TopolearnPlugins are how teams share a complete Claude Code setup in one install instead of copying files around.
A plugin packages several extensions together: skills, subagents, hooks, MCP servers and code intelligence (language server) support. A marketplace is a catalog of plugins, usually a git repository. Anthropic's official marketplace, claude-plugins-official, is added automatically.
Installing in a session:
/pluginopens a browser with Discover, Installed and Marketplaces tabs,/plugin install commit-commands@claude-plugins-officialopens that plugin's details,/plugin marketplace add your-org/claude-pluginsadds another marketplace from a GitHub repo (also git URLs or local paths).
The details pane shows what the plugin will add and, for official plugins, an estimate of its context cost. Then pick a scope:
- user: you, every project (
~/.claude/settings.json), - project: everyone in the repo (
.claude/settings.json, committed), - local: you, this repo only.
Plugin skills are namespaced, appearing as /plugin-name:skill-name, so they never clash with your own. From a shell or script use claude plugin install <name>@<marketplace> --scope project, plus enable, disable, uninstall and update. /reload-plugins applies changes without restarting.
Worth knowing: code intelligence plugins for typed languages let Claude jump to definitions and see type errors after edits, saving many file reads.
Security: a plugin can run hooks and start MCP servers on your machine, which means running code. Read the details pane, install from marketplaces you trust, and review a plugin's hooks before putting it in project scope for a whole team.
Example
# inside a session
/plugin # browse and manage
/plugin install commit-commands@claude-plugins-official
/plugin marketplace add your-org/claude-plugins
/reload-plugins
# from the shell (e.g. a setup script)
claude plugin install formatter@your-org --scope project
claude plugin list
claude plugin disable formatter@your-orgRemember
- Plugins bundle skills, subagents, hooks, MCP servers and code intelligence
- Install with /plugin install name@marketplace; choose user, project or local scope
- Plugins run code on your machine; install from trusted marketplaces
Watch out for
- Installing a plugin at project scope for the whole team without reading what hooks and servers it adds.