Vanilla Rust runs no plugins. To add them you need a framework: Oxide (the classic, thousands of plugins on umod.org) or Carbon (newer, faster loading, compatible with almost all Oxide plugins).
Switch it on
Startup → FRAMEWORK → oxide or carbon (default vanilla). Restart. The server downloads and installs the framework before starting, and the console shows it. Now a oxide/plugins/ (or carbon/plugins/) folder exists.
After every Rust update
Frameworks are compiled against the exact Rust version. After Facepunch's monthly update the framework updates itself on the next start (our egg fetches the latest each time when FRAMEWORK is set). If plugins throw compile errors after an update, wait a few hours (plugin authors update on the same day) and restart.
Which one
- Oxide if you follow tutorials, because everything on the internet assumes it.
- Carbon if you run many plugins and care about start time and hot reloads.
They do not run side by side. Switching keeps your oxide/config/ files; Carbon reads them from the same relative paths.