Plugins

Plugins are modules written in C++ or IDAPython that provide additional functionality to IDA. They can improve analysis, automate tedious tasks, and integrate new features.

Invoking plugins

Usually, a plugin is invoked through a hotkey or the menu system. The registered and loaded plugins will appear in a special Edit → Plugins submenu.

Plugins location

The plugin modules reside in the plugins subdirectory of IDA. IDA is able to find and load all the plugins from this directory automatically. However, you can write a configuration file and tell IDA how to load plugins. To do so, you need to modify the plugins.cfg file in the plugins subdirectory, as described below.

Configure how plugins are loaded with plugins.cfg

The plugins.cfg file is needed to customize the plugins, including:

  • appearance of the plugin in the menu

  • the hotkey used to call the plugin

  • the optional argument passed to the plugin

The format of the plugins.cfg file is simple:

  • Empty lines and lines starting with ';' are comment lines

  • Other lines must have the following structure and fields:

             menu_name filename hotkey arg flags

    Example:

             Undefine undef    Alt-U  0
Fields
Description

menu_name

A visible name of the plugin. This name will be used in the Edit → Plugins menu. Underscore symbols will be replaced by spaces here.

filename

The plugin file name. If the filename doesn't include the file extension or the directory, IDA will add them. Default extensions: - Windows: .dll - Linux: .so - macOS: .dylib Note: Plugins compiled with support for 64-bit address space use a 64 suffix before the extension (e.g., pdb64.dll).

hotkey

A hotkey to activate the plugin

arg

An optional integer argument which will be passed to the run() function of the plugin

flags

Optional flags. The following values are available: - DEBUG: Debugger plugin - WIN: Enable plugin for MS Windows - MAC: Enable plugin for Mac - LINUX: Enable plugin for Linux - GUI: Plugin can only be used with GUI version of IDA - SILENT: Silently skip nonexisting plugin

See also

  • Check documentation on individual plugins.

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