Download and Install the Automation Orchestrator Plug-in SDK

You download and install the Automation Orchestrator Plug-in SDK package on your local machine.

The procedure for downloading and installing the Plug-in SDK is required for Automation Orchestrator 8.4 and later. For earlier versions of Automation Orchestrator, you can access the SDK through the Maven repository in the Automation Orchestrator appliance. For more information, select EXPLORE DEVELOPER RESOURCES from the Automation Orchestrator homepage.

Procedure

Download the ZIP package that includes the Plug-in SDK.
Install the SDK.
1. Unzip the package that includes the Plug-in SDK.
2. For Windows environments, run the install.ps1 script.
3. For Mac OS or Linux environments, run the install.sh script.
  Note: By default, the install script does not accept arguments. The script installs the SDK to your default local Maven repository. However, you can specify a different installation location for a custom Maven repository by passing the path as an argument, such as the following:
```
bash
./install.sh <custom-mvn-repo-location>
```
  Note: For more information regarding the Plug-in SDK, open the README.MD file in the SDK archive.
Validate the installation, run the following command:
```
bash
mvn archetype:generate -Dfilter="com.vmware.o11n:"
```
The Maven archetype:generate command generates projects from existing archetypes. After running the command, you should see a list of Automation Orchestrator plug-in archetypes to choose from. This procedure verifies that the archetypes are present in your local Maven repository and the SDK installation is successful.
(Optional) For existing plug-ins that you want to migrate to the new SDK, you should remove the `repositories` and `pluginRepositories` sections from the root `pom.xml` file of your project.
Since you have installed the Plug-in SDK in your local Maven repository, you do not need to log into the Automation Orchestrator appliance to retrieve the SDK libraries and because of this, the pom.xml sections for a Maven repository are not needed. This step is not required but it is recommended. If your project uses internal Automation Orchestrator libraries that are not present in the SDK ZIP package, you should try and find an alternative to them, but if finding an alternative is unfeasible, you should not do this step.

If your plug-in depends on a package that is internal to Automation Orchestrator and is not part of the SDK, see Can I use Maven packages that are internal to Automation Orchestrator and are not part of the SDK in Using the Automation Orchestrator Plug-In SDK.

It is recommended to move to an isolated ClassLoader for your plug-in in order to decouple its dependencies from the platform. See ClassLoaders.