# Plugins

Fluent Bit comes with a variety of built-in plugins, and also supports loading external plugins at runtime. This feature is especially useful for loading Go or WebAssembly (Wasm) plugins that are built as shared object files (`.so`). Fluent Bit YAML configuration provides the following ways to load these external plugins:

## Inline YAML

You can specify external plugins directly within your main YAML configuration file using the `plugins` section. Here's an example:

```yaml
plugins:
  - /path/to/out_gstdout.so

service:
  log_level: info

pipeline:
  inputs:
    - name: random

  outputs:
    - name: gstdout
      match: '*'
```

## YAML plugins file included using the `plugins_file` option

You can load external plugins from a separate YAML file by specifying the `plugins_file` option in the service section for better modularity.

To configure this:

```yaml
service:
  log_level: info
  plugins_file: extra_plugins.yaml

pipeline:
  inputs:
    - name: random

  outputs:
    - name: gstdout
      match: '*'
```

In this setup, the `extra_plugins.yaml` file might contain the following plugins section:

```yaml
plugins:
  - /other/path/to/out_gstdout.so
```


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.fluentbit.io/manual/4.0/administration/configuring-fluent-bit/yaml/plugins-section.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.