Publish Tyk AI Studio Plugins - Tyk Documentation

Availability

Edition	Deployment Type
Community & Enterprise	Self-Managed, Hybrid

Signature verification and more than one marketplace source are Enterprise Edition features.

Overview

To publish a plugin, you put it where AI Studio can download it, and you tell administrators where it is. Publishing has three parts:

Package: You push the plugin binary to an OCI registry as an OCI artifact.
Sign: You sign the artifact with cosign. This part is necessary only when the installation verifies signatures.
List: You add an entry for the version to a marketplace index. This part is optional.

An administrator can install a published plugin in two ways:

From the Marketplace page, when the plugin is in a marketplace index that AI Studio syncs.
From the Add Plugin form, with the oci:// reference of the artifact.

Both ways download the same artifact. For the other ways to run a plugin, such as a local file or a remote gRPC server, refer to Deployment Options.

Package the Plugin as an OCI Artifact

AI Studio reads the first layer of the artifact as the plugin binary. It does not unpack the layer. For this reason, push the binary itself with ORAS. Do not package it as a Docker image.

If the plugin has a UI, build the UI bundle before you compile the binary.
Compile a static binary for each platform that runs the plugin. AI Studio and Edge Gateways can run on different platforms.
Push each binary to its own tag, with the Tyk plugin artifact type.
Combine the platform tags into a multi-platform index under the version tag.

VERSION=1.4.0
REPO=registry.example.com/ai-studio/request-tagger

GOOS=linux  GOARCH=amd64 CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o request-tagger-linux-amd64 .
GOOS=darwin GOARCH=arm64 CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o request-tagger-darwin-arm64 .

oras push $REPO:$VERSION-linux_amd64 \
  --artifact-type application/vnd.tyk.plugin.binary.v1 \
  --artifact-platform linux/amd64 \
  ./request-tagger-linux-amd64:application/vnd.tyk.plugin.layer.v1

oras push $REPO:$VERSION-darwin_arm64 \
  --artifact-type application/vnd.tyk.plugin.binary.v1 \
  --artifact-platform darwin/arm64 \
  ./request-tagger-darwin-arm64:application/vnd.tyk.plugin.layer.v1

oras manifest index create $REPO:$VERSION $VERSION-linux_amd64 $VERSION-darwin_arm64

When the reference points to a multi-platform index, AI Studio selects the manifest for the platform of the host. To select a different platform, add ?arch=<os>/<arch> to the oci:// reference. Put the version in each platform tag, as in the example. Then an incomplete release cannot make the version tag point to the binary of an earlier version. The maximum size of a plugin layer is 512 MB by default. Refer to Plugin Size Limit and Registry Authentication.

Sign the Plugin

AI Studio uses cosign to verify plugin signatures. Sign the index by its digest, and then verify the signature:

DIGEST=$(oras manifest fetch --descriptor $REPO:$VERSION | jq -r .digest)
cosign sign --key plugin-signing.key $REPO@$DIGEST
cosign verify --key plugin-signing.pub $REPO@$DIGEST

Signature verification runs only in the Enterprise Edition, and only when it is on:

Runtime	Setting	Default
AI Studio	`AI_STUDIO_OCI_REQUIRE_SIGNATURE`	`false`
Edge Gateway	`OCI_PLUGINS_REQUIRE_SIGNATURE`	`true`

Public Keys

AI Studio and Edge Gateways always have the Tyk plugin signing key. To verify your own plugins, give administrators your public key. They add it as an environment variable on AI Studio and on each Edge Gateway:

OCI_PLUGINS_PUBKEY_<NAME>: the PEM content of the key.
OCI_PLUGINS_PUBKEY_FILE_<NAME>: the path to the key file.

To select your key, the oci:// reference must include ?pubkey=<NAME>. For example, oci://registry.example.com/ai-studio/request-tagger:1.4.0?pubkey=ACME uses OCI_PLUGINS_PUBKEY_ACME. Without pubkey, AI Studio verifies the plugin only with the Tyk signing key.

A plugin installed from the Marketplace page gets a reference without pubkey. If verification is on, a plugin that you signed with your own key fails verification. Tell administrators to install it from the Add Plugin form with ?pubkey=<NAME>, or to edit the command of the installed plugin.

List the Plugin in a Marketplace

A marketplace is an index.yaml file at an HTTP or HTTPS URL. AI Studio downloads the index at each sync and shows its plugins on the Marketplace page. Serve the index over HTTPS. AI Studio installs the artifact that the index names, so a changed index can make administrators install a different artifact.

Plugin Marketplace page with plugin cards from the Tyk marketplace source

The Index File

The index has an apiVersion and a plugins map. Each key is a plugin ID. Its value is a list with one entry for each published version:

apiVersion: v1
generated: '2026-10-07T09:00:00Z'
plugins:
  com.acme.request-tagger:
  - id: com.acme.request-tagger
    name: Request Tagger
    version: 1.4.0
    description: Adds team tags to LLM requests.
    oci_registry: registry.example.com
    oci_repository: ai-studio/request-tagger
    oci_tag: 1.4.0
    oci_digest: sha256:4f1c...
    oci_platform: [linux/amd64, darwin/arm64]
    category: tools
    maturity: stable
    publisher: community
    primary_hook: pre_auth
    hooks: [pre_auth]
    min_studio_version: 2.2.0
    manifest_url: https://plugins.example.com/plugins/request-tagger/1.4.0/manifest.yaml

AI Studio refuses an index when:

apiVersion or plugins is missing.
A plugin has no versions.
The id of an entry is different from its key in plugins.
An entry has no version, oci_registry, or oci_repository.

