Claude Code Plugins: 12 Best Picks and How to Install Them

What are Claude Code plugins?

A Claude Code plugin is a folder of skills, agents, hooks, MCP servers or other parts that Claude Code installs and loads as one unit. Most come from a marketplace, a catalog that lists plugins and where to download each one.

Plugins opened in public beta to every Claude Code user on October 9, 2025. Besides skills, agents (helpers Claude can hand a job to), hooks (commands that run on their own at set moments, such as after every edit) and MCP servers, a plugin can now carry newer parts such as themes and output styles. Its skills run with the plugin's name in front, as /plugin-name:skill-name, for example /marketing:email-sequence.

Claude Code plugins vs skills vs MCP servers

So you never choose between them: the plugin is the box, and skills and MCP servers are what's inside. To write your own skill, see how to create a Claude skill; for the connection side, read what an MCP server is.

The Claude Code plugin marketplace: official, community and demo

Every install name has two parts: the plugin, then @ and its marketplace, as in frontend-design@claude-plugins-official. That marketplace is where official Claude Code plugins live, Anthropic's own plus many from partners such as Canva, Vercel and HubSpot, and Claude Code adds it the first time you start an interactive terminal session.

Anthropic also publishes topic marketplaces you add yourself, like knowledge-work-plugins, home of Marketing, Brand Voice and Small Business. Third-party marketplaces get no review from Anthropic.

To browse the Claude Code marketplace on the web instead, Claude Marketplace on claude.com lists plugins with their install counts and marks some Anthropic verified, though a missing badge doesn't mean a plugin is unsafe. In Claude Code 2.1.303, the /plugin Discover tab also lists Anthropic's directory next to your marketplaces.

The 12 best Claude Code plugins, picked by job

I picked these for people who don't code: each works without writing code, comes from a known publisher, and does one concrete job you can try today. Tokens is what a plugin adds to every session, from claude plugin details on Claude Code 2.1.303, not counting MCP tools.

For everyone

• Skill Creator (skill-creator@claude-plugins-official, by Anthropic): creates, improves and tests skills, and tunes their descriptions so Claude picks them at the right moment. Try: turn your weekly client report into a skill. Needs: nothing. Tokens: about 114.
• CLAUDE.md Management (claude-md-management@claude-plugins-official, by Anthropic): a skill that audits your CLAUDE.md, the file of standing rules Claude reads every session, and a /claude-md-management:revise-claude-md command that saves what you learned once you approve. Try: run the command at the end of each session on your site project. Needs: nothing. Tokens: about 177.

For website builders

• Frontend Design (frontend-design@claude-plugins-official, by Anthropic): the most installed plugin, with more than a million installs. This frontend design Claude Code plugin is one skill that loads when you ask for a page, and it pushes a clear visual direction, typography and colors instead of the generic AI look. Try: the bakery test below. Needs: nothing. Tokens: about 80, plus about 2,700 each time it runs.
• Playwright (playwright@claude-plugins-official, by Microsoft): an MCP server that drives a real, visible browser to open pages, click, fill in forms and take screenshots. Try: submit your contact form and screenshot the result at phone width. Needs: Node.js 20 or newer. Tokens: about 0 in the estimate, because MCP tools are counted separately.
• Vercel (vercel@claude-plugins-official, by Vercel): 33 skills, 3 agents and 4 commands, deploy among them, according to Vercel's plugin docs. Try: type /vercel and pick the deploy command to put a finished page live. Needs: a Vercel account, Node.js 18 or later, and Bun. Tokens: not measured.

Here is Frontend Design on a real job: we gave it the menu and price files of a demo bakery and one prompt.

To try it on your own business, put your menu or service list and prices in a folder, open Claude Code there, and paste this:

Use the frontend-design skill to build a one-page site for [YOUR BUSINESS] from [YOUR FILES, e.g. menu.md and prices.csv]. Include a hero, [YOUR MAIN OFFER] with prices, opening hours and a contact section. Save it as index.html in this folder and tell me which design direction you chose and why.

