This chapter shows you how to install, use and publish Claude Code plugins through the official marketplace. Required level: Claude Code installed and basic terminal skills.
What a plugin actually is
A Claude Code plugin is a bundle. One install can give you up to five things at once:
- ready-to-use slash commands
- skills (domain instructions loaded at the right moment)
- hooks (automations triggered on
SessionStart,PreToolUse, etc.) - pre-configured MCP servers
- specialized sub-agents
Before plugins, you had to copy-paste markdown files between projects, maintain your scripts by hand, and tell every teammate "here's how to install my workflow". Now one command does it.
A plugin lives in a Git repo. You install it from a marketplace (a repo that references several plugins) and Claude Code handles updates, enable, and disable.
The official marketplace
Two ways to open it.
Inside Claude Code, type /plugin. It opens the Discover tab with the catalog, descriptions, and install buttons. Easiest path to browse what's out there.
From the terminal, if you already know what you want:
claude plugins install <plugin-name>
List what you have installed:
claude plugins list
Disable without uninstalling:
claude plugins disable <plugin-name>
Installed plugins live in ~/.claude/plugins/. You can inspect the code, read the skills, modify the hooks if you want to fork locally. Official up-to-date list: code.claude.com/docs/en/discover-plugins.
Top 5 plugins to install first
| Plugin | One-line value |
|---|---|
superpowers | Skills framework (brainstorm, TDD, debugging) |
claude-seo | Technical and content SEO audit |
claude-blog | Full article writing pipeline |
ralph-loop | Native /loop for long-running tasks |
claude-carbon | Carbon tracking for Claude Code sessions |
superpowers
One of the most complete plugins on the marketplace. You get around fifteen structuring skills: brainstorming, writing-plans, executing-plans, systematic-debugging, test-driven-development, verification-before-completion, requesting-code-review.
Typical use case: before writing code on an ambiguous feature, you type /brainstorm. The skill forces four rounds of thinking (exploration, devil's advocate, synthesis, crystallization) instead of jumping on the first idea.
claude plugins install superpowers
claude-seo
SEO audit wired directly into your repo. Technical analysis (crawlability, Core Web Vitals, schema, sitemap), content analysis (E-E-A-T, citation readiness for ChatGPT/Perplexity), images, hreflang.
Use case: you're working on a Next.js site, you run /seo-audit before a deploy, you get a health score and a list of prioritized fixes.
claude plugins install claude-seo
claude-blog
A 12-command pipeline that covers the full blog lifecycle: /blog write, /blog outline, /blog analyze, /blog rewrite, /blog audit, /blog repurpose. Handles MDX, markdown, HTML.
Use case: you want to publish an article optimized for Google rankings and AI citations in one session. /blog outline for SERP-informed structure, /blog write for a draft with sourced stats and Unsplash images, /blog seo-check to validate before pushing.
claude plugins install claude-blog
ralph-loop
Installs /loop, a command that runs a prompt on an interval. Useful when you want an agent to watch a build, check PRs every 5 minutes, or iterate on a long task without you having to restart the conversation.
Use case: you run /loop 5m /check-deploy during a Vercel deployment. Claude checks status every 5 minutes and pings you when something breaks.
claude plugins install ralph-loop
claude-carbon
Tracks the carbon footprint of your Claude Code sessions. CO2 report per session, per project, per month. Exports shareable PNG cards.
Use case: you want to measure the ecological impact of your AI usage before talking about it publicly, or just be honest with yourself about the environmental cost of a workflow.
claude plugins install claude-carbon
Build and publish your own plugin
A plugin is a Git repo with a simple structure. At minimum you need a .claude-plugin/ folder at the root, holding a plugin.json and a marketplace.json.
Standard structure
my-plugin/
.claude-plugin/
plugin.json # Plugin metadata
marketplace.json # Marketplace manifest
commands/ # Slash commands
skills/ # Markdown skills
hooks/ # Hook JSON + scripts
agents/ # Sub-agents
mcp/ # MCP servers
README.md
Minimal marketplace.json
{
"name": "my-plugin",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "What the plugin does in one sentence",
"author": "your-name",
"homepage": "https://github.com/your-handle/my-plugin",
"components": {
"commands": ["./commands"],
"skills": ["./skills"],
"hooks": ["./hooks/hooks.json"]
}
}
Publish
- Push the repo to GitHub (public)
- Submit the plugin to the official marketplace via the process in the docs
- Users can then install with
claude plugins install <your-plugin>
Full docs for creating and publishing plugins: code.claude.com/docs/en/create-plugins. Up-to-date list of available plugins: code.claude.com/docs/en/discover-plugins.
Start with one plugin, watch what it changes in your workflow before stacking five more. Too many slash commands, too many skills firing in parallel, and you lose track of who's doing what in your session.