Third-Party Plugins

Pidgin has a large number of plugins that extend basic functionality.

Please note that Pidgin does not officially support individual plugins.

"Normal" Plugins

These plugins appear in the plugins list and provide additional functionality.

Plugin Name	Website	Short Description
Audible Alerts	​Go	Audible notification of a received IM by reading the buddy's screen name
Automatic Change Buddy Icon	​Go	After configuration, this plugin can change your buddy icon automatically
Bot Sentry	​Go	Plugin to help prevent bots from IMing you.
Character Counter	​Go	Plugin for displaying the character count of the current message.
Dexrex	​Go	Allows you to store your logs online for free accessible and searchable anywhere
DockApp	​Go or ​Go	Allows Pidgin to appear as an AfterStep Wharf icon.
Fonomo Video	​Go	Enables Video-chat invitations via Fonomo.com (requires Adobe Flash v9 or higher)
Extended Buddy List Sort	​Go	This Plugin allows you to sort your buddy list more flexible than pidgin does.
Extended Preferences	​Go	Provides some additional, often-requested preferences for Pidgin.
gSMS	​Go	Provides sms notification of received chats while the user is away. Sms notificiation is provided by Google Calendar service.
Guifications	​Go	Provides "toaster" popup notifications.
IM-History Plugin	​Go	Provides easy and convenient way to store your chats and contact list online (using im-history.com service).
Last.FM Plugin	​Go	Shows information from your Last.FM / Audioscrobbler profile in your status message.
Lazy Bums	​Go	Sends a configurable message on the click of a button.
Led-notification	​Go	Provides notifications with laptops' extra LEDs and similar
logstatus	​Go	Logs all the status changes to the buddy history.
MX610-notification	​Go	Provides notifications with Logitech MX610's IM led
Mumbles-project Plugin	​Go	Pidgin Plugin for mumbles-project - modern notification system for Gnome (linux only).
MusicInfo	​Go	Displays the currently-playing music in your status message and profile. Winamp API compatible.
Music Tracker	​Go	Displays the music track currently playing in the status message. Supports a wide range of audio players.
Off-the-Record Messaging	​Go	Allows you to have private conversations over instant messaging.
Pidgin-Audacious-Remote	​Go	Allows control over Audacious Media Player from the Pidgin conversation windows.
Pidgin-Encryption	​Go	Transparently encrypts your instant messages with RSA encryption.
Pidgin-googledesktop	​Go	Google Desktop Indexing Plugin for Pidgin
Pidgin-Identica-Status	​Go	Use a feed from identi.ca as your Pidgin status.
Pidgin-LaTeX	​Go	Allows you to include mathematical formulas in your conversations.
Pidgin Meebo Me	​Go	Handles authorization and deletion of Meebo guest accounts.
Pidgin Personal Bar	​Go	Adds a section at the top of your buddy list to change your display name and personal message.
Pidgin-privacy-please	​Go	Plugin to stop ​spimmers from annoying you.
Pidgin Windows Position Manager	​Go	Places new conversation windows intelligently in Windows (i.e. doesn't always put them in the top left corner).
Pidgin-Paranoia	​Go	Provides information-theoretically secure encrypted conversations using one-time pads.
Pidgin Snarl	​Go	Notifications using Snarl on Windows
pidginTeX	​Go	Renders mathematical expressions. Lots of options, size, colors, etc. Built upon Pidgin-LaTeX.
Purple Plugin Pack	​Go	Provides over 50 plugins for Pidgin, Finch, and libpurple.
QIP decoder	​Go	Corrects invalid incoming QIP 2005 diacritics for CP1250 users
Quote selected text	​Go	Quick specify message to answer
Session Save	​Go	Session Save will remember what conversation windows you had open the last time you used Pidgin, and re-open them for you when you sign on.
Smart Ear	​Go	Customized per-buddy sound events
Smiley Shortcuts	​Go	Inserts a smiley on ctrl+(number) combination.
Textbon	​Go	Textbon hyperlinks recognizable IM shorthands or acronyms or shortcuts. On user click, these links translate Instant Messaging acronyms or shorthands to definitions using the ​http://textbon.com acronym database.
Twitter in your Profile	​Go	Insert your Twitter history into your profile. It gets updated periodically.
Web Pidgin	​Go	Access buddy list and conversations via mobile web browsers
YCaptcha	​Go	Displays Yahoo! Chat captchas in a dialog instead of a browser.

Protocol Plugins

These plugins do not appear in the plugins list. Instead, they create new entries in the protocol field of the account editor and enable the user to connect to new IM or chat networks.

Protocol Name	Website	Short Description
CyanChat	​Go	Adds support for the CyanChat server
Facebook IM	​Go	Supports Facebook Chat
msn-pecan	​Go	Alternative MSN protocol plugin
NateOn	​Go	Plugin to connect to the Korean IM NateOn
Netsoul	​Go	Plugin for the netsoul IM network used at engineering schools in Paris, France
Rediffbol	​Go	Plugin for the Rediffbol IM network used in India
SIP-e (MS Communicator)	​Go	Plugin to connect to the MS Communicator IM server
Tlen.pl	​Go	Plugin to connect to the polish IM Tlen.pl
WinMX Peer Network	​Go	WPN (WinMX Peer Network) chats through WPNP (WinMX Peer Network Protocol)
XFire	​Go	Plugin to connect to the XFire gamers' IM network
Microblog	​Go	Tweet your update to Twitter with your Pidgin (replacement for IM services)

Other Enhancements

These plugins/services provide additional functionality for Pidgin, but do not fit into any of the other categories of plugins.

Name	Website	Short Description
b64	​Go	Base 64 encoding of chat messages (A very simple Perl plugin)
Hab.la	​Go	Lets you chat with visitors to your website for free using Pidgin.
Pidglet	​Go	A Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget that displays your buddy list.
Splert	​Go	A custom automatic answering machine and much more for pidgin.

Development of Third-Party Plugins

If you're looking to develop a third-party plugin, you may find these resources valuable:

• C Plugin Howto (still in progress)
• API Documentation
• Third Party Plugin Translation Support