Create and distribute a plugin marketplace changedplugin-marketplaces
Nearest release: v2.1.237, published an hour before this site recorded the change. Shown because the two are within 24 hours of each other. Nothing here says the release caused the edit.
Recorded here
Lines+38added
Lines−11removed
From line
1,190
where the diff opens
First seen
14 Aug 2026
this site's first read of the page
Recorded edits34to this page, all time
#### Validate a plugin or a directory without a manifest
The whole hunk
from line 1190, old and new numbered
/
from line 1190
11901190
11911191* Verify the marketplace URL is accessible
11921192* Check that `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` exists at the specified path
1193* Ensure JSON syntax is valid using `claude plugin validate .` or `/plugin validate .` from the marketplace directory. To check skill, agent, and command frontmatter, run the command against each plugin directory
1193* Ensure JSON syntax is valid using `claude plugin validate .` or `/plugin validate .` from the marketplace directory. To check skill, agent, and command frontmatter, see [Validate a plugin or a directory without a manifest](#validate-a-plugin-or-a-directory-without-a-manifest)
11941194* For private repositories, confirm you have access permissions
11951195
11961196### Marketplace validation errors
from line 1205
12051205
12061206Earlier versions skip plugins at the marketplace root and only descend from a `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`.
12071207
1208To validate an individual plugin's `plugin.json` and its skill, agent, command, and hook files, run the command against the plugin directory itself, for example `claude plugin validate ./plugins/my-plugin`. Common errors:
1208From a marketplace directory, Claude Code doesn't open the plugins' skill, agent, command, or hook files. To find errors in those files, see [Validate a plugin or a directory without a manifest](#validate-a-plugin-or-a-directory-without-a-manifest). The table below lists the most common errors from a marketplace directory, with the cause and fix for each:
12091209
1210| Error | Cause | Solution |
1211| :------------------------------------------------ | :---------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
1212| `File not found: .claude-plugin/marketplace.json` | Missing manifest | Create `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` with required fields |
1213| `Invalid JSON syntax: Unexpected token...` | JSON syntax error in marketplace.json | Check for missing commas, extra commas, or unquoted strings |
1214| `Duplicate plugin name "x" found in marketplace` | Two plugins share the same name | Give each plugin a unique `name` value |
1215| `plugins[0].source: Path contains ".."` | Source path contains `..` | Use paths relative to the marketplace root without `..`. See [Relative paths](#relative-paths) |
1216| `YAML frontmatter failed to parse: ...` | Invalid YAML in a skill, agent, or command file | Fix the YAML syntax in the frontmatter block. At runtime this file loads with no metadata. Reported only when validating a plugin directory |
1217| `Invalid JSON syntax: ...` (hooks.json) | Malformed `hooks/hooks.json` | Fix JSON syntax. A malformed `hooks/hooks.json` prevents the entire plugin from loading. Reported only when validating a plugin directory |
1210| Error | Cause | Solution |
1211| :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
1212| `No manifest found in directory. Expected .claude-plugin/marketplace.json or .claude-plugin/plugin.json` | The directory you named has no `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` or `plugin.json`, and no skill, agent, or command files to check | Run from the marketplace root, or create `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` with the required fields |
1213| `Invalid JSON syntax: Unexpected token...` | JSON syntax error in marketplace.json | Check for missing commas, extra commas, or unquoted strings |
1214| `Duplicate plugin name "x" found in marketplace` | Two plugins share the same name | Give each plugin a unique `name` value |
1215| `plugins[0].source: Path contains ".."` | Source path contains `..` | Use paths relative to the marketplace root without `..`. See [Relative paths](#relative-paths) |
12181216
12191217**Warnings** (non-blocking):
12201218
from line 1221
12231221* `Plugin name "x" is not kebab-case`: the plugin name contains uppercase letters, spaces, or special characters. Rename to lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens only (for example, `my-plugin`). Claude Code accepts other forms, but the claude.ai marketplace sync rejects them.
12241222* `Marketplace name "x" is reserved in Claude Desktop`: the marketplace is named `org`, `org-provisioned`, or `unknown`, in any casing. Claude Code accepts these names, but Claude Desktop's managed marketplace sync rejects the whole marketplace. Rename the marketplace. Before v2.1.221, `claude plugin validate` didn't run this check.
