Natron plug-in paths

When looking for startup scripts or Python group plug-ins, Natron will look into the following search paths in order:

  • The bundled plug-ins path. There are 2 kinds of plug-ins: PyPlugs and OpenFX plug-ins. The bundled OpenFX plug-ins are located in Plugins/OFX/Natron in your Natron installation and the bundled PyPlugs in the directory Plugins/PyPlugs.

  • The standard user location for non OpenFX plug-ins (i.e. PyPlugs): that is the directory .Natron in the home directory, e.g.:

    On Windows that would be:

    C:\Users\<username>\.Natron
    

    On OS X & Linux that would be:

    ~/.Natron
    
  • The standard system location for non OpenFX plug-ins (i.e. PyPlugs):

    Windows:

    C:\Program Files\Common Files\Natron\Plugins
    

    OS X:

    /Library/Application Support/Natron/Plugins
    

    Linux:

    /usr/share/Natron/Plugins
    
  • All the paths indicated by the NATRON_PLUGIN_PATH environment variable. This environment variable should contain the separator ; between each path, such as:

    /home/<username>/NatronPluginsA;/home/<username>/NatronPluginsB
    
  • The user extra search paths in the Plug-ins tab of the Preferences of Natron.

If the setting “Prefer bundled plug-ins over system-wide plug-ins” is checked in the preferences then Natron will first look into the bundled plug-ins before checking the standard location. Otherwise, Natron will check bundled plug-ins as the last location.

Note that if the “User bundled plug-ins” setting in the preferences is unchecked, Natron will not attempt to load any bundled plug-ins.