Claude community plugins: add the marketplace first, then install a named plugin

Who it's for

This material is for people who want to install community-contributed plugins into Claude Cowork or Claude Code. The repository is a read-only mirror of the community plugin marketplace. .claude-plugin/marketplace.json lists the community plugins that can be installed now and syncs every night. The product pages are https://claude.com/product/cowork and https://claude.com/product/claude-code

The two install paths must not be mixed. Claude Code first adds this marketplace to the CLI, then installs by a real plugin name. Claude Cowork installs from https://claude.com/plugins/ Do not apply one side’s command to the other.

It is not a writable submission repository: this is a read-only mirror. To submit a plugin, the docs point to https://clau.de/plugin-directory-submission Plugins listed here passed an automated security scan and were approved for distribution, but that does not mean you can edit the catalog in the mirror.

First try in 3 minutes

The main path is Claude Code. The repository is https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-community Run this first: claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community. Do not invent an installer that never appears.

Prerequisites: this machine can already run the claude CLI, and you only want to add the marketplace for now — you are not in a hurry to enable a plugin. Install location is Claude Code’s plugin-marketplace configuration, not cloning the repository and treating it as a local marketplace you edit.

Low-risk first task: only add the marketplace; do not immediately run claude plugin install. Success signal: the add command finishes, and you can see entries from claude-community in the marketplace, or you can open .claude-plugin/marketplace.json in the repository read-only to look at names. The install sentence in the docs is written as claude plugin install <plugin-name>@claude-community; the name must come from this catalog. Do not invent a name and install it.

If you use Claude Cowork rather than Code, do not run the CLI above. Open https://claude.com/plugins/ and install on the page. For both entries, the success signal is the same: you can see community plugins that can be installed, and you have not yet run a plugin action against the current project.

Use cases

Case 1: Connect the community marketplace in Claude Code and install a plugin that already has a name. First claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community, then copy a real name from the mirror catalog and run claude plugin install <plugin-name>@claude-community. This fits when you already use Code and only want one more community plugin. The docs do not name any specific plugin, so do not guess a name on the first try. If adding the marketplace fails, go back to https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-community and match the command; do not switch to an undocumented install method.

Case 2: Install from the web in Claude Cowork. The docs say to install plugins from https://claude.com/plugins/ This fits when you mainly work in Cowork and do not use the Code CLI. The docs do not write the click steps on the page, and they do not say the web and CLI share the same command; you can only go as far as “open that page and install only a plugin you recognize.” After install, read the plugin’s own docs before you decide whether to run it on a real project.

Limits

Repository nature: this is a read-only mirror. The catalog is .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, synced every night. Do not treat this as a writable submission area. The submit entry is https://clau.de/plugin-directory-submission Distribution follows an automated security scan and approval, but the mirror itself offers no operation to change the catalog. Install limit: Code uses two claude plugin commands; Cowork uses https://claude.com/plugins/ Do not cross-apply them, and do not invent an installer that never appears. Name limit: <plugin-name> must come from the catalog; do not install a placeholder name on a real environment. The docs do not promise every plugin fits every project, and they do not write an uninstall command.