12251223* `Marketplace name "x" is not accepted by Claude Desktop` or `Plugin name "x" is not accepted by Claude Desktop`: Claude Desktop accepts names of up to 128 characters made of letters, digits, `.`, `_`, and `-`, starting with a letter or digit. Claude Code accepts other forms, but Claude Desktop's managed marketplace sync rejects a marketplace whose name fails the check and silently drops a plugin entry whose name does. Rename the marketplace or plugin. Before v2.1.221, `claude plugin validate` didn't run these checks.
1224
1225#### Validate a plugin or a directory without a manifest
1226
1227To find skill, agent, and command files whose frontmatter doesn't parse, run `claude plugin validate` and name the directory that holds them. Claude Code doesn't look outside the directory you name. Every run except one against a plugin that has a `plugin.json` requires Claude Code v2.1.233 or later.
1228
1229Pick the directory by what you want to check:
1230
1231| To check | Run | Claude Code checks |
1232| :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
1233| A plugin that has a `plugin.json` | `claude plugin validate ./plugins/my-plugin` | `plugin.json`, `hooks/hooks.json`, and the `skills`, `agents`, and `commands` directories at the plugin root |
1234| One directory of skills, agents, or commands, such as a plugin that has no `plugin.json` yet | `claude plugin validate .claude/skills`, `~/.claude/agents`, or `./my-plugin/agents` | Every skill, agent, or command file in that directory |
1235| A folder whose skill is its root `SKILL.md` | `claude plugin validate ./skills`, naming the `skills` directory that holds the folder | Each folder's root `SKILL.md`. The holding directory must be named `skills`; a folder under another name, such as `plugins/`, has no run that checks its root `SKILL.md` |
1236| A project's three directories at once | `claude plugin validate .claude`, or the project root when it has no `.claude-plugin/` manifest | `.claude/skills`, `.claude/agents`, and `.claude/commands` |
1237| Your user-level directories | `claude plugin validate ~/.claude` | `~/.claude/skills`, `~/.claude/agents`, and `~/.claude/commands` |
1238
1239A plugin run also warns about a `CLAUDE.md` at the plugin root. For paths you set through the [component path fields](/docs/en/plugins-reference#component-path-fields) in `plugin.json`, it checks that each path exists but doesn't read the files there, and it doesn't check a `SKILL.md` at the plugin root. To check a plugin whose skill is its root `SKILL.md`, run the command twice when the plugin sits in a directory named `skills`: name that `skills` directory to check the root `SKILL.md`, and name the plugin directory to check the rest. When the plugin sits under another name, such as `plugins/`, only the second run is available, and no run checks its root `SKILL.md`.
1240
1241Claude Code doesn't follow symlinks inside the directory you name. What it does depends on where the link is:
1242
1243* **A linked `skills`, `agents`, or `commands` directory under the plugin or `.claude` root**: Claude Code warns that nothing in it was read.
1244* **A linked entry inside a `skills`, `agents`, or `commands` directory**: Claude Code skips it and warns, per directory, how many entries it skipped that a session would load. A plugin whose `skills` directory [links to a sibling plugin's skills](/docs/en/plugins-reference#share-files-within-a-marketplace-with-symlinks) passes with warnings; to check the linked skills, name the sibling plugin's directory. The same applies to a [symlinked skill entry](/docs/en/skills#where-skills-live) in `~/.claude/skills` or `.claude/skills`, which a session does follow; to check it, name a directory called `skills` that holds the real folder.
1245* **The `skills`, `agents`, or `commands` directory you name is itself a symlink, or its parent `.claude` directory is**: Claude Code reports an error and checks nothing in it. Name the real directory instead.
1246
1247A clean run ends with `Validation passed`. `No manifest found in directory` means Claude Code found no `plugin.json` or `marketplace.json` there, and no skill, agent, or command file in the directories it probes under it. Name the `skills`, `agents`, or `commands` directory that holds your files instead.
1248
1249Two of the errors Claude Code reports from these runs, with the fix for each:
1250
1251* `YAML frontmatter failed to parse: ...`: fix the YAML in the frontmatter block of the skill, agent, or command file. Until you do, a session reads no frontmatter fields from the file
1252* `Invalid JSON syntax: ...` on `hooks/hooks.json`: fix the JSON syntax. Until you do, a session loads the plugin without the hooks in that file. Claude Code reports this error only in a plugin run
12261253
12271254### Plugin installation failures
12281255
No line in this hunk matches that.