Plugin marketplace

A plugin marketplace is a catalog that distributes plugins to others, providing discovery, version tracking, automatic updates, and support for multiple source types including git repositories and local paths.

The marketplace file is .claude-plugin/marketplace.json in the repository root. It defines the marketplace name, owner information, and a list of plugins with their sources.

Verified workflow: build plugins, write the marketplace.json, host it on GitHub, GitLab, or another git host. Users then run /plugin marketplace add <source> to register the marketplace and /plugin install <plugin-name>@<marketplace-name> to install a specific plugin. Users refresh their local copy of the marketplace with /plugin marketplace update.

The marketplace name is a kebab-case identifier and is public-facing. Users see it when installing, as in /plugin install my-tool@your-marketplace. Each user can register only one marketplace per name; adding a second marketplace with the same name replaces the first. To publish multiple plugins under one marketplace name, list them all in a single marketplace.json.

A marketplace is a distribution channel, not a quality signal. Being listed does not mean a plugin was run on real work. That gap is the reason SkillProof exists. For example, Release Skills manages releases across multiple languages, but its presence in a marketplace doesn't guarantee its own setup process is flawless.

Marketplaces are a way to manage and share agent-skill definitions, complementing how plugin definitions are managed. Understanding the distinction between personal-vs-project-skills is also key when considering how plugins are distributed and consumed.