plugins-marketplace

Overview

Claude Code plugins (launched Oct 9, 2025) enable packaging and sharing customizations. Install via /plugin command.

Plugin Components

Plugins can bundle any combination of five component types:

Component	Invocation	Description
Commands	User types `/command`	Explicit slash commands
Agents	Manual or auto-invoked	Specialized subagents for task delegation
Skills	Claude auto-uses	Model-invoked capabilities based on task context
Hooks	Event-triggered	Respond to Claude Code events (session start, tool calls)
MCP Servers	Tool calls	External tool and data integrations

Commands vs Skills vs Agents

Commands: User explicitly types /my-command to trigger
Skills: Claude automatically decides to use them when relevant to the task
Agents: Specialized subagents Claude can invoke (or users can invoke manually)

Skills are ideal for domain expertise Claude should apply automatically, while commands are better for explicit workflows users want to invoke directly.

Creating a Plugin

Directory Structure

my-plugin/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json      # Required manifest (ONLY manifest goes here)
├── commands/            # Slash commands (*.md files)
├── agents/              # Subagents (*.md files)
├── skills/              # Skills (directories with SKILL.md)
│   └── my-skill/
│       ├── SKILL.md     # Required skill definition
│       └── helpers/     # Optional supporting files
├── hooks.json           # Or inline in plugin.json
└── .mcp.json            # MCP server configs

Important: All components (commands, agents, skills, hooks) must be at plugin root, NOT inside .claude-plugin/.

plugin.json (Manifest)

{
  "name": "my-plugin",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "What it does",
  "author": {
    "name": "Your Name",
    "url": "https://github.com/you"
  },
  "license": "MIT",
  "keywords": ["keyword1", "keyword2"],
  "commands": "./commands/",
  "agents": "./agents/",
  "skills": "./skills/",
  "hooks": "./hooks.json",
  "mcpServers": "./.mcp.json"
}

Required: Only name (kebab-case) is mandatory.

Creating a Skill

Skills require a SKILL.md file in a directory under skills/:

skills/
└── code-review/
    └── SKILL.md

Example SKILL.md:

---
description: Performs thorough code reviews for quality, security, and best practices
---

# Code Review Skill

When reviewing code, analyze for:
1. Security vulnerabilities (OWASP top 10)
2. Performance issues
3. Code style and best practices
4. Potential bugs

[Additional instructions for Claude...]

Claude reads the skill description to determine when to use it automatically.

Installing Plugins

/plugin install owner/repo          # From GitHub
/plugin install https://url.git     # From git URL
/plugin install ./local-path        # Local directory

Hosting a Marketplace

Create .claude-plugin/marketplace.json:

{
  "name": "my-marketplace",
  "owner": {
    "name": "Team Name",
    "email": "team@example.com"
  },
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "plugin-name",
      "source": "./plugins/plugin-name",
      "description": "What it does",
      "version": "1.0.0"
    },
    {
      "name": "external-plugin",
      "source": {
        "source": "github",
        "repo": "owner/plugin-repo"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Adding a Marketplace

/plugin marketplace add owner/repo              # GitHub
/plugin marketplace add https://gitlab.com/repo # Git URL
/plugin marketplace add ./local-marketplace     # Local

Community Marketplaces

Claude Code Plugins Hub - 243+ plugins