What probably matters to youSection of the release
What
Claude Code comes with a built-in plugin directory marketplace, which is a catalog of plugins you can install. The plugin commands now recognise it and handle it on its own terms instead of treating it like any other marketplace:
claude plugin marketplace add now recognises the built-in directory. If your organization's policy blocks it, the command says it "is blocked by your organization". It rejects --sparse and --scope for this marketplace, with the message "is built in and not declared in any settings scope. Omit --sparse and --scope to turn it on." If the marketplace is turned off, add turns it back on.
remove turns the built-in directory off but keeps the plugins you already installed from it.
list shows the built-in directory as built in and off when it is turned off, with a "Turn it back on" line.
/reload-plugins adds a note that the directory "could not be reached, so its plugins were not loaded" when the directory is unreachable.
claude plugin details now gives specific reasons when a plugin from the built-in directory is unavailable: it is blocked by policy (policy_blocked), or the directory's catalog is missing (directory_catalog_missing). Before, it always reported a generic "not found".
Before this release, add only had an error about the name being reserved, and remove handled the built-in directory the same way as other marketplaces.
Why
When a plugin from the built-in directory is not available, the messages now say why: your organization blocked it, the directory could not be reached, or its catalog is missing. You can also turn the built-in directory off without losing installed plugins, and turn it back on with add.
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 doubtIt is not clear what makes the built-in directory unavailable rather than on, so it is not known who sees these messages.
Anthropic's release notes agreeFixed claude plugin marketplace add --sparse and git-subdir plugin installs failing with "transport 'http' not allowed" when the repository…