Beyond Skills

Beyond skills

A plugin can carry six component types. Today you ship skills; the rest are pointers; each is a tutorial of its own.

Component	File	What it adds
Skills	skills/*/SKILL.md	Everything from Part 3, namespaced
Hooks	hooks/hooks.json	Checks at ~30 lifecycle events; PreToolUse can block a call before it runs
Subagents	agents/*.md	Specialized agents with their own tools, model, and isolation
MCP servers	.mcp.json	Connections that start when the plugin is enabled (Part 5)
LSP	.lsp.json	Live diagnostics + code navigation
PATH tools	bin/	Executables available to the agent’s shell while enabled

Two path variables matter for anything inside a plugin:

• ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}: the install directory. It changes on update; never hardcode.
• ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA}: persistent state that survives updates.

Versioning: two deliberate choices

• Semver in the manifest: you must bump to ship; consumers get deliberate releases. Right for team standards.
• No version field: every commit ships, SHA-versioned. Right for fast-moving internal tooling.

Tip

✓ Checkpoint for Part 4. Push team-standards to a git repo, add it as a marketplace, and install it the way a teammate would. Note every prompt they will see; that’s their onboarding experience.