> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.hex-rays.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.hex-rays.com/8.4/user-guide/plugins/open-plugin-architecture.md).
# Open Plugin Architecture
IDA’s functionality can easily be extended by the use of programmable plug-ins. Plugins may be written to automate routine tasks, for example to enhance the analysis of hostile code or to add specific functionality to our disassembler. Plugins should be written in C++. They may be linked to hot keys or menu items and have full access to the IDA database and may examine or modify the program or use I/O functions. Our SDK contains
* 4 sample plugins
* a simple “hello world” type plugin.
* a sample processor extension plugin (adds 2 NEC V20 specific instructions to the 80×86 processor module).
* a sample pdb file loader ( as used by IDA itself ).
* a sample executable decryption plugin.
* a sample graphing plugin.
*  
* the source code to a 30+ processor modules!
* the source code to a 20+ loaders
* header files (almost 19.000 lines of heavily commented documentation to IDA’s exported interface).
* import libraries for Borland C/C++ (32 & 64 bits), Microsoft Visual C++ 6 (32 & 64 bits), GNU C/C++ (32 & 64 bits), Watcom 11
* if you received IDA as a download, the SDK download information can be found in the e-mail you have received.
## Additional free plugins, from Ilfak’s blog:
stealth
Stealth against anti-debugging tricks
findcrypt
Identifies some frequently used block ciphers
highlighter
Highlights code that has been single stepped through in a debugging session
unispector
Extracts unicode strings from an IDA database
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