Claude Code Plugins Directory

What it is

The Claude Code Plugins Directory is Anthropic’s official plugin marketplace for Claude Code. The repository is the catalog. One file, .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, lists each plugin and says where to fetch it. A plugin is a folder of skills, agents, hooks, MCP servers or language servers that Claude Code loads as one unit. Claude Code’s docs say it adds this marketplace, named claude-plugins-official, the first time you start an interactive terminal session. They also say most of what it lists comes from partners and other authors, with a smaller set that Anthropic maintains.

1. The marketplace is added in your first terminal session
2. You run /plugin and browse, or name a plugin
3. The details pane lists what the plugin will install
4. You pick a scope: user, project or local
5. Its skills appear as /plugin-name:skill-name

Who it suits

Anyone who runs Claude Code and would rather install ready-made skills, subagents, hooks, MCP connectors or language servers than write them. Teams use it as one catalog to install from. Plugin authors read it for the layout of a marketplace entry and for the example plugin.

Skip it if you only want one skill. The docs say a skill saved in ~/.claude/skills/ is available in every project on your machine, and it needs no plugin. Skip it too if you use Claude in chat only: Anthropic sends claude.ai chat and Cowork readers to a separate plugins page.

Where to use it

The docs give a route for each of these places.

• Terminal: /plugin to browse, /plugin install with a name, or claude plugin install from the shell
• Desktop app: the + button next to the prompt box, then Add plugins, in local and SSH sessions
• VS Code: /plugins in the prompt box opens Manage plugins
• JetBrains IDEs: the terminal steps, run in the IDE’s terminal
• Scripts and claude -p: the claude plugin commands, since /plugin does not run there
• Agent SDK: a local plugin folder in its plugins option, so download a plugin first
• Not cloud sessions: they load no plugins from your machine or your repository’s settings

How to set it up

Get it saves a zip of Mindket’s setup notes in your downloads folder, with the steps for each place from Anthropic’s README and docs. You need Claude Code, and the plugin you pick may need more.

1. Start Claude Code in your project with claude. On your first interactive terminal session it adds the marketplace for you.
2. Run the install line with a plugin’s name. It opens the plugin’s details and installs nothing yet.
3. Read the details pane, then pick a scope. It can be for you, for everyone on the repository, or for you in this repository only.
4. Read the last sentence of the summary. “Plugin is now active.” means you can use it, and “Run /reload-plugins to apply.” means a reload is needed.
5. Type / and look for the plugin’s skills as /plugin-name:skill-name.

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

If the install says the marketplace claude-plugins-official was not found, add it by hand. A setup script adds it first. A machine with no interactive session has not registered it.

claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-official
claude plugin install commit-commands@claude-plugins-official

How to use it

Once a plugin is installed, its skills run as slash commands, and Claude can load them on its own when your request fits. Update, switch off or remove a plugin from your shell.

claude plugin list
claude plugin update commit-commands@claude-plugins-official
claude plugin disable commit-commands@claude-plugins-official
claude plugin uninstall commit-commands@claude-plugins-official

The commit-commands README names three commands. The docs show the first as /commit-commands:commit once installed, so type / and read the list for the others.

Example

You have uncommitted changes in a Git repository and want a commit message in the repository’s own style. You install the plugin and type its commit command.

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

The plugin README says Claude reviews the staged and unstaged changes, looks at recent commit messages to match your style, drafts a message, stages the relevant files and creates the commit. It says the command avoids committing files with secrets, such as .env and credentials.json. Claude then shows you the commit status.

For newcomers and experts

If you are new. A marketplace is a catalog, not a store. You add it once, then install plugins from it by name. A plugin is a folder of instructions and settings, and some also run programs on your computer. Start with one plugin. Read its details pane before you choose a scope, and use local scope to keep a trial to one repository.

For experts. An entry in the catalog uses one of three source shapes: a path inside this repository, a url source, or a git-subdir source with a path inside another repository. In the file read on 3 November 2026, every entry that points elsewhere names a commit in a sha field. A nightly workflow opens one pull request per outside plugin whose upstream has moved past its pinned commit. Its comments say it runs claude plugin validate on the new commit first. Another workflow runs a Claude policy scan of changed outside entries, and its comments call the scan a required check on main.

Plugin names are immutable slugs. A rename goes in the top-level renames map so that existing installs migrate on the next sync, while displayName changes only the label. A plugin without a manifest can be a skill bundle: strict set to false and an explicit skills array, each skill registered as plugin-name:skill-name. The old claude-code-plugins marketplace in anthropics/claude-code is deprecated, and the docs say its plugins now update from this repository. ralph-wiggum became ralph-loop.

Good to know

A plugin runs with your permissions. Read it first.

• Trust: the README says Anthropic does not control what MCP servers, files or other software a plugin includes, and cannot verify that they work as intended or that they will not change. The docs say hooks and MCP servers run as you, outside the sandbox. Mindket’s notes list the steps for reviewing one
• Updates: auto-update is on by default for this marketplace, so a plugin you reviewed can change on disk. Switch it off per marketplace in /plugin, under Marketplaces
• Cost: each enabled plugin adds its skill and agent names and descriptions to every turn, and its servers run in every session. Open a plugin from the Marketplaces tab in /plugin, or with its install line, and the details pane shows a Context cost estimate for plugins from this marketplace
• Language servers: a language server plugin does not include the server program. Install the program first
• Limits: cloud sessions load no plugins from your machine, and the desktop app has none in WSL sessions
• Submitting: the README sends partners to a submission form, and the repository’s own workflow closes most pull requests from outsiders. The docs say the claude.ai directory portal does not take submissions for this marketplace
• License: Apache-2.0 for the repository. The LICENSE file is the standard Apache License 2.0 text, unchanged. The README says to see each plugin for its own LICENSE. The claude-security plugin’s is proprietary to Anthropic, and for plugins listed from other repositories, read the LICENSE in each one’s own repository