meta-plugin-creator

Plugin Creator

Overview

Plugins are shareable packages that bundle skills, agents, commands, hooks, MCP servers, and LSP servers into installable units for Claude Code. A plugin requires only a .claude-plugin/plugin.json manifest at minimum; all other components are optional and auto-discovered from conventional directories at the plugin root.

When to use: Sharing functionality across projects or teams, distributing through marketplaces, versioning reusable agent capabilities, bundling MCP servers with skills.

When NOT to use: Single-project customizations (use .claude/ directory instead), quick experiments before packaging, personal workflows that do not need distribution.

Quick Reference

Component	Location	Format	Discovery
Manifest	.claude-plugin/plugin.json	JSON	Required
Skills	skills/*/SKILL.md	Markdown + YAML	Auto by context
Commands	commands/*.md	Markdown + YAML	Auto, namespaced
Agents	agents/*.md	Markdown + YAML	Auto, /agents UI
Hooks	hooks/hooks.json	JSON	Auto on events
MCP servers	.mcp.json	JSON	Auto on enable
LSP servers	.lsp.json	JSON	Auto on enable
Output styles	Custom path	Per config	Via manifest
Plugin env var	${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}	Absolute path	All configs/scripts
Project env	${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}	Absolute path	All configs/scripts
CLI test flag	--plugin-dir ./my-plugin	Local dev	Manual load
CLI validate	claude plugin validate .	Local dev	Manual check
Install scope	--scope user|project|local	CLI flag	Per install

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Correct Pattern
Placing components inside .claude-plugin/	Only plugin.json goes in .claude-plugin/; components at plugin root
Using absolute paths in configs	Use ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} for all plugin file references
Missing plugin.json manifest	Create .claude-plugin/plugin.json with at least a name field
Path traversal with ../	Keep all files inside the plugin directory
Non-executable hook scripts	Run chmod +x on all scripts referenced by hooks
Forgetting namespacing	Plugin skills are invoked as /plugin-name:skill-name
Inline hooks missing event casing	Event names are case-sensitive: PostToolUse, not postToolUse
Expecting custom paths to replace defaults	Custom component paths supplement default directories, not replace them

Delegation

• Plugin component creation: Build skills, agents, and commands following their respective standards
• Pattern discovery: Use Explore agent to find existing plugin patterns in the codebase
• Code review: Use Task agent for plugin structure validation

If the meta-skill-creator skill is available, delegate skill authoring within plugins to it. Otherwise, recommend: npx skills add oakoss/agent-skills --skill meta-skill-creator

References

• Plugin manifest schema, directory structure, and component paths
• Skills, agents, commands, hooks, MCP servers, and LSP servers in plugins
• Installation scopes, environment variables, and publishing