    ⛓️ EVM Wallet

    What it does: Ethereum blockchain interactions

    Cool stuff you can do:

  • "Check my ETH balance"
  • "Send 0.1 ETH to vitalik.eth"
  • "Swap some USDC for ETH on Uniswap"
  • "Check gas prices"
  • "Interact with this smart contract"

    • What you need: Private key or seed phrase (stored securely)

    Best for: Crypto users, DeFi enthusiasts, NFT collectors

    🌐 Namecheap

    What it does: Domain registration and DNS management

    Cool stuff you can do:

  • "Register mycoolsite.com if it's available"
  • "Update DNS records for my domain"
  • "Check when my domains expire"
  • "Set up email forwarding"
  • "Transfer a domain to Namecheap"

    • What you need: Namecheap API Key

    Best for: Website owners, domain investors

    📊 Polymarket

    What it does: Prediction market trading

    Cool stuff you can do:

  • "What are the odds on the election?"
  • "Place a bet on this market"
  • "Show me my current positions"
  • "What markets are trending?"
  • "Close my position on that bet"

    • What you need: Polymarket account and API access

    Best for: Prediction market traders, politics nerds

    Installing Plugins

    During Agent Setup

    The easiest way is to choose your plugins when creating your agent. Just check the boxes for what you want.

    Light Plan: You can pick up to 3 plugins

    Pro Plan: Go wild, install them all

    Adding Plugins Later

    Already have an agent? No problem:

  • Go to your agent's dashboard
  • Click on "Plugins"
  • Browse available plugins
  • Click "Install" on the ones you want
  • Add any required API keys
  • Your agent will restart with the new plugins

    • Removing Plugins

    Don't need a plugin anymore?

  • Go to "Plugins" in your dashboard
  • Find the plugin you want to remove
  • Click "Uninstall"
  • Confirm you're sure
  • Agent restarts without that plugin

    • Setting Up API Keys

    Most plugins need API keys to work. Here's where to get them:

    GitHub Token

    1. Go to github.com/settings/tokens

  • Click "Generate new token"
  • Give it a name like "PinchKit Agent"
  • Select permissions (repo, user, workflow)
  • Copy the token

    • Vercel Token

    1. Go to vercel.com/account/tokens

  • Click "Create"
  • Name it "PinchKit"
  • Copy the token

    • Other Services

    Check out our API Keys & Security guide for detailed instructions on all services.

    Plugin Security

    Your keys are safe: We encrypt all API keys before storing them. Even we can't see your actual keys.

    Limited permissions: Only give plugins the minimum permissions they need. For example, GitHub tokens don't need admin access to your entire account.

    Revoke anytime: You can always revoke API keys from the original service if needed.

    Plugin Combinations

    The real magic happens when plugins work together:

    "Deploy my blog post":

  • GitHub plugin pulls your latest blog post
  • Vercel plugin builds and deploys your site
  • You get the live URL

    • "Register domain and set it up":

  • Namecheap plugin registers the domain
  • Vercel plugin connects it to your project
  • Everything just works

    • Troubleshooting Plugins

    Plugin not working?

  • Check if API keys are correct
  • Verify permissions on the API key
  • Look at agent logs for error messages

    • Commands being ignored?

  • Make sure the plugin is installed
  • Try being more specific in your request
  • Check if the service is down

    • Want more plugins?

    We're constantly adding new ones. Got a suggestion? Let us know in the community!

    What's Next?

    Now that you know about plugins, you might want to:

    - Set up API keys for the services you use

    - Customize your agent's personality

    - Check out Troubleshooting if something's not working

    Happy automating! Your agent is about to become incredibly useful 🎉

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