> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://unstructured-53-docs-243-plugins.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Unstructured self-hosted plugins overview

In Unstructured, a *plugin* is a self-contained unit of code that can be used to add, change, or use data within the context of an Unstructured ETL+ workflow. Every
node in a workflow is itself a plugin. You can also create your own plugins to extend your organization's workflow capabilities.

Developing, deploying, and running your own custom plugins is available only for\
the [Unstructured user interface](/ui/overview) (UI) that has already been deployed to
infrastructure that you maintain in your
[Amazon Web Services (AWS)](/self-hosted/aws/overview), [Azure](/self-hosted/azure/overview), or
[Google Cloud Platform (GCP)](/self-hosted/gcp/overview) account.

If you do not already have a self-hosted deployment of the Unstructured UI,
contact your Unstructured sales representative, email Unstructured Sales at [sales@unstructured.io](mailto:sales@unstructured.io), or fill out the
[contact form](https://unstructured.io/contact) on the Unstructured website, and a member of the Unstructured sales or support teams
will get back to you as soon as possible to discuss self-hosting options.

## Concepts

Plugins are rather straightforward in they accept a named input and emit a named output. The following diagram illustrates this concept:

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/unstructured-53-docs-243-plugins/wArBQTW-NUzsvTl2/img/ui/Plugins-DAG.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=wArBQTW-NUzsvTl2&q=85&s=b1151548b3e0eaf0af18463269f8ed73" alt="Conceptual programmatic flow of plugins" width="1392" height="792" data-path="img/ui/Plugins-DAG.png" />

In the preceding diagram:

* The blue boxes represent the default plugins that come with Unstructured.
* The yellow circles describe what each default plugin does.
* The green box represents the indexer that gathers all of the source files.
* The red box represents the destination location.
* The arrows represent the flow of data between the plugins.
* The words within the arrows represent the programmatic names of the inputs and outputs of the plugins. For example,
  the **Partitioner** plugin accepts its input, represented by the programmatic name `doc_path`, from the previous plugin.
  The **Partitioner** plugin emits its output, represented by the programmatic name `element_dicts` to the next plugin.

## Getting started

To get started with eveloping, deploying, and running your own custom plugins, try out the [tutorial](/self-hosted/plugins/tutorial).