Plugins
Plugins extend Desk with themes, formula packs, and other packaged capabilities. Install and manage them from File → Preferences → Plugins.
Marketplace
The Plugins panel is a master-detail marketplace (similar to VS Code Extensions):
- Left — searchable catalog with install state; tap a row to open its detail page
- Right — name, publisher, short description, Install / Uninstall / Enable / Disable, then tabs Details (overview), Features (formula / capability list), and How-To (install steps + copy-paste examples)
- Side panel — identifier, version, source, size, categories, signature when installed
Installing from disk or the marketplace requires an Anthrena account (Free is enough). Paid catalog items may also need Pro or a matching license entitlement. Unregistered users are prompted to sign in or create an account.
Signed-in Free (Plan plugins)
After you sign in, Desk loads your freemium Plan entitlement and seeds the plugins staff enabled on that Plan (install from the packaged app + enable). On each signed-in launch, Desk fetches the latest entitlement once, then seeds from that list (or the last good cache if the network fails). Those rows show as Included until installed, then Enabled.
Unregistered Free (no account) never seeds Plan plugins and never calls the entitlement API for plugins. Sign-out clears the Plan cache and removes Plan packages from disk unless an offline Pro key still grants them. The marketplace does not show leftover seeds as Installed without entitlement. Gates return to unregistered Free until the next sign-in.
Axon is special: Axon Core (Forecast, Outliers, Regression) ships with Desk and works without an account — while unregistered the marketplace shows Core free (not Included, which means a Plan grant). Axon Pro still needs Desk Pro or entitlement.
Staff edit which plugins and feature flags belong on the Plan in Shipyard (Revenue → Plans). Desk does not invent a full plugin catalog offline — empty Plan / no cache means no Plan plugins until a real entitlement snapshot arrives. Pro carrots such as PDF / PowerPoint / database connectors stay off unless toggled on the Plan.
Packages are verified with a digital signature before they load. Unsigned packages are refused unless your organization explicitly enables a developer override (ANTHRENA_ALLOW_UNSIGNED_PLUGINS=1 — local DEV only, not for production).
Catalog source
When you are signed in, Desk loads the live marketplace catalog from Anthrena (GET /beta/desk/plugins/catalog — published plugins only). Staff create and publish those rows in Shipyard → Revenue → Marketplace. If that call cannot reach Anthrena, Desk falls back to an ops registry URL when ANTHRENA_PLUGIN_REGISTRY_URL is set, otherwise a bundled offline mock. Unregistered sessions use the registry/mock path (no account Bearer). The Preferences footer explains sign-in for Free Plan plugins — it does not expose registry env vars to end users. Mock package files for formula packs and sample themes live under docs/plugins/.
Axon (machine learning formulas) is the first analytics plugin — see Machine learning.
Optima (Excel-familiar Solver + Goal Seek) installs the same way — see Optima (Solver). Search the catalog for solver or goal seek.
Formula packs (Finance Toolkit and related Pro/Advanced packs) install the same way — see Formula packs. Core sheet formulas are always on; plugin packs appear in autocomplete only when installed and entitled. Marketplace Details cover overview and requirements; How-To has install steps and worked examples; Features lists function names. Each catalog row has a distinct icon. All nine formula packs have local packages under docs/plugins/ for creator DEV install. Catalog rows without a downloadUrl (e.g. Editorial Pro Pack entitlement demo) still show docs; Install stays Unavailable.
Workbooks that need a missing plugin
If you open an .asbx that references a plugin you do not have installed, Desk shows a placeholder tile and keeps your layout and data. Install the plugin later to restore the visual — nothing is deleted.
Security notes
- Plugins install under your local Application Support folder
- Signature verification uses the same trust family as license keys
- See Security for the full trust model