Adding Plugins

Plugins are Ansible plays that define what gets installed and configured on each machine during the build. For example, a Domain Controller plugin installs Active Directory, a vulnerability plugin plants an exploitable service, and a file copy plugin moves files onto the machine.

Entering Machine Edit Mode

To manage a machine’s plugins, double-click its node on the canvas. This opens machine edit mode:

The left sidebar shows plugin categories.
The main panel shows the machine’s current plugins in order. This list is the build sequence.
You add plugins by dragging them from the sidebar into the build sequence.

Plugin Categories

The sidebar groups plugins into categories:

Architect machine-edit view with the Actions plugin category open in the left sidebar, listing File Copy, Remove Windows Defender, Run Powershell Script, Auto Log User Into Machine, Join Windows Machine to Domain, Restart Windows Machine, and more The left sidebar with the Actions category open. Drag any of these tiles onto the machine’s build sequence on the right. The icon rail lists the categories: Help, Actions, Vulns, Attack, Defense, Roles, Apps, and Copy Files.

Category	Description
Actions	General configuration tasks (domain joins, user creation, network config)
Vulns	Deliberately vulnerable services and misconfigurations
Attack	Offensive tools and payloads
Defense	Defensive tools, monitoring, and hardening
Roles	System roles (Domain Controller, DNS Server, Web Server)
Apps	Applications and services
Copy Files	File transfer operations from your vault to the machine

The Help icon at the top of the rail opens a getting-started panel. It isn’t a plugin category.

Adding a Plugin

Browse the plugin categories in the sidebar, or search.
Find the plugin you want.
Drag it from the sidebar onto the build sequence area.
The plugin appears in the machine’s build pipeline.

When you add a plugin, the system may run auto-apply automations. These are plugin-level rules that fill in VLAN or machine configuration automatically, based on what the plugin is known to need.

Each one applies a tested baseline, so you don’t have to guess at resource sizing or networking. For example:

Adding a Domain Controller recommends 2 GB RAM and 2 CPU cores, sets a static IP on the VLAN, and sets up DNS forwarding to the DC for that VLAN’s FQDN.
Adding an Elastic server recommends 12 GB RAM and 4 CPU cores, because Elasticsearch uses a lot of memory, and reserves a static IP.
New machines start at 8 GB RAM and 4 CPU cores.

You can override any auto-applied value in the machine’s Edit panel. The automations give you a working baseline so the build doesn’t fail on day one from too few resources.

Plugin Sequence

Plugins run top-to-bottom in the order they appear. Getting this order right matters more than anything else when you build a machine. If the order is wrong, the build breaks.

Build sequence pane showing the ordered plugin chain on chi-ws22: Remove Defender, Join Domain, Set UI Performance (inside a drag group), Auto Log User, two File Copy steps, Auto Execute, and Mount Student Share The build sequence on chi-ws22. Defender is removed first, then the machine joins the domain, then the user is logged in automatically, and then files are copied to the user’s desktop. Each step depends on the one above it.

Some common ordering rules:

Join Windows Machine to Domain before Auto Log User Into Machine. The user has to be a domain user before auto-login can sign them in.
Auto Login before File Copy onto the desktop. C:\Users\<user>\Desktop\ exists only after the user profile is created at first login.
Remove Defender before installing attacker tooling. Otherwise antivirus deletes the binaries during the install.
Service installs before configuration plugins that depend on them. For example, install SQL before you seed it with a payload.

A few more things you can do in the build sequence:

Reorder by drag. Drag a plugin to where it belongs, and the other items shift to make room.
Trash on the fly. While you drag, a trash can appears. Drop a plugin on it to remove it without leaving the sequence.
Dependency-aware grouping. DRAG GROUPs mark plugin dependencies. If a plugin you add needs prerequisites, Architect adds them for you and groups them so they always move together.

File Storage and Copy

The Copy Files feature lets you upload any content to a machine’s vault and copy it to specific paths during the build. It’s one of the most useful features in Architect, for two reasons:

Push scripts to run on hosts. Put PowerShell, Bash, or batch scripts in the vault, copy them into place, and follow with a Run Powershell Script or Run Bash Script plugin to run them. You get custom setup on the host without writing a full plugin.
Seed realistic file content across user profiles. Fill Desktop, Documents, Downloads, browser caches, mailboxes, network shares, and any other path with believable artifacts. This does more than anything else to make a lab feel like a real environment.

To set it up:

Upload files and folders to the machine’s own vault with the Manage Files button.
Drag the Copy Files control from the sidebar into the build sequence.
Click the copy files card to set the source and destination paths.

Copy Files panel open on the left of the Architect machine view, showing the three-step Operations Guide (Upload Files, Add Copy Commands, Configure Each Copy) next to the build sequence on the right, which contains a Copy Files step The Copy Files panel. Use Manage Files at the top to upload into the machine vault, then drag the Copy Files tile into the build sequence and click it to set source and destination paths.

Uploading into a machine’s vault (or a plugin’s vault) needs lab time: a Lab plan or VM hours. Without it, uploads are off and the vault shows Get VM hours to upload with a Get VM hours button. Rogue Oracle can still seed files into your machines. Your personal and team vaults don’t need lab time.

Plugin Snapshots

Each plugin in the build sequence has a snapshot toggle (camera icon). When it’s on, the build system takes a VM snapshot before it runs that plugin. If the plugin fails, you can revert to the snapshot and try again without rebuilding everything from scratch.

The Plugin Browser

To see everything available, open the Plugin Browser from the Rogue Architect home screen. It lists every plugin in your library, with search, filter, and sort controls. Use it to look through the full catalog, since the sidebar inside a machine shows one category at a time.

Plugin Browser page showing a search bar, filter and sort controls, and a grid of plugin tiles including File Copy, Run Powershell Script, Domain Controllers, attack machines, and apps The Plugin Browser. Search by name, filter by category, OS, or ownership, and sort to find the right plugin across the whole library.

You add plugins by dragging them from the sidebar in machine edit mode. The browser is for finding out what’s available before you pick one.

Need a Plugin That Doesn’t Exist?

If the library doesn’t have what you need, you have two options. Click one to learn more:

Have your agent build it

The /rogue-plugin-brainstorm and /rogue-plugin-develop skills walk you through researching the install approach, scaffolding the project, and shipping a working plugin without leaving your terminal.

Agent MCP for plugin dev

Build it yourself

Author custom plugins by hand. They appear in the browser and sidebar alongside the built-in ones, fully reusable across every scenario.

Plugin Development