Introduction to Claude Plugins

Install a plugin and Claude Code immediately gains new skills, live connections to external services, and custom behaviour — all bundled in a single folder you can version and share.

What is a Claude Plugin?

A plugin is a shareable folder that extends Claude Code with new capabilities. Think of it as an app you install for Claude — once installed, it immediately knows new skills, can talk to external services, and behaves differently from the default assistant.

The three building blocks

A plugin can contain one, two, or all three of the following. You only include what your workflow actually needs.

Plugin folder structure

The only required file is .claude-plugin/plugin.json. All other directories are optional — add only what your plugin uses.

Build a minimal plugin — step by step

Let's create a plugin that adds a /code-review-plugin:review skill to Claude Code. Three files, five minutes.

{
  "name": "code-review-plugin",
  "description": "Structured code reviews for TypeScript projects",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "author": { "name": "Your Name" }
}

---
description: Reviews a file for best practices, security, and code quality.
---

Review the file at "$ARGUMENTS". Check for:
1. Input validation and security issues
2. Error handling completeness
3. Code readability and organisation
4. Obvious bugs or edge cases

Format your response as [OK], [WARN], and [ERROR] findings.

Plugin lifecycle

From first write to sharing with your team, here is the typical flow:

Plugin vs standalone configuration

Claude Code also supports adding skills and commands directly in .claude/ without making a plugin. Use that for quick personal work — graduate to a plugin when you want to share.