Build a plugin

For more information on the types of plugins you can build, refer to the [Plugin Overview]({{< relref "../../administration/plugin-management/" >}}).

Get started

The easiest way to start developing Grafana plugins is to use the Grafana create-plugin tool.

Open the terminal, and run the following command in your [plugin directory]({{< relref "../../setup-grafana/configure-grafana/#plugins" >}}):

npx @grafana/create-plugin

Follow the questions and you will have a starter plugin ready to develop.

If you want a more guided introduction to plugin development, check out our tutorials:

Learn more about specific areas of plugin development.

If you're looking to build your first plugin, check out these introductory tutorials:

Ready to learn more? Check out our other tutorials:

Improve an existing plugin with one of our guides:

[Add authentication for data source plugins]({{< relref "add-authentication-for-data-source-plugins.md" >}})
[Add support for annotations]({{< relref "add-support-for-annotations.md" >}})
[Add support for Explore queries]({{< relref "add-support-for-explore-queries.md" >}})
[Add support for variables]({{< relref "add-support-for-variables.md" >}})
[Add a query editor help component]({{< relref "add-query-editor-help.md" >}})
[Build a logs data source plugin]({{< relref "build-a-logs-data-source-plugin.md" >}})
[Build a streaming data source plugin]({{< relref "build-a-streaming-data-source-plugin.md" >}}/)
[Error handling]({{< relref "error-handling.md" >}})
[Working with data frames]({{< relref "working-with-data-frames.md" >}})
[Development with local Grafana]({{< relref "development-with-local-grafana.md" >}})

Deepen your knowledge through a series of high-level overviews of plugin concepts:

Explore the many UI components in our Grafana UI library.

For inspiration, check out our plugin examples.

[Grafana Plugin SDK for Go]({{< relref "backend/grafana-plugin-sdk-for-go.md" >}})