Creating Plugins

Plugin Creator

Create Claude Code plugins to extend functionality with custom commands, agents, skills, hooks, and MCP servers.

Plugin Creation Workflow

1. Gather Requirements

Ask the user:

• What functionality should the plugin provide?
• Which components are needed? (commands, agents, hooks, MCP servers, skills)
• Who is the target audience? (personal, team, public)

2. Create Plugin Structure

my-plugin/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json      # Required
├── commands/            # Optional: slash commands
├── agents/              # Optional: sub-agents
├── skills/              # Optional: agent skills
├── hooks/               # Optional: event handlers
└── .mcp.json           # Optional: MCP servers

3. Write plugin.json

Minimal example:

{
  "name": "my-plugin",
  "description": "Brief description",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "author": {"name": "Author Name"}
}

4. Add Components

Based on user requirements, add:

• Commands: See commands.md for slash command format
• Agents: See agents.md for agent definition format
• Hooks: See hooks.md for event handler configuration
• MCP Servers: See mcp-servers.md for server configuration

5. Test Locally

Create a test marketplace:

mkdir test-marketplace/.claude-plugin

Create test-marketplace/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json:

{
  "name": "test-marketplace",
  "owner": {"name": "Developer"},
  "plugins": [{"name": "my-plugin", "source": "./my-plugin"}]
}

Test commands:

/plugin marketplace add ./test-marketplace
/plugin install my-plugin@test-marketplace

Quick Reference

Command File (commands/hello.md)

---
description: Greet the user
---
# Hello Command
Greet the user warmly.

Agent File (agents/reviewer.md)

---
description: Code review specialist
capabilities: ["review", "suggestions"]
---
# Reviewer
Review code for quality and best practices.

Hooks (hooks/hooks.json)

{
  "hooks": {
    "PostToolUse": [{
      "matcher": "Write|Edit",
      "hooks": [{"type": "command", "command": "prettier --write $CLAUDE_FILE_PATH"}]
    }]
  }
}

References

Plugin Development

• Plugins Guide - Complete plugin creation guide
• Plugins Reference - Technical schemas and configurations
• Plugin Structure - Directory layout and plugin.json schema
• Marketplace - Plugin distribution

Plugin Components

• Commands - Slash command format
• Agents - Sub-agent definitions
• Hooks - Event handlers
• MCP Servers - External tool integration

Skills Development

• Skills Overview - What skills are and how they work
• Skills Best Practices - Writing effective skills
• Skills Schema - SKILL.md format and validation