For marketers

• Marketing (marketing@knowledge-work-plugins, by Anthropic): 8 skills, from campaign plans and competitive briefs to SEO audits and email sequences, plus 13 optional connectors such as HubSpot, Canva and Klaviyo. Try: /marketing:email-sequence for a five-email welcome flow. Needs: nothing to start. Tokens: about 874. Our guide to Claude Code for marketers goes deeper.
• Brand Voice (brand-voice@knowledge-work-plugins, built by Tribe AI): /brand-voice:discover-brand, /brand-voice:generate-guidelines and /brand-voice:enforce-voice, backed by 5 agents. Try: feed it your 10 best emails and your homepage copy, get written voice guidelines, then check new drafts against them. Needs: nothing to start. Tokens: about 2,599, mostly from the agents.
• Canva (canva@claude-plugins-official, by Canva): 6 skills on Canva's MCP server for editing existing designs, resizing for social platforms, bulk creating from a spreadsheet, brand kit checks, design feedback and applying comments. Try: resize one promo for Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. Needs: a Canva account; bulk create needs Canva Enterprise. Tokens: not measured.
• Firecrawl (firecrawl@claude-plugins-official, by Firecrawl): scrapes, crawls, searches and maps websites into clean text. Try: pull five competitors' pricing pages into one table. Needs: an API key; the free plan has 1,000 credits a month and a basic page costs 1 (Firecrawl pricing). Tokens: not measured.

These four speed up writing, design changes and research. Creating the images and videos, and automating the follow-up, is what our AI marketing course covers, now in early access.

For business owners

• Small Business (small-business@knowledge-work-plugins, by Anthropic): 44 skills in version 1.35.1, such as a Monday brief, invoice chasing and a cash-flow snapshot, plus more than 30 connectors. Every workflow starts in approval mode, so nothing is sent or paid until you say so. Try: ask "who owes me money?" and approve the reminder drafts. Needs: nothing to start; it works from CSV and PDF files. Tokens: about 11,679, the heaviest here, so keep it at local scope. Setup is in Claude Code for small business.
• HubSpot Sales (hubspot-sales@claude-plugins-official, by HubSpot): daily brief, call prep, follow-up drafts, contact import, call logging and pipeline review, writing back to HubSpot. Try: a morning brief of deals that went quiet. Needs: a HubSpot account; HubSpot says its Claude connector is free. Tokens: not measured.
• Zapier (zapier@claude-plugins-official, by Zapier): runs Zapier actions across 9,000+ apps without building a Zap. Try: add a new lead to a Google Sheet and post it in Slack. Needs: a Zapier account; each tool call uses two tasks from your plan (Zapier MCP). Tokens: not measured.

Also worth a look: Build with WordPress (by WordPress.com), Wix, Notion, Figma, and Anthropic's Design plugin for UX copy and accessibility reviews.

Here is the full Claude Code plugins list from this page, side by side:

How to install Claude Code plugins

The safest way is inside a Claude Code session, because you see what a plugin contains before anything installs.

1. Open Claude Code. In your project folder, type claude.
2. Name the plugin and its marketplace. Type /plugin install frontend-design@claude-plugins-official, which opens the plugin's details and installs nothing yet. /plugin alone opens the Discover tab for browsing, but for official plugins the Context cost only shows when you name the marketplace like this, or come from the Marketplaces tab.
3. Read the details. Check Will install and Context cost, which gives two numbers: Every turn and When invoked.
4. Choose a scope. Pick who gets the plugin, using the scope table further down.
5. Check it worked. Type / and look for /frontend-design:frontend-design, or open the Installed tab.

Prefer the terminal? The same claude plugin commands work in Terminal on Mac and Linux and in PowerShell on Windows. Run the first one from your project folder:

$ claude plugin install frontend-design@claude-plugins-official --scope local
$ claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
$ claude plugin install marketing@knowledge-work-plugins
$ 

Shell installs skip the details pane, default to user scope unless you add --scope, and load in your next session or after /reload-plugins. Since Claude Code 2.1.292, one command can add a marketplace and install from it: claude plugin install brand-voice --marketplace anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins. On a new computer where you have never opened an interactive session, run claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-official first.

Pick an install scope

If one plugin is set at several scopes, local beats project and project beats user.

