--- title: Remote plugin execution with the Buf Schema Registry · Buf description: The Buf Schema Registry (BSR) introduces remote plugin execution, letting developers run Protobuf code-generation plugins on Buf's servers instead of... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/remote-plugin-execution-with-the-buf-schema-registry-buf-gvm9mhtd6 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Remote plugin execution with the Buf Schema Registry · Buf | daily.dev og:description: The Buf Schema Registry (BSR) introduces remote plugin execution, letting developers run Protobuf code-generation plugins on Buf's servers instead of... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/remote-plugin-execution-with-the-buf-schema-registry-buf-gvm9mhtd6 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/GVM9MHTD6.png og:image:alt: Remote plugin execution with the Buf Schema Registry · Buf og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Remote plugin execution with the Buf Schema Registry · Buf **[Buf Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/buf)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The Buf Schema Registry (BSR) introduces remote plugin execution, letting developers run Protobuf code-generation plugins on Buf's servers instead of installing and managing them locally. Plugins are authored as Docker images pushed to plugins.buf.build, then referenced in buf.gen.yaml using a 'remote' key so buf generate makes an RPC call to the BSR for code generation. Buf hosts all of protoc's built-in plugins plus many popular gRPC plugins, aiming to eliminate 'works on my machine' version mismatch issues and remove the need for any local plugin executables in local, CI/CD, or other environments. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does remote plugin execution work with the Buf Schema Registry? Remote plugin execution lets the buf CLI make an RPC call to the Buf Schema Registry (BSR) to run a Protobuf plugin on Buf's servers instead of locally. Plugins are authored as Docker images pushed to plugins.buf.build, then referenced in buf.gen.yaml using a 'remote' key instead of 'name', so buf generate produces output files without needing the plugin executable installed locally. _daily.dev surfaces posts like this for teams simplifying Protobuf codegen pipelines._ ### What Protobuf and gRPC plugins does the Buf Schema Registry host by default? The Buf Schema Registry hosts all of protoc's built-in plugins under buf.build/protocolbuffers, covering C++, C#, Dart, Go, Java, JS, Kotlin, Objective-C, PHP, Python, and Ruby. It also hosts popular gRPC plugins under buf.build/grpc/plugins for languages including C++, C#, Go, Java, Kotlin, Node, Objective-C, PHP, Python, Ruby, and web, plus community-published plugins. _track which languages are supported before migrating your protobuf codegen workflow, via daily.dev._ ### Why is managing local Protobuf plugin versions a problem for teams? Managing local Protobuf plugin executables creates classic 'works on my machine' reproducibility issues, since teams must hunt down subtle version differences in plugins like protoc-gen-go or protoc-gen-rust across different environments. This version-management complexity across compiler and plugin combinations has been a major barrier to Protobuf adoption, motivating a shift toward running plugins remotely instead of locally. _daily.dev helps developers weighing local versus remote protobuf tooling stay on top of the tradeoffs._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The modern Protobuf workflow · Buf](https://daily.dev/posts/the-modern-protobuf-workflow-buf-c2m7gywhe) · Buf Blog · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Protobuf, JSON Schema, and OpenAPI · Buf](https://daily.dev/posts/protobuf-json-schema-and-openapi-buf-00wgyenfv) · Buf Blog · 7 upvotes · 0 comments - [From RPC to gRPC: Understanding Remote Procedure Calls, Protocol Buffers, and Modern Distributed Systems Communication](https://daily.dev/posts/from-rpc-to-grpc-understanding-remote-procedure-calls-protocol-buffers-and-modern-distributed-sys-hdfydjpc0) · freeCodeCamp · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#architecture](https://daily.dev/tags/architecture), [#backend](https://daily.dev/tags/backend), [#grpc](https://daily.dev/tags/grpc) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/remote-plugin-execution-with-the-buf-schema-registry-buf-gvm9mhtd6) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Remote plugin execution with the Buf Schema Registry · Buf","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/remote-plugin-execution-with-the-buf-schema-registry-buf-gvm9mhtd6","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/remote-plugin-execution-with-the-buf-schema-registry-buf-gvm9mhtd6"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T07:20:11.176Z","dateModified":"2026-08-23T07:21:47.752Z","description":"The Buf Schema Registry (BSR) introduces remote plugin execution, letting developers run Protobuf code-generation plugins on Buf's servers instead of...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8ec54cd42782d3157a7390f660bd339c?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8ec54cd42782d3157a7390f660bd339c?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Buf Blog","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Buf Blog","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--2YBgo_Nm--/f_auto,q_auto/v1787469605/logos/buf?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/buf"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/remote-plugin-execution-with-the-buf-schema-registry-buf-gvm9mhtd6","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"architecture,backend,grpc","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Buf Blog","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/buf"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Remote plugin execution with the Buf Schema Registry · Buf"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/remote-plugin-execution-with-the-buf-schema-registry-buf-gvm9mhtd6#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How does remote plugin execution work with the Buf Schema Registry?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Remote plugin execution lets the buf CLI make an RPC call to the Buf Schema Registry (BSR) to run a Protobuf plugin on Buf's servers instead of locally. 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