What
When you install, enable or disable a plugin, Claude Code writes the change to a settings file. A plugin is an add-on package that extends Claude Code. If that file does not load, for example because it contains an error, the command now adds a warning to its message.
The warning says the file does not load, so Claude Code ignores the whole file, including anything this command wrote there. It asks you to fix the file and run the command again. The same warning appears in the command's JSON output.
The plugin validate command also gains an extra section of checks.
Why
Before this change, a plugin change could be lost without any notice because the settings file was broken. Now you are told, and you can fix it.