Free Plugin Hub add-on gathers Blender plugin tabs into one and can restore everything as it was

Developer calebdeleon has released Plugin Hub, a Blender add-on that clears the many tabs out of the 3D Viewport's N-panel sidebar. Users choose which third-party plugin tabs to move into a shared Plugins tab, where each add-on becomes a collapsible section. Plugin Hub used to be a paid add-on, but the author has now made it free. The developer says usefulness matters more to them than profit. Anyone who had already bought the add-on got a full refund.

Anyone who installs a lot of plugins runs into this problem. Every add-on puts its own tab in the sidebar, and with many plugins the right one gets hard to find. Plugin Hub collapses that list into a single tab, and the plugins keep working as before.

Only the panel's tab changes

Plugin Hub doesn't hide, disable or wrap anything in its own interface. Each panel is still drawn by its add-on's code. The only thing that changes is which tab it sits in.

You can get to the gathered tools in three ways:

• through the shared Plugins tab in the sidebar;
• through the Plugins menu in the top bar;
• through a separate floating window that shows only the sidebar. It's handy to keep on a second monitor. Technically it's a regular 3D Viewport with everything except the sidebar hidden.

Setup is manual. When you press Scan, the add-on lists every sidebar tab it finds and how many panels each one has. Each tab can stay where it is or move to Plugins, and arrows set the order of the add-ons in the shared list. Rescanning keeps this order, and a newly enabled plugin is simply added at the end. The add-on never moves Blender's built-in tabs.

Tests check the rollback

Before making any changes, Plugin Hub records each panel's category, parent, order and options, and the Restore Original Tabs button brings back that snapshot. The developer says the tests check the rollback specifically: after gathering and restoring, every panel must be exactly as it was before, even if gathering ran twice in a row. All 16 tests pass in Blender 4.5.11 and 5.2.0 on 11 tabs from real add-ons.

If you disable or uninstall Plugin Hub, the original layout comes back automatically. The author says the add-on leaves nothing behind in user preferences, .blend files or anywhere else.

Limitations

The developer lists the limitations:

• some plugins re-register themselves on their own tab, and then they have to be gathered again with the Rescan button;
• only the order set with the arrows is saved; drag-and-drop doesn't work for this;
• the add-on works only with the 3D Viewport sidebar and doesn't touch plugins that use the Properties editor or their own editor.

Plugin Hub runs in Blender 4.2 and newer on Windows, macOS and Linux. It needs no extra dependencies, accounts or license keys. Plugin Hub is a free download from the author's Gumroad page.

Why a cluttered sidebar became a problem

For a long time, N-panel tabs were a convenient way to give each plugin its own place. But the Blender add-on ecosystem has grown a lot, and many artists have generators, retopology tools, HDRI managers and render engine bridges enabled at once. An interface designed for a few tabs doesn't cope well with that many. This has led to utility tools whose job is to organize tools that are already installed.

Plugin Hub changes only the tab of other add-ons' panels and puts its emphasis on a guaranteed rollback. This cautious approach will likely help the tool catch on in studios, where changes to the interface and files get especially careful review. The switch to a free model will probably speed up its adoption. If there is demand, support for editors other than the 3D Viewport would be a logical next step. Plugins that take their tab back on their own seem to remain a problem for their authors or for Blender itself.

What matters more to you in Plugin Hub?

• A shared Plugins tab
• Restoring everything as it was