plugin-cli

CLI for creating and managing Claude Code plugins — scaffolding, validation, installation, and marketplace publishing. Single binary, all templates embedded.

Install (npm)

npm install -g ancoder-plugin-cli

# Or run without installing
npx ancoder-plugin-cli --help

The npm package includes prebuilt binaries for:

• macOS arm64 / x64
• Linux arm64 / x64
• Windows x64

Build from source (Go)

go build -o plugin-cli .
./plugin-cli --help

Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | plugin-cli new <name> | Create a new plugin from a template | | plugin-cli validate <path> | Validate plugin structure | | plugin-cli list | List available templates | | plugin-cli list --installed | List installed plugins | | plugin-cli info <template> | Show template details | | plugin-cli install | Install the plugin-creator plugin into ~/.claude/ | | plugin-cli uninstall | Remove installed plugin-creator | | plugin-cli doctor | Check installation health | | plugin-cli marketplace init <dir> | Initialize a marketplace repository | | plugin-cli marketplace add <path> | Register a plugin in marketplace.json | | plugin-cli pack <path> | Package plugin as zip + SHA256 | | plugin-cli sync <root> | Sync shared skills in a monorepo | | plugin-cli check <root> | Detect drift in monorepo shared skills |

Quick Start

# Create a new plugin
plugin-cli new my-plugin

# Validate it
plugin-cli validate ./my-plugin

# Install the plugin-creator helper (gives you /plugin-creator:* commands in Claude Code)
plugin-cli install

# Test your plugin locally
claude --plugin-dir ./my-plugin

Templates

| Template | Description | |----------|-------------| | skill-pack | Skills-focused plugin with commands and hooks (recommended) | | agent-plugin | Self-contained agent plugin with a bundled workflow skill | | toolkit-plugin | Skills-first toolkit with progressive disclosure resources | | vertical-practice-plugin | Industry workflow plugin with cold-start interview, practice profile, review skill, watcher agent, hooks, and MCP metadata | | blank-plugin | Minimal plugin with just plugin.json and README | | monorepo | Multi-plugin monorepo with shared skills and sync tooling |

Plugin-Creator Plugin

Running plugin-cli install deploys a Claude Code plugin that provides:

• Skills: plugin-scaffolding, skill-authoring, agent-authoring, hook-authoring, mcp-integration, marketplace-publishing, monorepo-maintenance
• Commands: /plugin-creator:new-plugin, /plugin-creator:validate-plugin, /plugin-creator:review-plugin, /plugin-creator:publish-plugin
• Agents: plugin-reviewer and plugin-validator (quality review), agent-creator (agent generation), skill-reviewer (skill QA), marketplace-curator (metadata generation)

These let Claude Code itself guide you through plugin development.

Monorepo Workflow

# Create a monorepo
plugin-cli new my-plugins --template monorepo

# Add plugins
plugin-cli new plugin-a --path ./my-plugins/plugins/
plugin-cli marketplace add ./my-plugins/plugins/plugin-a

# Sync shared skills
plugin-cli sync ./my-plugins

# Check for drift (use in CI)
plugin-cli check ./my-plugins

plugin-cli sync and plugin-cli check support both layouts:

• Legacy layout: shared/skills/* copied into plugins/*/skills/
• Official-style layout: plugins/vertical-plugins/*/skills/* synced into bundled plugins/agent-plugins/*/skills/*

Official Plugin Patterns

This CLI is being aligned with Anthropic's official plugin repository patterns. See docs/official-plugin-patterns.md for details.

Key rules:

• Prefer skills/<name>/SKILL.md for new user-invoked workflows; commands/ remains supported for legacy plugins.
• Use progressive disclosure: keep SKILL.md focused and move details into references/, examples/, scripts/, and assets/.
• Use ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} for plugin-local scripts and assets.
• Use wrapper format for plugin hooks: hooks/hooks.json with description and hooks keys.
• Marketplace entries should use source paths; legacy path entries are still accepted.
• For vertical-domain plugins, use a cold-start interview to write a practice profile under ~/.claude/plugins/config/<plugin>/CLAUDE.md, then make every workflow read that profile before acting.

License

MIT