These fields control what administrators see and what AI Studio offers:

Field	Effect
`oci_digest`, `oci_tag`	AI Studio installs `oci_registry/oci_repository@oci_digest`. If there is no digest, it uses the tag. Always set `oci_digest`, so that a moved tag cannot change the artifact that AI Studio installs.
`category`, `maturity`, `publisher`	The filters on the Marketplace page
`hooks`, `primary_hook`	The hook types of the plugin that AI Studio installs
`min_studio_version`	Shown as Minimum AI Studio Version. AI Studio does not enforce it. Refer to Version Compatibility.
`enterprise_only`	The Community Edition does not offer the version as an upgrade.
`deprecated`, `deprecated_message`, `replacement`	The Marketplace page hides the version until a user turns on Show deprecated. AI Studio does not offer it as an upgrade.
`required_services`	The service scopes that the administrator approves at installation
`manifest_url`	The location of the full manifest of the version. AI Studio also reads the changelog from this location.

Changelogs

The upgrade dialog shows the changelog of the target version. AI Studio reads CHANGELOG.md from the directory of manifest_url. The changelog must be on the same scheme and host as the index. AI Studio shows the first 256 KB.

Add a Marketplace Source

The default marketplace is the Tyk marketplace at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TykTechnologies/tyk-ai-studio-plugins-ce/main/index.yaml.

Community Edition: AI Studio syncs one marketplace. To use a different index, set MARKETPLACE_INDEX_URL.
Enterprise Edition: Administrators can add more marketplaces. Go to Plugins > Marketplace Sources and click Add Marketplace. Enter the index URL, and click Validate URL to check that AI Studio can read the index. To make it the default marketplace, turn on Set as default marketplace.

Add Marketplace Source dialog with an index URL, the Validate URL button, and the Set as default marketplace switch

The Marketplace Sources page shows the status, the number of plugins, and the last sync of each source. You cannot remove or deactivate the default marketplace. When you remove a source, its plugins go off the Marketplace page.

Marketplace Sources page with the Tyk marketplace as the default, active source

AI Studio syncs every hour. To change the interval, set MARKETPLACE_SYNC_INTERVAL, for example 30m. To sync immediately, click Sync Marketplace on the Marketplace page, or the sync icon of a source. A manual sync bypasses HTTP caches.

Release a New Version

Increase version in the plugin manifest.
Push the new binaries, and create the index under a new version tag. Do not push a different binary to a tag that you already published.
Sign the new index.
Add an entry for the new version to index.yaml, and put its CHANGELOG.md next to its manifest.yaml. Keep the entries of the earlier versions.

After the next sync, the Versions tab of the plugin shows the new version.

Versions tab of a marketplace plugin with the current version, earlier versions, and deprecated versions

A version that is in the registry but not in the index does not appear on the Marketplace page. Administrators can install it only with its oci:// reference. A version that you remove from the index goes off the Marketplace page at the next sync.

How Installed Plugins Get the Update

AI Studio links an installed plugin to a marketplace entry by its OCI registry and repository. This applies to plugins installed from the Marketplace page and to plugins installed with an oci:// reference to the same repository. AI Studio identifies the installed version from the digest, then from the tag. When a newer version is available, the Plugins page shows an Update chip. The administrator selects the target version and approves new permissions in the upgrade dialog. The dialog also shows your changelog.

Change version dialog with the target version, new permissions to approve, configuration warnings, and the changelog section

An upgrade keeps the configuration and data of the plugin. For the full upgrade process, refer to Upgrade Installed Plugins.

Version Compatibility

Declare the minimum AI Studio version in compat.min_studio_version of the plugin manifest, and copy it to min_studio_version in the index entry. Refer to Minimum Versions. AI Studio shows the value on the Marketplace page, but it does not block an installation on an older version. The index has no field for min_gateway_version, so administrators see only the AI Studio minimum. State both minimums in your README.

Install Without a Marketplace

Administrators can also install any published artifact from Plugins > Add Plugin. In Command, they enter the oci:// reference, with ?pubkey=<NAME> if verification is on.

​Availability

​Overview

​Package the Plugin as an OCI Artifact

​Sign the Plugin

​Public Keys

​List the Plugin in a Marketplace

​The Index File

​Changelogs

​Add a Marketplace Source

​Release a New Version

​How Installed Plugins Get the Update

​Version Compatibility

​Install Without a Marketplace

Availability

Overview

Package the Plugin as an OCI Artifact

Sign the Plugin

Public Keys

List the Plugin in a Marketplace

The Index File

Changelogs

Add a Marketplace Source

Release a New Version

How Installed Plugins Get the Update

Version Compatibility

Install Without a Marketplace