Install plugins in the desktop app and VS Code

• Desktop app: in a local or SSH session on the Code tab, click + next to the prompt box, then Add plugins (or Plugins, then Browse plugins), and pick a plugin and scope.
• VS Code: type /plugins to open Manage plugins. If the Plugins tab is empty, add anthropics/claude-plugins-official on the Marketplaces tab.
• One set of settings: the terminal, the desktop app's local sessions and VS Code share settings files, so a user-scope install shows up in all three.

How many tokens each plugin adds to every session

Every enabled plugin puts the names and descriptions of its skills, agents and commands into Claude's context (the text Claude reads before it answers) in every session, used or not. That always-on text adds to your token usage all the time; a skill's full instructions load only when it runs. MCP tool definitions aren't in the estimate (run /context and read "MCP tools"), and your only levers are disabling or uninstalling, as Anthropic's plugin cost docs explain.

Check any installed plugin the same way:

$ claude plugin details frontend-design
Projected token cost
  Always-on:   ~80 tok   added to every session
 
Per-component (rounded)
  component        always-on  on-invoke
  frontend-design        ~80      ~2.7k
$ 

• Find idle plugins: the Installed tab groups plugins unused for at least 14 days and 10 sessions under "Not used recently".
• Ask for a checkup: /doctor recommends disabling plugins you don't use, and /usage (Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise) shows each plugin's share of recent usage.
• Keep heavy ones local: install Small Business or Brand Voice at local scope in the one folder that needs them.

Are Claude Code plugins safe? Check these 6 things first

Anthropic's plugin security docs warn that a plugin "can execute arbitrary code on your machine with your user privileges." Hooks, background monitors and the local servers a plugin starts run outside Claude Code's sandbox; your permission rules only cover the actions Claude itself takes. Every marketplace, Anthropic's included, gets the same trust warning.

Anthropic reviews the plugins in its directory: each version gets automated validation and a security scan, and a person checks every new listing. Third-party marketplaces and plugins you upload yourself skip that review, so run through this list first:

Update, disable or uninstall a plugin

To uninstall Claude Code plugins, or just pause one, open the Installed tab of /plugin: press Space to disable a plugin without removing it, or open it for Update now and Uninstall. There's no update-all command, but the Marketplaces tab has Update marketplace. Knowledge-work plugins don't auto-update, so update those by hand.

$ claude plugin update marketing@knowledge-work-plugins
$ claude plugin disable small-business@knowledge-work-plugins
$ claude plugin uninstall small-business@knowledge-work-plugins --scope local
$ 

• Name the scope: the shell's uninstall acts on user scope unless you add --scope, while disable finds the scope on its own.
• Updates apply later: an update made from the shell loads in your next session, or after /reload-plugins.
• Shared projects: when a project turned the plugin on, Uninstall asks whether to disable it just for you (y) or uninstall it for everyone (u).
• Leftovers: old files stay 14 days before Claude Code cleans them up, and removing a marketplace uninstalls every plugin from it.

Claude Cowork plugins and the Claude app

In claude.ai and the Claude desktop app, plugins live under Customize > Plugins: browse on Discover, or use Add to add a marketplace or upload a plugin. Directory plugins appear on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise.

A plugin added there is saved to your account and reaches Claude Code as <name>@synced the next time you start a session signed in with that account (Claude Code 2.1.273 or later). Plugins installed from the Claude Code command line stay on that computer. Adding a plugin doesn't connect its connectors either, and each service may need its own paid plan.

Since September 16, 2026, Cowork has been folding into the main Claude chat in stages, Pro and Max first, so some accounts still show separate Chat and Cowork options; Anthropic's plugin docs still call the task side Cowork. The table shows which parts of Claude Code plugins also work in Chat and Cowork, per Anthropic's platform support page, and our Claude Cowork vs Claude Code comparison helps you pick between them.

What to do next

Make a test folder, install Frontend Design at local scope, and ask it for a one-page site for your business. Run claude plugin details frontend-design so you know what it costs, then add one plugin for your main job rather than five at once. If you want a guided path from your first install to client-ready work, the Claude Code course is open for early access.