Plugin Hub Tames Blender’s Tab Jungle

For those who don’t know the tool: Plugin Hub is a small utility by calebdeleon for Blender. It sits at the interface end of the pipeline, gathering selected third-party 3D Viewport sidebar panels into one place while leaving the underlying modelling, rigging, animation or pipeline add-ons untouched.

The N-panel gets a shepherd

Blender add-ons have a charming habit of arriving with useful functions and another vertical tab. Install enough of them and the 3D Viewport sidebar starts resembling a bookshelf designed by a typographer with a grudge. Plugin Hub addresses that problem without inventing another production tool. It scans sidebar tabs and lets artists move selected add-on panels into a single Plugins tab. Each remains available as a collapsible section, while frequently used tabs can stay exactly where they were. The original add-ons still provide their own controls. Plugin Hub changes their sidebar organisation rather than recreating their interfaces. That keeps its job pleasantly mundane: less tab gardening, same tools.

One cupboard, three handles

The combined Plugins tab is the main attraction, but Plugin Hub also adds a top-bar Plugins menu and can open the sidebar in a separate floating window. That floating option may be particularly useful on dual-monitor workstations, where a dedicated tool panel can sit beside the main viewport instead of nibbling away at it.

Blender’s official 3D Viewport sidebar remains the territory involved here. Plugin Hub does not claim to gather controls living in the Properties editor or separate editor types. It is a sidebar organiser, not a universal command centre wearing a tiny cape. Users can reorder collected panels with arrow controls. Rescanning retains the chosen order and appends newly detected tools afterwards.

And if the shepherd leaves?

The developer says Plugin Hub records the original category and arrangement of panels before moving them. A Restore Original Tabs function is provided, and disabling or removing the utility is also intended to return panels to their previous locations.

The developer additionally reports successful collect-and-restore testing across 11 real add-on tabs on Blender 4.5.11 and 5.2.0. That is encouraging, but it is not a compatibility certificate for every imaginative way a Blender add-on can register its interface. Some add-ons may re-register themselves on their old tab after Plugin Hub moves them. In that case, running Scan again is the documented remedy.

Free, as in fewer invoices

Plugin Hub originally appeared as a paid product. The developer later announced that it would become free and said previous purchases were refunded. That makes the experiment inexpensive, but studios still have the usual grown-up homework. Plugin Hub touches the interface registration of other add-ons, so the relevant test is whether a real production setup survives rescanning, restarts, workspace changes and restoration without surprises.

For artists with three add-ons, that may be unnecessary housekeeping. For workstations carrying a small civilisation of modelling, rigging, retopology and pipeline utilities, it could be a welcome piece of interface diplomacy.

https://calebdeleon.gumroad.com/l/pluginhub