How to install Claude Code plugins

Quick answer

1. Open a terminal in your project and start Claude Code with claude.
2. Run /plugin to browse the Discover tab, or open one plugin's details directly with /plugin install <name>@claude-plugins-official.
3. Read what the plugin will install, then choose a scope: you (every project), everyone on this repository, or you in this repository only.
4. Type / and look for the plugin's skills, which appear as /plugin-name:skill-name.

/plugin only works inside a Claude Code terminal session. To install from a script or a plain shell, use claude plugin install instead (see below).

What a plugin is (and when you need one)

A plugin is a folder of components that Claude Code installs and loads as one unit: skills (SKILL.md instructions), agents (subagents Claude can delegate to), hooks (commands that run at points such as after every edit) and MCP or LSP servers. Plugins come from a marketplace, which is just a catalog: a repository with a .claude-plugin/marketplace.json file listing plugins and where to fetch each one.

You don't need a plugin for a single skill or a single MCP server. A skill saved in ~/.claude/skills/ already works in every project (see how to create an Agent Skill), and one MCP server is a single claude mcp add command (see the best MCP servers for Claude Code). Plugins are worth it when you want several pieces packaged together, with updates from the marketplace.

Install from the official marketplace

Claude Code adds Anthropic's official marketplace, claude-plugins-official, the first time you start an interactive terminal session. It lists plugins Anthropic maintains plus plugins from partners and other authors. This example installs commit-commands, which adds commands for committing, pushing and opening pull requests:

/plugin install commit-commands@claude-plugins-official

1. The command opens the plugin's details instead of installing straight away.
2. Check Will install: the commands, agents, skills, hooks and MCP and LSP servers the plugin adds. For plugins in the official marketplace, a Context cost estimate shows what it adds to every message and what its skills add once loaded.
3. Pick a scope (next section). Claude Code installs the plugin and any plugins it depends on.
4. If the summary says Plugin is now active., you're done. If it says Run /reload-plugins to apply., Claude Code runs that reload for you when the panel closes.

Then type / and look for /commit-commands:commit. The Installed tab in /plugin and claude plugin list in your shell also list the plugin with its scope.

Pick a scope

• User (Install for you): every project on this machine. Saved in ~/.claude/settings.json.
• Project (Install for all collaborators on this repository): saved in .claude/settings.json, which you commit. That turns the plugin on for teammates but doesn't download it for them, so each person runs claude plugin install <plugin>@<marketplace> --scope project once.
• Local (Install for you, in this repo only): saved in .claude/settings.local.json.

If the same plugin is set at several scopes, local beats project and project beats user.

Install from your shell, the desktop app or VS Code

From a shell or setup script, without starting a session (user scope unless you pass --scope):

claude plugin install commit-commands@claude-plugins-official
claude plugin install commit-commands@claude-plugins-official --scope project

On a machine where nobody has opened an interactive Claude Code session yet, the official marketplace isn't registered, so add it first with claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-official. Shell installs load the next time you start Claude Code, or after /reload-plugins in an open session.

• Desktop app (local or SSH session in the Code tab): click + next to the prompt box, choose Add plugins, select the plugin and a scope.
• VS Code extension: type /plugins to open Manage plugins and click Install on the Plugins tab. If the list is empty, add anthropics/claude-plugins-official on the Marketplaces tab first.
• Cloud sessions (including claude.ai/code) have no plugin browser and don't load the plugins installed on your machine.

The terminal, the desktop app's local sessions and the VS Code extension share the same settings files, so a user-scope plugin installed in one shows up in the other two.

Install from other marketplaces

Many plugins live in their authors' own marketplaces, usually a GitHub repository. Add the marketplace once, then install by plugin@marketplace-name:

/plugin marketplace add <owner>/<repo>
/plugin install <plugin>@<marketplace-name>

Claude Code prints the marketplace name when it adds it. Two real examples from our directory:

/plugin marketplace add android/skills
/plugin install android-skills@android-skills

/plugin marketplace add apify/apify-claude-code-plugin
/plugin install apify@apify

Anthropic also runs two other general marketplaces you add yourself: the community marketplace (/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community, install with @claude-community) and a small demo marketplace in anthropics/claude-code (named claude-code-plugins). Older tutorials often add the demo one; most of its plugins, such as code-review and commit-commands, are also in the official marketplace, so install them from there to avoid duplicates.

/plugin marketplace add also accepts a full git URL, a local folder or an https:// URL to a marketplace.json. Recent versions can add and install in one step with --marketplace, for example /plugin install deploy-helper --marketplace your-org/plugins (Claude Code v2.1.275 or later in a session, v2.1.292 or later for claude plugin install).

Plugins worth trying first

This isn't a ranking and nobody paid to be listed. Each name below is in the official marketplace, so install it with /plugin install <name>@claude-plugins-official.

