Plugins

A plugin is a folder that adds skills, agents, hooks, or MCP servers to Claude Code. A marketplace is a list of plugins that you can install. For example, claude plugin install my-plugin@my-marketplace installs a plugin from a marketplace. This page gives the big picture. The other pages list every key, command, and path.

What a Plugin Holds

A plugin can bundle these parts. Each part has a default folder or file name.

Part	Status	Default Place	Page
Skills	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	skills/	Manifest
Commands	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	commands/	Manifest
Agents	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	agents/	Manifest
Hooks	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	hooks/hooks.json	Manifest
MCP servers	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	.mcp.json	Manifest
LSP servers	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	.lsp.json	Manifest
Monitors	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	monitors/monitors.json	Manifest
Output styles	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	output-styles/	Manifest
Workflows and themes	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	workflows/, themes/	Manifest
Executables	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	bin/	Manifest
Mods	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	types key, TypeScript files	Mod API

Ids, Scopes, and Special Marketplaces

• A plugin id is name@marketplace. The text before @ is the entry name in the marketplace file.
• The scopes are user, project, local, and managed. The enable state of each plugin lives in enabledPlugins.
• A plugin skill gets the name /<plugin>:<skill>. Two plugins cannot clash.
• Four marketplace names are special. You cannot reuse them.

Marketplace	Status	Meaning
inline	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	Plugins loaded for one session with --plugin-dir or --plugin-url. Their ids end in @inline.
builtin	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	Plugins that ship inside Claude Code.
skills-dir	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	Plugins that claude plugin init makes in ~/.claude/skills/. They load on the next session.
synced	Documented: An official docs page names this item.	Plugins synced from your claude.ai account. Turn off with syncClaudeAiPlugins: false.

Example

This flow creates a plugin. It tests the plugin for one session. It then installs the plugin from a marketplace.

Build, test, and install

# Create a plugin folder at ~/.claude/skills/my-plugin/
claude plugin init my-plugin --with skills hooks

# Check the files
claude plugin validate ~/.claude/skills/my-plugin

# Try a folder for one session only
claude --plugin-dir ./my-plugin

# Add a marketplace, then install from it
claude plugin marketplace add owner/repo
claude plugin install my-plugin@my-marketplace --scope project

How It Works

Claude Code reads the marketplace. It gets the source of the plugin that you pick. It copies the source into a cache folder. It writes an install record. At session start it loads every enabled plugin. Paths and variables are in Plugin Loading.

Pages in This Section

Page	What It Covers
Plugin Manifest	Every plugin.json key, userConfig, and the folder layout
Marketplaces	Every marketplace.json key, plugin sources, marketplace sources
Plugin Commands	Every claude plugin subcommand, /plugin, and session flags
Plugin Loading	Paths, cache, variables, env vars, and enabling
Plugin Settings Keys	Settings keys for plugins and marketplaces
Plugin Env Vars	Env vars for plugins and MCP

Sources

• Create Plugins is the official guide for authors.
• Plugin Manifest Reference describes plugin.json.
• Program-only facts come from the program (the bundled manifest schema and the plugin loader).