Electric plug-ins are additional pieces of code that can be downloaded separately to enhance the system's functionality. Currently, these plug-ins are available:

- IRSIM The IRSIM simulator is a gate-level simulator from Stanford University. Although originally written in C, it was translated to Java so that it could plug into Electric. The Electric version is available from Static Free Software at www.staticfreesoft.com/electricIRSIM-8.02.jar.
- Bean Shell The Bean Shell is used to do parameter evaluation in Electric. Advanced operations that make use of cell parameters will need this plug-in. The Bean Shell is available from www.beanshell.org.
- 3D The 3D facility lets you view an integrated circuit in three-dimensions. Although most of the viewer is included with Electric, there is one extra part that can be installed (a 3D axis controller). Also, none of the 3D display can function unless you have installed the Java3D package. The Java3D package is available from the Java Community Site, www.j3d.org. The 3D axis controller is available from Static Free Software at www.staticfreesoft.com/electricJava3D-8.02.jar
- Animation To enable 3D animation, you need the 3D facility (described above) as well as the Java Media Framework (JMF) and the animation code. The Java Media Framework is available from Sun Microsystems at java.sun.com/products/java-media/jmf and the animation code is available from Static Free Software at www.staticfreesoft.com/electricJMF-8.02.jar.

To attach a plugin, it must be invoked from the command line by adding it to the classpath. For example, to add the beanshell (a file named "bsh-2.0b1.jar"), type:

`java -classpath electric.jar:bsh-2.0b1.jar com.sun.electric.Launcher`

On Windows, you must use the ";" to separate jar files, and you might also have to quote the collection since ";" separates commands:

`java -classpath "electric.jar;bsh-2.0b1.jar" com.sun.electric.Launcher`

Note that you must explicitly mention the main Electric class (com.sun.electric.Launcher) when using plug-ins since all of the jar files are grouped together as the "classpath".