You'll noticeTier: how much it should matter to you
3Useful: my rating, 1 to 5
3Signal: worth watching, 1 to 5
Plugin InstallArea: what it touches
ImprovementsKind: in v2.1.277,
ImprovementsSection of the release
What
Claude Code now watches plugin skill directories (both whole folders and individual files) for changes, polling more often when there has been recent interaction and less often when idle. Before hot-reloading a plugin that uses 'files' scope, it asks a ConfigChange hook (a hook that runs when a configuration file changes during a session) whether the reload should proceed. If the hook blocks the reload, the currently loaded version of the plugin stays in place.
Why
This lets plugin changes on disk be picked up automatically while giving hooks a way to veto a reload, for example to avoid reloading a plugin mid-edit or in an inconsistent state.