diff --git a/manifest.yml b/manifest.yml
index b947704..3ac1967 100644
--- a/manifest.yml
+++ b/manifest.yml
@@ -2,15 +2,17 @@ _version: '20220212062110'
 
 plugins:
   echo:
-    remote: '/home/daniel/code/pluggable-cli/plugins/echo'
+    remote: 'https://git.lyte.dev/lytedev/echo.git'
     run: '{plugin_dir}/echo.sh'
-    # preInstallCommand: 
-    # installCommand: git clone $remote
+    # this is the default installCommand, so we don't really need to specify it
+    installCommand: ['git', 'clone', '{remote}', '{plugin_dir}']
+    # none of these work, but wouldn't be tough to implement if needed
+    # preInstallCommand:
     # may also want to checkout a provided version tag and copy contents
     # and only clone to a "plugin-repos" dir
     # might want to omit git history, too?
     # postInstallCommand: 
 
   shutup:
-    remote: '/home/daniel/code/pluggable-cli/plugins/shutup'
+    remote: 'https://git.lyte.dev/lytedev/shutup-cli-plugin.git'
     run: '{plugin_dir}/shutup.sh'
diff --git a/src/core.ts b/src/core.ts
index 6970097..e90ffa6 100644
--- a/src/core.ts
+++ b/src/core.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-import {yaml, fs, path} from "./deps.ts"
+import {yaml, fs, path, xdg} from "./deps.ts"
 
-const MANIFEST_URL = "file:///home/daniel/code/pluggable-cli/manifest.yml"
-const PLUGINS_DIR = "/home/daniel/.home/.cache/installed-plugins"
+const MANIFEST_URL = "https://git.lyte.dev/lytedev/pluggable-cli-deno/raw/branch/master/manifest.yml"
+const PLUGINS_DIR = path.join(xdg.cache(), "/cli-poc-installed-plugins")
 
 fs.ensureDir(PLUGINS_DIR)
 
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ async function usage() {
 	console.info("  install-plugin <plugin-name>")
 	console.info("  update-plugin <plugin-name>")
 	console.info("  remove-plugin <plugin-name>")
+	console.info("  ensure-plugin <plugin-name>")
 	console.info("  list-plugins")
 }
 
@@ -46,16 +47,20 @@ async function installPlugin(pluginName: string) {
 		console.error(`plugin ${pluginName} has no entry`)
 		Deno.exit(1)
 	}
-	const cmd = ["git", "clone", pluginManifestData.remote, pluginName]
+	const cmd = pluginManifestData.installCommand || ["git", "clone", pluginManifestData.remote, pluginName].map(segment =>
+		segment
+			.replace('{remote}', pluginManifestData.remote)
+			.replace('{plugin_dir}', path.join(PLUGINS_DIR, pluginName))
+	)
+
 	const installCommand = Deno.run({
-		cwd: PLUGINS_DIR,
 		stdout: "piped",
 		stderr: "piped",
 		cmd
 	})
 	const status = await installCommand.status()
 	if (status.code != 0) {
-		console.error(`Installing plugin using command ${cmd} failed:\n${await installCommand.output()}\n${await installCommand.stderrOutput()}`)
+		console.error(`Installing plugin using command ${cmd} failed:\n${new TextDecoder().decode(await installCommand.output())}\n${new TextDecoder().decode(await installCommand.stderrOutput())}`)
 		Deno.exit(status.code)
 	}
 	return installCommand
@@ -71,11 +76,20 @@ async function updatePlugin(pluginName: string) {
 	await installPlugin(pluginName)
 }
 
+async function ensurePlugin(pluginName: string) {
+	if (manifest.plugins[subcommand].installed !== true) {
+		// console.warn(`Installing missing ${subcommand} plugin...`)
+		await installPlugin(subcommand)
+	}
+}
+
 const subcommand = Deno.args[0]
 if (Deno.args.includes("-h") || subcommand == "help" || subcommand == "" || Deno.args.includes("--help")) {
 	usage()
 } else if (subcommand == "update-plugin") {
 	await updatePlugin(Deno.args[1])
+} else if (subcommand == "ensure-plugin") {
+	ensurePlugin(subcommand)
 } else if (subcommand == "remove-plugin") {
 	await deletePlugin(Deno.args[1])
 } else if (subcommand == "install-plugin") {
@@ -83,10 +97,7 @@ if (Deno.args.includes("-h") || subcommand == "help" || subcommand == "" || Deno
 } else if (subcommand == "list-plugins") {
 	listPlugins()
 } else {
-	if (manifest.plugins[subcommand].installed !== true) {
-		// console.warn(`Installing missing ${subcommand} plugin...`)
-		await installPlugin(subcommand)
-	}
+	await ensurePlugin(subcommand)
 	const subcommandCommand = Deno.run({
 		cmd: [manifest.plugins[subcommand].run.replace("{plugin_dir}", path.join(PLUGINS_DIR, subcommand))].concat(Deno.args.slice(1))
 	})
diff --git a/src/deps.ts b/src/deps.ts
index b6e0be4..a2e33b6 100644
--- a/src/deps.ts
+++ b/src/deps.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-export * as xdg from 'https://deno.land/x/xdg@v9.4.0/src/mod.deno.ts';
+export {default as xdg} from 'https://deno.land/x/xdg@v9.4.0/src/mod.deno.ts';
 export * as media_types from "https://deno.land/x/media_types@v2.12.1/mod.ts";
 export * as compare_versions from "https://deno.land/x/compare_versions@0.4.0/mod.ts";
 export * as yaml from "https://deno.land/std@0.125.0/encoding/yaml.ts"