diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 29a0285a..1376ba5d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ __pycache__/
 build/
 develop-eggs/
 dist/
-plugins/
+/plugins/
 plugins_config.yaml
 downloads/
 eggs/
diff --git a/autogpt/plugins/__init__.py b/autogpt/plugins/__init__.py
index d0a4864c..30a43d9f 100644
--- a/autogpt/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/autogpt/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -259,9 +259,10 @@ def scan_plugins(config: Config, debug: bool = False) -> List[AutoGPTPluginTempl
                     if key.startswith("__"):
                         continue
                     a_module = getattr(zipped_module, key)
-                    a_keys = dir(a_module)
+
                     if (
-                        "_abc_impl" in a_keys
+                        inspect.isclass(a_module)
+                        and issubclass(a_module, AutoGPTPluginTemplate)
                         and a_module.__name__ != "AutoGPTPluginTemplate"
                     ):
                         plugin_name = a_module.__name__
@@ -284,6 +285,10 @@ def scan_plugins(config: Config, debug: bool = False) -> List[AutoGPTPluginTempl
                                 f"they are enabled in plugins_config.yaml. Zipped plugins should use the class "
                                 f"name ({plugin_name}) as the key."
                             )
+                    else:
+                        logger.debug(
+                            f"Skipping {key}: {a_module.__name__} because it doesn't subclass AutoGPTPluginTemplate."
+                        )
 
     # OpenAI plugins
     if config.plugins_openai: