**Source URL:** https://limited.veevavault.dev/quality/vault-dx/plugins/guides/managing-plugins

# Managing Installed Plugins

This guide covers explicit skill invocation and how skills hand off between each other. For versioning and update commands, see [Plugin Versioning](/quality/vault-dx/plugins/reference/plugin-versioning/).

## Explicit Invocation

When automatic triggering is not reliable or when you want to force a specific skill, use explicit invocation with a slash command:

```
/vault:query
```

```
/vault-administrator:mdl
```

```
/vault-developer:java-sdk
```

Explicit invocation bypasses description matching entirely.

## Skill Handoffs

Skills are intentionally scoped. When your request crosses a skill boundary, the active skill hands off to the skill that owns the next task rather than handling it itself. For example:

*   The `query` skill does not handle authentication. It hands off to [`login`](/vault-dx/dx-reference/plugin-reference/vault/#login-skill).
*   The `java-sdk` skill does not handle MDL authoring. It hands off to `mdl`.
*   The `mdl` skill does not handle bulk data loads. It hands off to [`api`](/vault-dx/dx-reference/plugin-reference/vault-developer/#api-skill).

If the required skill is not installed, Claude names the plugin that contains it and offers the drafted output rather than attempting to run the operation.

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