intellij-sdk-code-samples/basics/plugin_structure/plugin_content.md

layout	title
editable	Plugin Content

There are 2 ways how to organize plugin content:

1. A plugin consists of one .jar file placed in the plugins directory:

   The archive should contain the configuration file (META-INF/plugin.xml) and classes that implement the plugin functionality. The configuration file specifies the plugin name, description, version, vendor, the supported IDEA version, plugin components, actions and action groups, action user interface placement.

.IntelliJIDEAx0 plugins sample.jar/ com/foo/..... ... ... META-INF plugin.xml

2. Plugin files are located in a jar-file that is placed to the lib folder:

.IntelliJIDEAx0 plugins Sample lib libfoo.jar libbar.jar Sample.jar/ com/foo/..... ... ... META-INF plugin.xml

All the jars from the 'lib' folder are automatically added to the classpath.