Installing and Using Plugins

Plugins extend Claude Code with additional capabilities like code review, feature development workflows, and specialized tools.

What Are Plugins?

Plugins are bundles that can include:

Custom skills and commands
MCP server integrations
Specialized prompts
Workflow automation

Finding Plugins

Plugins live in marketplaces. The official Anthropic marketplace (claude-plugins-official) is built in and available the moment you start Claude Code — you don't have to add it.

Run /plugin to open the plugin manager. It has four tabs:

Discover — browse plugins from all your marketplaces
Installed — view, enable, disable, or uninstall plugins
Marketplaces — add or remove marketplaces
Errors — view plugin load errors

Installing Plugins

From the official marketplace

# Inside Claude Code
/plugin install code-review@claude-plugins-official

From another marketplace

You need two steps: register the marketplace, then install:

# Add a GitHub marketplace using owner/repo
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-code

# Now install plugins from it
/plugin install commit-commands@anthropics-claude-code

You can also point at a Git URL (GitLab, Bitbucket, self-hosted), a local directory containing .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, or a remote URL.

Managing Plugins

Most management happens in the interactive /plugin UI, but there are direct commands too:

# Disable without uninstalling
/plugin disable code-review@claude-plugins-official

# Re-enable
/plugin enable code-review@claude-plugins-official

# Uninstall
/plugin uninstall code-review@claude-plugins-official

# Refresh a marketplace's catalog
/plugin marketplace update claude-plugins-official

# Reload after install/enable/disable changes
/reload-plugins

Popular Plugins

Code Review

/plugin install code-review@claude-plugins-official

Provides:

Automated PR reviews
Security vulnerability scanning
Code quality analysis

Feature Development

/plugin install feature-dev@claude-plugins-official

Provides:

Guided feature planning
Architecture analysis
Implementation workflows

Frontend Design

/plugin install frontend-design@claude-plugins-official

Provides:

UI component generation
Design system integration
Responsive layouts

Configuration

Enable/Disable Plugins

// ~/.claude/settings.json
{
  "enabledPlugins": {
    "code-review@claude-plugins-official": true,
    "feature-dev@claude-plugins-official": false
  }
}

Plugin-Specific Settings

{
  "plugins": {
    "code-review@claude-plugins-official": {
      "severity": "strict",
      "ignorePatterns": ["*.test.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Using Plugin Features

Skills from Plugins

Plugins may add new slash commands:

/review-pr 123        # From code-review plugin
/feature-dev          # From feature-dev plugin
/frontend-design      # From frontend-design plugin

Automatic Capabilities

Some plugins enhance Claude's abilities automatically without explicit invocation.

Creating Your Own Plugin

Plugin Structure

my-plugin/
├── plugin.json       # Manifest file
├── skills/           # Custom skills
├── commands/         # Slash commands
└── README.md         # Documentation

Plugin Manifest

// plugin.json
{
  "name": "my-plugin",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "My custom plugin",
  "author": "Your Name",
  "skills": ["skills/"],
  "commands": ["commands/"]
}

Troubleshooting

Plugin Not Loading

Open the /plugin UI and check the Errors tab for load failures. To force a reinstall:

/plugin uninstall code-review@claude-plugins-official
/plugin install code-review@claude-plugins-official
/reload-plugins

If the plugin still doesn't show up, clear the plugin cache and restart Claude Code:

rm -rf ~/.claude/plugins/cache

Conflicts Between Plugins

If plugins conflict, disable one:

{
  "enabledPlugins": {
    "conflicting-plugin": false
  }
}

Best Practices

Start minimal: Only install plugins you need
Keep updated: Regularly update for bug fixes
Check compatibility: Verify plugin works with your Claude Code version
Review permissions: Understand what each plugin can access

Installing and Using Plugins