diff --git a/autogpt/agent/agent_manager.py b/autogpt/agent/agent_manager.py
index d2648150..9f123eaa 100644
--- a/autogpt/agent/agent_manager.py
+++ b/autogpt/agent/agent_manager.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 """Agent manager for managing GPT agents"""
 from __future__ import annotations
+from typing import List
 
 from autogpt.config.config import Config, Singleton
 from autogpt.llm_utils import create_chat_completion
+from autogpt.types.openai import Message
 
 
 class AgentManager(metaclass=Singleton):
@@ -27,17 +29,14 @@ class AgentManager(metaclass=Singleton):
         Returns:
             The key of the new agent
         """
-        messages = [
+        messages: List[Message] = [
             {"role": "user", "content": prompt},
         ]
         for plugin in self.cfg.plugins:
             if not plugin.can_handle_pre_instruction():
                 continue
-            plugin_messages = plugin.pre_instruction(messages)
-            if plugin_messages:
-                for plugin_message in plugin_messages:
-                    messages.append({"role": "system", "content": plugin_message})
-
+            if plugin_messages := plugin.pre_instruction(messages):
+                messages.extend(iter(plugin_messages))
         # Start GPT instance
         agent_reply = create_chat_completion(
             model=model,
@@ -50,9 +49,8 @@ class AgentManager(metaclass=Singleton):
         for i, plugin in enumerate(self.cfg.plugins):
             if not plugin.can_handle_on_instruction():
                 continue
-            plugin_result = plugin.on_instruction(messages)
-            if plugin_result:
-                sep = "" if not i else "\n"
+            if plugin_result := plugin.on_instruction(messages):
+                sep = "\n" if i else ""
                 plugins_reply = f"{plugins_reply}{sep}{plugin_result}"
 
         if plugins_reply and plugins_reply != "":
@@ -89,10 +87,9 @@ class AgentManager(metaclass=Singleton):
         for plugin in self.cfg.plugins:
             if not plugin.can_handle_pre_instruction():
                 continue
-            plugin_messages = plugin.pre_instruction(messages)
-            if plugin_messages:
+            if plugin_messages := plugin.pre_instruction(messages):
                 for plugin_message in plugin_messages:
-                    messages.append({"role": "system", "content": plugin_message})
+                    messages.append(plugin_message)
 
         # Start GPT instance
         agent_reply = create_chat_completion(
@@ -106,9 +103,8 @@ class AgentManager(metaclass=Singleton):
         for i, plugin in enumerate(self.cfg.plugins):
             if not plugin.can_handle_on_instruction():
                 continue
-            plugin_result = plugin.on_instruction(messages)
-            if plugin_result:
-                sep = "" if not i else "\n"
+            if plugin_result := plugin.on_instruction(messages):
+                sep = "\n" if i else ""
                 plugins_reply = f"{plugins_reply}{sep}{plugin_result}"
         # Update full message history
         if plugins_reply and plugins_reply != "":
diff --git a/autogpt/chat.py b/autogpt/chat.py
index 22fe636c..f9fc9471 100644
--- a/autogpt/chat.py
+++ b/autogpt/chat.py
@@ -6,11 +6,12 @@ from autogpt import token_counter
 from autogpt.config import Config
 from autogpt.llm_utils import create_chat_completion
 from autogpt.logs import logger
+from autogpt.types.openai import Message
 
 cfg = Config()
 
 
-def create_chat_message(role, content):
+def create_chat_message(role, content) -> Message:
     """
     Create a chat message with the given role and content.
 
@@ -145,7 +146,7 @@ def chat_with_ai(
                 if not plugin_response or plugin_response == "":
                     continue
                 tokens_to_add = token_counter.count_message_tokens(
-                    [plugin_response], model
+                    [create_chat_message("system", plugin_response)], model
                 )
                 if current_tokens_used + tokens_to_add > send_token_limit:
                     if cfg.debug_mode:
diff --git a/autogpt/config/config.py b/autogpt/config/config.py
index c12eed2e..f93bf17a 100644
--- a/autogpt/config/config.py
+++ b/autogpt/config/config.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 """Configuration class to store the state of bools for different scripts access."""
 import os
 
+from typing import List
 import openai
+from auto_gpt_plugin_template import AutoGPTPluginTemplate
 import yaml
 from colorama import Fore
 from dotenv import load_dotenv
@@ -107,7 +109,7 @@ class Config(metaclass=Singleton):
         # Initialize the OpenAI API client
         openai.api_key = self.openai_api_key
 
-        self.plugins = []
+        self.plugins: List[AutoGPTPluginTemplate] = []
         self.plugins_whitelist = []
         self.plugins_blacklist = []
 
diff --git a/autogpt/llm_utils.py b/autogpt/llm_utils.py
index 4fb0e1f5..a6d87c30 100644
--- a/autogpt/llm_utils.py
+++ b/autogpt/llm_utils.py
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import time
+from typing import List, Optional
 
 import openai
 from colorama import Fore
 from openai.error import APIError, RateLimitError
 
 from autogpt.config import Config
+from autogpt.types.openai import Message
 
 CFG = Config()
 
@@ -35,8 +37,8 @@ def call_ai_function(
     # For each arg, if any are None, convert to "None":
     args = [str(arg) if arg is not None else "None" for arg in args]
     # parse args to comma separated string
-    args = ", ".join(args)
-    messages = [
+    args: str = ", ".join(args)
+    messages: List[Message] = [
         {
             "role": "system",
             "content": f"You are now the following python function: ```# {description}"
@@ -51,15 +53,15 @@ def call_ai_function(
 # Overly simple abstraction until we create something better
 # simple retry mechanism when getting a rate error or a bad gateway
 def create_chat_completion(
-    messages: list,  # type: ignore
-    model: str | None = None,
+    messages: List[Message],  # type: ignore
+    model: Optional[str] = None,
     temperature: float = CFG.temperature,
-    max_tokens: int | None = None,
+    max_tokens: Optional[int] = None,
 ) -> str:
     """Create a chat completion using the OpenAI API
 
