Jenkins provides two common methods for installing or updating plugins on the master:

• Plugin Manager (Update Center) in the web UI
• Built-in command line interface (CLI)

After successful download of a plugin and its dependencies a Jenkins master restart is only required if the plugin itself or one of the dependencies are updated from a previous installed version. Otherwise the plugin changes take effect directly.

Search for plugins under the "Available" tab through the "Manage Jenkins > Manage Plugins" view. Select one or multiple plugins and click "Install without restart" to activate them immediately.

After building a self-contained .hpi file with all necessary code, resources and other dependencies it can be uploaded manually from the web UI through "Advanced" tab.

The Jenkins CLI provides a plugin installation command:

java -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s <JENKINS_URL>:<JENKINS_PORT>/ install-plugin <SOURCE>

The SOURCE part can be given as a local file reference (.hpi file path), download URL or as the short name of an existing plugin.

• Managing Plugins
• Plugins Index