blog post - machine registry updates (#246)

_posts/2025-08-21-machine-refactor.md

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+---
+author: SchrodingersGat
+title: Machine Plugin Refactor
+---
+
+## Machine Plugin Refactor
+
+In preparation for the upcoming 1.0.0 release, we have made some *breaking* changes to the machine registry plugin system.
+
+These changes require that any existing plugins which implement custom machine drivers must be updated to use the new plugin system. A new *mixin* class, `MachineDriverMixin`, has been introduced to facilitate this transition.
+
+Plugin developers should refer to the notes below to determine how to update their plugins.
+
+### References
+
+- [Machine Plugin Refactor PR](https://github.com/inventree/InvenTree/pull/10150)
+- [MachineDriverMixin Documentation](https://docs.inventree.org/en/latest/plugins/mixins/machine/)
+
+### Changes
+
+The [linked pull request](https://github.com/inventree/InvenTree/pull/10150) makes a number of changes to both the [plugin system](https://docs.inventree.org/en/latest/plugins/) and [machine registry](https://docs.inventree.org/en/latest/plugins/machines/overview/).
+
+The most significant of these changes is the introduction of the [MachineDriverMixin class](https://docs.inventree.org/en/latest/plugins/mixins/machine/), which now provides a standard interface for plugins which register custom machine drivers, or custom machine types.
+
+Plugin developers can refer to linked pull request, in addition to the updated plugin mixin documentation, for more information on how to implement this new interface.
+
+The required changes to existing plugins are minimal, and should be straightforward to implement.
+
+### Example
+
+As an example, the [inventree-brother-plugin](https://github.com/inventree/inventree-brother-plugin/) has been updated to use the new `MachineDriverMixin` class.
+
+Refer to [this pull request](https://github.com/inventree/inventree-brother-plugin/pull/60) to see the changes made to the plugin.
+