The built-in skill for writing hook plugins is now framed as "Make a mod"
The bundled skill for writing function-hook plugins is now described as making mods such as live panes, bands, status lines and toasts, with example files
You'll noticeTier: how much it should matter to you
4Useful: my rating, 1 to 5
4Signal: worth watching, 1 to 5
ModsArea: what it touches
ImprovementsKind: in v2.1.283,
What probably matters to youSection of the release
Unclear What decides whether the "plugin-authoring" bundle is available is not known.
What
Claude Code ships with a skill for writing plugins made of function hooks. A skill is a packet of instructions that Claude can load when it needs them. A function hook is code that runs inside Claude Code and changes what it shows or does. The skill has a new description and new menu text, and both now talk about "mods". Its menu entry reads "Write a mod: a live pane, view or behaviour change in Claude Code". Its description covers:
live panes
bands
status lines
toasts, which are short pop-up notices
hooks, in the terminal or in the desktop app's Code tab, which reload live in the current session
The skill also ships with its own files:
examples/pane.tsx
examples/band.tsx
reference.md
generated type declarations
It now sits in a "plugin-authoring" bundle.
Why
Claude reads a skill's description to decide when to load it. A new description therefore changes when Claude reaches for this skill, for example when you ask it to build a pane or a status line.
How sure we are
Something disagreesSomething we can check disagrees with this entry, or the writer said they could not settle it.
The writer flagged doubtWhat decides whether the "plugin-authoring" bundle is available is not known.