• From Anthropic: commit-commands (commit, push, open a PR), code-review (multi-agent review of a pull request), feature-dev (a guided feature workflow with exploration, architecture and review agents) and security-guidance (security review of the code Claude writes).
• Code intelligence: language-server plugins such as typescript-lsp and pyright-lsp let Claude see type errors after its edits and navigate by symbol. Install the language server itself first; for TypeScript that's npm install -g typescript-language-server typescript.
• Services you already use: the official marketplace includes plugins named context7, github, playwright, sentry, supabase, linear, notion and figma. Our listings explain each tool: Context7, GitHub MCP Server, Playwright MCP, Sentry MCP, Supabase MCP.
• Skills: skill-creator helps you write, improve and test your own skills.

Serena also appears in the official marketplace, but its maintainers ask users to install it with uv instead because marketplace entries can carry outdated commands. When a tool's own docs give a different install path, follow the tool's docs.

Each enabled plugin adds the names and descriptions of its skills, agents and commands to Claude's context on every turn, and its MCP servers run alongside each session. Install the few you'll use. To see what an installed plugin costs, run claude plugin details <name> and read the Always-on line; the Installed tab groups plugins you haven't used recently under Not used recently.

Check a plugin before you trust it

A plugin runs with your user permissions. Its hooks, MCP servers and language servers run outside Claude Code's sandbox, and its skills become instructions Claude follows. Anthropic's install screen says it plainly: Anthropic doesn't control what MCP servers, files or other software plugins include.

• Run claude plugin marketplace list to see where each marketplace came from.
• In the plugin's details pane, choose Open homepage or View on GitHub and read hooks/hooks.json (what each hook runs), .mcp.json (each server's command or URL) and anything in bin/.
• Prefer plugins from the company behind the service. Names such as claude-plugins-official are reserved: Claude Code only accepts them from github.com/anthropics/ repositories, so a third-party catalog can't pose as Anthropic's.
• Remember that updates can change what you reviewed. Auto-update is on by default for the official marketplace and off for third-party ones.

Update, disable or remove plugins

Run /plugin and press Tab to reach Installed. Select a plugin to disable, update or uninstall it, or press Space to toggle it. From your shell:

claude plugin list
claude plugin disable <plugin>@<marketplace>
claude plugin enable <plugin>@<marketplace>
claude plugin update <plugin>@<marketplace>
claude plugin uninstall <plugin>@<marketplace> --scope project

Updated plugins load in your next session, or after /reload-plugins. Removing a marketplace (claude plugin marketplace remove <name>) also uninstalls every plugin you installed from it.

Common errors and fixes

"zsh: no such file or directory: /plugin"

You typed /plugin at the shell prompt. Run claude first and type it at the Claude Code prompt, or use claude plugin install <plugin>@<marketplace> in the shell.

"/plugin isn't available in this environment"

/plugin needs a terminal session. It doesn't run with claude -p, the Agent SDK, the desktop app's Code tab or claude.ai/code, and in the VS Code panel only /plugin or /plugins on its own opens Manage plugins. Use that surface's own install steps above, or a terminal.

Marketplace "claude-plugins-official" not found

The official marketplace isn't registered yet, which happens if you've only used the VS Code extension, a policy blocks it, or CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_OFFICIAL_MARKETPLACE_AUTOINSTALL is set. Add it and retry:

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-official

The same fix applies when the Discover tab is empty or claude plugin marketplace list says No marketplaces configured.

Plugin "<name>" not found in any marketplace

You left off @marketplace, so Claude Code only searched catalogs it already had. Name the marketplace (/plugin install <name>@<marketplace>), which refreshes it first, or copy the exact name from the Discover tab. If the plugin lives in a third-party marketplace, add that marketplace first.

"not found in marketplace" with a refresh hint

Your local copy of the catalog is out of date. Refresh it, then install again:

/plugin marketplace update <marketplace>

Installed, but its skills don't show up

• Check Installed in /plugin (or claude plugin list) and make sure it's enabled.
• Open the Errors tab in /plugin; each entry says what failed.
• If you installed it during this session, run /reload-plugins.
• Open the plugin's details: a plugin that lists no skills has none to show when you type /.

"This reload changes MCP tools … Run /reload-plugins --force to apply"

Adding or removing a plugin's MCP server would invalidate the prompt cache, so Claude Code waits. Run /reload-plugins --force to apply it now (your next message re-reads the whole conversation), or start a new session.

FAQ

What's the difference between a plugin and an MCP server?

An MCP server gives Claude tools. A plugin is a package that can include MCP servers along with skills, subagents and hooks. Many plugins in the official marketplace, such as github or sentry, package a service's MCP server for you.

Do plugins work on claude.ai or in the desktop app?

The desktop app's local and SSH sessions do (use + → Add plugins). Cloud sessions, including claude.ai/code, don't load plugins from your machine. claude.ai and Cowork have their own plugin support with a different set of components.

Using Cursor too?

Cursor has its own plugin format and marketplace, installed from Customize. See Cursor Plugins, and how to add an MCP server to Cursor for single servers.