Building a Claude Code Plugin Marketplace
A practical walkthrough of creating and distributing a Claude Code plugin marketplace: the marketplace.json catalog, hosting on a git repository, adding it with /plugin marketplace add, private repositories, and how users install and update plugins.
Open the source and read safety notes before installing.
Safety notes
- A marketplace distributes plugins that can bundle hooks, MCP servers, and bin executables that run with the user's privileges; document what each plugin does and review before sharing.
- Encourage installers to review plugin source and pin versions; treat installing from an untrusted marketplace as a supply-chain decision.
- For internal-only distribution, host the marketplace in a private repository rather than a public one.
Privacy notes
- Do not bundle secrets, tokens, or private endpoints into plugins or the marketplace catalog; use environment variables or helpers.
- Private marketplaces keep the catalog and plugin source within your access controls; public ones expose both.
- Marketplace metadata (names, descriptions) is visible to anyone who can add the marketplace.
Prerequisites
- One or more Claude Code plugins you want to distribute.
- A git host (GitHub, GitLab, or another) to host the marketplace repository.
- Claude Code installed for testing the marketplace and installs.
Schema details
- Install type
- copy
- Troubleshooting
- No
Full copyable content
Use this guide to create a marketplace.json catalog, host it on git, and distribute Claude Code plugins to a team or community with /plugin marketplace add.About this resource
Overview
A plugin marketplace is a catalog that distributes Claude Code plugins to others,
with centralized discovery, version tracking, and updates. This guide covers
creating a marketplace.json, hosting it on a git repository, and letting users
add and install from it.
Steps
- Create plugins: build one or more plugins with skills, agents, hooks, MCP servers, or LSP servers (see the plugin docs for authoring details).
- Create the marketplace file: define a
marketplace.jsonthat lists your plugins and where to find each one. - Host it: push the repository to GitHub, GitLab, or another git host.
- Share: users add your marketplace and install individual plugins.
Add and install
Users add your marketplace and install from it:
/plugin marketplace add your-org/your-marketplace-repo
/plugin install your-plugin@your-marketplace
After pushing changes to the repository, users refresh their local copy:
/plugin marketplace update your-marketplace
Private marketplaces
To keep distribution internal to a team, host the marketplace in a private repository. Only users with access to that repository can add the marketplace and install its plugins. This is the recommended approach for organization-internal plugins.
Versioning and updates
Decide whether each plugin sets an explicit version in its manifest or relies on
the git commit SHA. With an explicit version, users only receive updates when you
bump it; without one, every commit counts as a new version. Choose a strategy
that gives your users predictable updates.
Test before sharing
- Validate locally with
claude plugin validatebefore distribution. - Install your own marketplace and confirm plugins, skills, agents, and hooks load as expected.
- Have a teammate test the install flow on a clean machine.
Community marketplaces
Anthropic maintains an official curated marketplace and a public community marketplace; submitting to the community marketplace runs an automated review and safety screening. For team-internal plugins, a private marketplace you host is the right path.
Source
- Create and distribute a plugin marketplace: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/plugin-marketplaces
Source citations
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