     Args:
-        messages (list[dict[str, str]]): The messages to send to the chat completion
+        messages (List[Message]): The messages to send to the chat completion
         model (str, optional): The model to use. Defaults to None.
         temperature (float, optional): The temperature to use. Defaults to 0.9.
         max_tokens (int, optional): The max tokens to use. Defaults to None.
@@ -67,13 +69,10 @@ def create_chat_completion(
     Returns:
         str: The response from the chat completion
     """
-    response = None
     num_retries = 10
     if CFG.debug_mode:
         print(
-            Fore.GREEN
-            + f"Creating chat completion with model {model}, temperature {temperature},"
-            f" max_tokens {max_tokens}" + Fore.RESET
+            f"{Fore.GREEN}Creating chat completion with model {model}, temperature {temperature}, max_tokens {max_tokens}{Fore.RESET}"
         )
     for plugin in CFG.plugins:
         if plugin.can_handle_chat_completion(
@@ -82,13 +81,13 @@ def create_chat_completion(
             temperature=temperature,
             max_tokens=max_tokens,
         ):
-            response = plugin.handle_chat_completion(
+            return plugin.handle_chat_completion(
                 messages=messages,
                 model=model,
                 temperature=temperature,
                 max_tokens=max_tokens,
             )
-            return response
+    response = None
     for attempt in range(num_retries):
         backoff = 2 ** (attempt + 2)
         try:
@@ -111,20 +110,17 @@ def create_chat_completion(
         except RateLimitError:
             if CFG.debug_mode:
                 print(
-                    Fore.RED + "Error: ",
-                    "Reached rate limit, passing..." + Fore.RESET,
+                    f"{Fore.RED}Error: ", f"Reached rate limit, passing...{Fore.RESET}"
                 )
         except APIError as e:
-            if e.http_status == 502:
-                pass
-            else:
+            if e.http_status != 502:
                 raise
             if attempt == num_retries - 1:
                 raise
         if CFG.debug_mode:
             print(
-                Fore.RED + "Error: ",
-                f"API Bad gateway. Waiting {backoff} seconds..." + Fore.RESET,
+                f"{Fore.RED}Error: ",
+                f"API Bad gateway. Waiting {backoff} seconds...{Fore.RESET}",
             )
         time.sleep(backoff)
     if response is None:
@@ -157,15 +153,13 @@ def create_embedding_with_ada(text) -> list:
         except RateLimitError:
             pass
         except APIError as e:
-            if e.http_status == 502:
-                pass
-            else:
+            if e.http_status != 502:
                 raise
             if attempt == num_retries - 1:
                 raise
         if CFG.debug_mode:
             print(
-                Fore.RED + "Error: ",
-                f"API Bad gateway. Waiting {backoff} seconds..." + Fore.RESET,
+                f"{Fore.RED}Error: ",
+                f"API Bad gateway. Waiting {backoff} seconds...{Fore.RESET}",
             )
         time.sleep(backoff)
diff --git a/autogpt/plugins.py b/autogpt/plugins.py
index a00b989e..a4d9c17c 100644
--- a/autogpt/plugins.py
+++ b/autogpt/plugins.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ from pathlib import Path
 from typing import List, Optional, Tuple
 from zipimport import zipimporter
 
+from auto_gpt_plugin_template import AutoGPTPluginTemplate
+
 
 def inspect_zip_for_module(zip_path: str, debug: bool = False) -> Optional[str]:
     """
@@ -45,7 +47,9 @@ def scan_plugins(plugins_path: Path, debug: bool = False) -> List[Tuple[str, Pat
     return plugins
 
 
-def load_plugins(plugins_path: Path, debug: bool = False) -> List[Module]:
+def load_plugins(
+    plugins_path: Path, debug: bool = False
+) -> List[AutoGPTPluginTemplate]:
     """Load plugins from the plugins directory.
 
     Args:
diff --git a/autogpt/token_counter.py b/autogpt/token_counter.py
index 338fe6be..b1e59d86 100644
--- a/autogpt/token_counter.py
+++ b/autogpt/token_counter.py
@@ -1,13 +1,15 @@
 """Functions for counting the number of tokens in a message or string."""
 from __future__ import annotations
+from typing import List
 
 import tiktoken
 
 from autogpt.logs import logger
+from autogpt.types.openai import Message
 
 
 def count_message_tokens(
-    messages: list[dict[str, str]], model: str = "gpt-3.5-turbo-0301"
+    messages: List[Message], model: str = "gpt-3.5-turbo-0301"
 ) -> int:
     """
     Returns the number of tokens used by a list of messages.
diff --git a/autogpt/types/openai.py b/autogpt/types/openai.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2af85785
--- /dev/null
+++ b/autogpt/types/openai.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+"""Type helpers for working with the OpenAI library"""
+from typing import TypedDict
+
+
+class Message(TypedDict):
+    """OpenAI Message object containing a role and the message content"""
+
+    role: str
+    content: str
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 843b66bf..86d24b5a 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ black
 sourcery
 isort
 gitpython==3.1.31
+abstract-singleton
+auto-gpt-plugin-template
 
 # Testing dependencies
 pytest