Plugins and marketplaces: install the right packs

Plugins are the quickest way to get a setup someone else already built: skills, agents and hooks in one install. This guide is for anyone who has used Claude Code for a few sessions and wants more out of it without writing everything by hand. You will install your first plugin, add two of Anthropic's topic marketplaces, and learn how to keep only the packs you use.

What you will have at the end

One plugin from the official marketplace installed and working.
Two extra Anthropic marketplaces added, with a pack picked for your area of work.
A clear idea of which install scope to choose, and why.
A habit for checking what each plugin costs you in context.

Before you start

Claude Code installed and signed in, opened in a project with claude.
A terminal session. Cloud sessions have no plugin browser and do not load plugins installed on your own machine (install docs).

Step 1: know what a plugin is

A plugin is a folder of skills, agents, hooks, MCP servers or other components that Claude Code installs and loads as one unit (plugins overview). Most plugins come from a marketplace, which is a catalogue listing plugins and where to fetch each one.

You do not need a plugin for a single skill. A skill saved in ~/.claude/skills/ already works in every project. Plugins make sense when you want several pieces packaged together, with updates from their marketplace (plugins overview).

Step 2: install from the official marketplace

Claude Code adds Anthropic's official marketplace, claude-plugins-official, the first time you start an interactive terminal session (Anthropic's marketplaces). Anthropic maintains a small set of plugins there, such as commit-commands, code-review, feature-dev and the language server plugins. Most of the catalogue comes from partners and other authors.

To browse, run this in a session and use the Discover tab:

/plugin

To go straight to one plugin, use the install command with the plugin name and marketplace name (install docs):

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

In a session, this does not install right away. It opens the plugin's details so you can review them first. Read the pane before you pick anything. It lists what the plugin will install (commands, agents, skills, hooks, MCP and LSP servers) and, for official plugins, a Context cost with two token estimates: what it adds to every turn, and what it adds when invoked (install docs).

Step 3: choose a scope

You get three options (install scopes):

User scope: you get the plugin in every project on this machine. It is written to ~/.claude/settings.json.
Project scope: everyone in this repository gets it. It is written to .claude/settings.json, which you commit.
Local scope: just you, just this repository. It is written to .claude/settings.local.json.

A simple rule: tools you personally like go in user scope. Tools the whole team must use, such as a shared review plugin, go in project scope. One catch with project scope: committing the setting turns the plugin on for teammates but does not download it, so each of them installs it once with --scope project (install scopes).

After you choose, read the last line of the install summary. Plugin is now active. means it is ready. If it says Run /reload-plugins to apply., Claude Code runs that reload for you as the panel closes (install docs).

Step 4: add Anthropic's topic marketplaces

Anthropic also publishes topic-specific marketplaces, including anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins and anthropics/skills, which you add with /plugin marketplace add (Anthropic's marketplaces).

Knowledge work packs, organised by job:

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins

Its catalogue includes packs such as engineering, design, product-management, marketing, sales, data, finance, legal, operations and small-business, plus many partner plugins (knowledge-work-plugins). Install the one for your role:

/plugin install engineering@knowledge-work-plugins

Example and document skills:

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills

This repository registers under the marketplace name anthropic-agent-skills, not its repository name, and offers example-skills (skill-creator, mcp-builder, frontend-design, webapp-testing and more) and document-skills (Excel, Word, PowerPoint and PDF) (skills repository):

/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

When a marketplace add succeeds, Claude Code prints Successfully added marketplace: <name>. That name is what goes after the @ (install docs).

There is also a community marketplace of third-party plugins submitted to Anthropic. You add it with /plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community and install with the @claude-community suffix (Anthropic's marketplaces).

Step 5: vet before you trust

A plugin runs as you. Its hooks run as shell commands with your full user permissions, its MCP servers start as processes on your machine, and its skills and agents enter Claude's context as instructions (plugin security). Claude Code's permission rules and sandbox cover Claude's tool calls, not the code a plugin runs by itself.

Before installing:

Check the marketplace. Claude Code only accepts the official and community names for marketplaces sourced from github.com/anthropics/ repositories, so a third-party catalogue cannot pose as Anthropic's (plugin security).
Read the details pane, especially hooks and MCP servers.
Remember that a marketplace name tells you who publishes the catalogue, not what each plugin does. Anthropic does not review third-party marketplaces (Anthropic's marketplaces).

Check it worked

Type / in the session and look for the plugin's skills under its name. For commit-commands, you should see /commit-commands:commit (install docs).

From your shell, list everything installed:

claude plugin list

Each plugin shows Version, Scope and Status lines. To see what one plugin adds to every session, run claude plugin details <name> and read the Always-on line, which is the token count it adds wherever it is enabled (install docs).

Common problems

Plugin "<name>" not found in any marketplace. You have not added the marketplace that holds it, or the name after @ is wrong. Add the marketplace first and use the name Claude Code printed (Anthropic's marketplaces).

The official marketplace is missing. If claude-plugins-official is not on the Marketplaces tab of /plugin, add it with /plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-official (Anthropic's marketplaces).

Sessions feel heavier after installing several packs. Every enabled plugin puts the names and descriptions of its skills and agents in context on every turn, even when you do not use them (plugins overview). Open the Installed tab in /plugin, look under Not used recently, and disable or uninstall what you do not need.

A tutorial tells you to add anthropics/claude-code as a marketplace. That claude-code-plugins marketplace is deprecated. Skip the step and install from claude-plugins-official instead (Anthropic's marketplaces).

Updates do not show up. Auto-update is on by default for claude-plugins-official but off for knowledge-work-plugins and for community and third-party marketplaces. Turn it on per marketplace in the Marketplaces tab, or update one plugin with claude plugin update <plugin>@<marketplace> (keep plugins updated).

Your first skill in 10 minutes: build the kind of thing plugins are made of.
Build a team skill library that stays sharp: package your own skills for a whole team.

Sources

Last checked: 2026-11-06