---
title: Use the execd shim
description: 'The shim makes it easy to extract an internal input, processor, or output plugin from the main Telegraf repo out to a stand-alone repo. This allows anyone to build and run it as a separate app using one of the execd plugins: inputs.execd processors.execd outputs.execd Extract a plugin using the shim wrapper Move the project to an external repo. We recommend preserving the path structure: for example, if your plugin was located at plugins/inputs/cpu in the Telegraf repo, move it to plugins/inputs'
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/telegraf/v1/configure_plugins/external_plugins/shim/
estimated_tokens: 1006
product: Telegraf
version: v1
---

# Use the `execd` shim

The shim makes it easy to extract an internal input, processor, or output plugin from the main Telegraf repo out to a stand-alone repo. This allows anyone to build and run it as a separate app using one of the `execd` plugins:

-   [inputs.execd](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/plugins/inputs/execd)
-   [processors.execd](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master//plugins/processors/execd)
-   [outputs.execd](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/plugins/outputs/execd)

## Extract a plugin using the shim wrapper

1. Move the project to an external repo. We recommend preserving the path structure: for example, if your plugin was located at `plugins/inputs/cpu` in the Telegraf repo, move it to `plugins/inputs/cpu` in the new repo.
2. Copy [main.go](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/plugins/common/shim/example/cmd/main.go) into your project under the `cmd` folder. This serves as the entry point to the plugin when run as a stand-alone program.
    
    The shim isn’t designed to run multiple plugins at the same time, so include only one plugin per repo.
    
3. Edit the `main.go` file to import your plugin. For example,`_ "github.com/me/my-plugin-telegraf/plugins/inputs/cpu"`. See an example of where to edit `main.go` [here](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/7de9c5ff279e10edf7fe3fdd596f3b33902c912b/plugins/common/shim/example/cmd/main.go#L9).
4. Add a [plugin.conf](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/plugins/common/shim/example/cmd/plugin.conf) for configuration specific to your plugin.
    
    This config file must be separate from the rest of the config for Telegraf, and must not be in a shared directory with other Telegraf configs.
    

## Test and run your plugin

1. Build the `cmd/main.go` using the following command with your plugin name: `go build -o plugin-name cmd/main.go`
2. Test the binary:
3. If you’re building a processor or output, first feed valid metrics in on `STDIN`. Skip this step if you’re building an input.
4. Test out the binary by running it (for example, `./project-name -config plugin.conf`). Metrics will be written to `STDOUT`. You might need to hit enter or wait for your poll duration to elapse to see data.
5. Press `Ctrl-C` to end your test.
6. Configure Telegraf to call your new plugin binary. For an input, this would look something like:

```toml
[[inputs.execd]]
  command = ["/path/to/rand", "-config", "/path/to/plugin.conf"]
  signal = "none"
```

Refer to the `execd` plugin documentation for more information.

## Publish your plugin

Publishing your plugin to GitHub and open a Pull Request back to the Telegraf repo letting us know about the availability of your [external plugin](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/EXTERNAL_PLUGINS.md).