---
title: "The plugin manifest file"
slug: "the-plugin-manifest-file"
abstract: "Explains the plugin manifest file."
---
# The plugin manifest file

All Sitecore Host plugins contain a `Sitecore.Plugin.manifest` file. This file contains essential metadata about the plugin and it is automatically created, populated, and included in a plugin when it is compiled.

A plugin manifest can contain the following information:

- Name
- Version
- Assembly name - only present if the plugin contains an assembly.
- Tags - used for filtering plugins when they are loaded.
- Dependencies - other plugins required to be loaded before for this plugin.

The following is an example of a plugin manifest file:

```xml
<SitecorePlugin PluginName="Module" AssemblyName="Module" Version="1.0.0">
  <Dependencies>
    <Dependency name="Module3" value="1.0.0" />
    <Dependency name="Module2" value="1.0.0" />
  </Dependencies>
  <Tags>
    <this>this</this>
    <that>that</that>
  </Tags>
</SitecorePlugin>

```