What
A new helper detects when changes to plugins (add-ons that extend Claude Code) need a reload to take effect, and reports it as either "deferred" or "queued" via telemetry. When a response is still being generated, Claude Code now shows: "Plugin changes apply when the current response finishes (/reload-plugins is queued)."
Why
This makes it clear that plugin changes made mid-response aren't lost or ignored; they're just waiting for the current response to finish before /reload-plugins applies them.
Names in the bundle/reload-plugins
The entry above is what we published on the day. These lines were added later, as Anthropic's own pages caught up, and they sit beside the original rather than replacing it.
Added since
A small documentation edit on Week 32 · August 3–7, 2026 touched a line naming /reload-plugins after this was published.
<div>Plugins you install from <a href="/docs/en/plugins/install#install-a-plugin"><code>/plugin</code></a> activate in the current session when it's safe to do so; the install summary reports <code>Plugin is now active.</code> or tells you…whats-new/2026-w32 see the edit
Confirmed since
Anthropic's documentation has since written up /reload-plugins, on Push events into a running session with channels.
If the install summary reports `Run /reload-plugins to activate.`, you don't need to act on it here, because restarting in the next step picks up the plugin.channels see the edit
Two sources agreeTwo things we can check say the same as this entry.
Anthropic's documentation agrees
Anthropic's documentation has since written up /reload-plugins, on Push events into a running session with channels.
Anthropic's release notes agree
Improved /plugin: installing, enabling or disabling a plugin now takes effect when you close the menu; /reload-plugins is no longer needed…
The name it cites is new in this build
New in this build: tengu_plugin_menu_close_reload