# Plugin Creator

> Scaffold a local Codewhale plugin bundle with a versioned manifest, namespaced Skills, and an explicit trust review.

- Skill: `hmbown/plugin-creator-2` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add hmbown/plugin-creator-2`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/hmbown/plugin-creator-2/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: Hmbown (https://skillmd.com/u/hmbown)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/hmbown/plugin-creator-2

---


# Plugin Creator

Use this skill when a user wants a local Codewhale plugin bundle. Trusted and
enabled bundles may add declarative Skills, commands, agents, hooks, and MCP
servers (stdio and remote) through the existing engines. LSP, native
extensions, filesystem roots, and lifecycle mutation are inventory-only.

## Workflow

1. Pick a Codewhale-owned location:
   - User bundle: `~/.codewhale/plugins/<plugin-name>/`
   - Workspace bundle: `<workspace>/.codewhale/plugins/<plugin-name>/`
2. Normalize the bundle name to lowercase hyphen-case.
3. Create `plugin.toml`:

```toml
schema_version = 1

[plugin]
name = "my-plugin"
version = "0.1.0"
description = "What this bundle provides"

[skills]
path = "skills"
```

4. Put each Skill under `skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md`. Codewhale exposes it
   as `my-plugin:<skill-name>`, never as an unqualified command.
5. Add `[mcp_servers.<name>]` only when the bundle needs an existing MCP
   engine. Keep stdio commands and paths inside the bundle. Map local
   environment values only as exact `${SOURCE_ENV}` references. For remote MCP,
   use HTTPS (or loopback HTTP), forbid URL user information/query/fragment,
   use only environment-backed headers or bearer tokens, and declare the exact
   normalized endpoint host set in `[capabilities].network_hosts`. Never place
   credentials in the manifest.
6. Commands (`commands/*.md`), agents (`agents/*.toml`), and hooks
   (`hooks/*.toml`) activate under the current policy — workspace bundles win
   same-name collisions over user and built-in bundles. LSP, native
   extensions, filesystem roots, and lifecycle mutation are inventory-only:
   declare them only when inventorying future work. A bundle that declares
   only unsupported surfaces cannot be enabled.
7. Validate and review without executing bundle content:
   - `/plugin validate <plugin-name>`
   - `/plugin show <plugin-name>`
   - `/plugin enable <plugin-name>` to open the content/capability review
   - run the exact `/plugin trust ...` confirmation shown, then enable again
8. Verify `/skills inspect` reports plugin provenance and `/plugin list`
   reports the expected trust and activation state. Trust stages the reviewed
   content but does not activate it; enablement rebuilds the current
   workspace's Skill/MCP catalogue immediately.

Every user and workspace bundle starts untrusted and disabled. Do not add a
marketplace, downloader, updater, compatibility scan, executable extension
runtime, or automatic trust flow; those surfaces are outside v0.9.1.

