Worked on enhancing the VLSI toolchain setup in the ucb-bar/chipyard repository by introducing an opt-in initialization process for hammer-mentor-plugins. This update removed the submodule reference from .gitmodules and modified the shell-based setup scripts to initialize plugins only when the 'calibre' tool is specified, aligning with modular build system best practices. The approach improved deployment reliability and configurability across diverse environments, particularly in CI and direct deployment scenarios. Leveraging skills in DevOps and build systems, the work focused on simplifying repository structure and reducing potential points of failure, with no critical bugs reported during the development period.