Claude Code Plugins: How to Find, Install, and Scope Them for Your Team (May 2026)

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The official Anthropic plugin directory for Claude Code crossed 19.8k stars on GitHub in May 2026, with 35 first-party plugins and a growing external catalog. If you've been wiring up bare MCP servers by hand, this guide is the faster path. One command installs a plugin, and the plugin brings skills, commands, agents, and an MCP config along with it.

We'll walk through how to find plugins worth installing, how to scope them correctly (user vs. project), and when a plugin is the right tool vs. a raw MCP config.

What Claude Code plugins are and how they differ from MCP servers

A Claude Code plugin is a bundled extension. It ships as a directory with a standard shape:

plugin-name/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json      # required metadata
├── .mcp.json            # optional MCP server config
├── commands/            # slash commands
├── agents/              # agent definitions
├── skills/              # skill files
└── README.md

That .mcp.json is the key distinction. A bare MCP server wires up one thing: tool exposure over the Model Context Protocol. You get the tools; you still have to configure Claude's behavior yourself. A plugin wraps the MCP config together with skills (Claude learns how to use those tools), commands (shortcuts you can invoke), and agents (autonomous task templates) in a single installable unit.

The practical difference shows up at install time. A bare MCP server requires you to manually edit .claude/settings.json or run claude mcp add with the right flags. A plugin installs in one shot with /plugin install. You get the MCP server, the skills, and the commands without touching a config file.

When a plugin author ships an MCP config alongside their skill files, the plugin installer registers the server automatically. When you ask Claude Code to "list available n8n nodes," it knows how to use the n8n MCP server because the n8n-skills plugin told it how.

Step 1 - Find plugins worth installing

Three places to look:

The official directory. Browse github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official. The repo splits into /plugins (Anthropic-maintained, 35 plugins as of May 2026) and /external_plugins (community-contributed and partner plugins, currently 15). Check the plugin's README before installing - a good README shows what commands it registers and what skills it adds.

The in-terminal browser. Run /plugin discover inside Claude Code to browse the catalog without leaving your session. This pulls the same data as the GitHub repo but renders it as a searchable list in the terminal.

GitHub search. The naming convention claude-code-skills and claude-code-plugin surfaces community repos not yet in the official directory. The n8n-skills repo from czlonkowski has 5.1k stars and wasn't originally in the official directory, yet it's the most-starred third-party skill set for Claude Code as of May 2026.

Before installing any plugin, read its plugin.json and README. You want to know: what MCP servers does it start, what network access does it need, and does it store credentials locally or phone home?

Step 2 - Install a plugin and choose the right scope

User scope vs. project scope

This is the most important call you make at install time.

User scope installs the plugin to ~/.claude/skills/ (your home directory). Any Claude Code session you open gets the plugin, across all projects. Good for personal productivity tools - n8n-skills, your preferred code style plugin, LSP helpers.

Project scope installs to .claude/skills/ inside your current repo. Only sessions opened in that repo see the plugin. Commit the .claude/ directory to git and every teammate who clones the repo gets the same plugin set automatically.

Pick project scope when the plugin is specific to a codebase - a Playwright test-generation plugin belongs in the front-end repo, not in every session you open. Pick user scope when the plugin is about your personal workflow.

Installing n8n-skills at user scope

/plugin install czlonkowski/n8n-skills

That's the full command. Claude Code fetches the repo, reads plugin.json, copies the skill files to ~/.claude/skills/n8n-skills/, and registers the MCP server config from .mcp.json in your user-level settings.

The output looks like this:

Installing czlonkowski/n8n-skills...
  Fetching plugin metadata...
  Installing 7 skills
  Registering MCP server: n8n-mcp
  Plugin installed to ~/.claude/skills/n8n-skills/
Done. Restart Claude Code or run /plugin reload to activate.

Run /plugin reload to activate without restarting.

Installing at project scope for team sharing

/plugin install czlonkowski/n8n-skills --scope project

This puts the plugin files in .claude/skills/n8n-skills/ inside your repo. Add that directory to git:

git add .claude/skills/n8n-skills/
git commit -m "add n8n-skills plugin for workflow automation"

Every engineer who pulls the repo and opens Claude Code in that directory gets the n8n skills and the MCP server config. No separate setup step required.

Confirming the install worked

/plugin list

Expected output includes n8n-skills with status active and a count of the skills loaded:

Installed plugins:
  czlonkowski/n8n-skills  v1.2.0  active  (7 skills, 1 MCP server)

If the status shows inactive, run /plugin reload or check that your MCP server binary is accessible on the path.

Step 3 - Verify the plugin is active

A quick smoke test for n8n-skills: ask Claude Code a question only the skill would know.

> list available n8n nodes for HTTP requests

If n8n-skills loaded correctly, Claude returns a structured list of HTTP-related n8n nodes. The skill files teach Claude the correct API shapes and parameter names for 525+ n8n nodes across 2,653+ workflow templates.

If Claude says it doesn't have that context, the skill files didn't load. Check:

1. Run /plugin list - confirm n8n-skills appears with status active
2. Run /plugin reload - forces a re-read of installed skills
3. Confirm the MCP server is running: /mcp status should list n8n-mcp as connected
4. Check your Node version - n8n-skills requires Node 18 or later

Updating and removing plugins

# Update to the latest version
/plugin update czlonkowski/n8n-skills

# Remove the plugin
/plugin remove czlonkowski/n8n-skills

Removing a plugin at user scope only affects your sessions. If the team installed it at project scope and committed the files, removing it from your user install doesn't affect teammates. They pull the .claude/skills/ directory from git.

Five plugins worth installing first

The official directory has 35 first-party plugins and a growing external set. Here are the five we'd prioritize for a developer setting up Claude Code in 2026:

Plugin	Source	What it does
n8n-skills	czlonkowski/n8n-skills (community)	7 skills for n8n workflow building, expression syntax, MCP tools, validation, and Code node patterns. 525+ nodes, 2,653+ templates referenced.
code-simplifier	Anthropic (official)	Analyzes code for clarity, redundancy, and complexity. Adds a /simplify command to any session.
github	Anthropic external_plugins	Repo management from chat: open PRs, review diffs, create issues without leaving your terminal.
playwright	Anthropic external_plugins	Generates browser automation tests from prose descriptions. Outputs runnable TypeScript test files.
academic-research-skills	Community (third-party)	Skills for academic literature search, citation formatting, and structured research summaries. Trended heavily on GitHub Trending in early May 2026.

The n8n-skills plugin stands out because it pairs skills with a full MCP server. You're not just giving Claude context - you're giving it actual tool access to the n8n API alongside the expertise to use that API correctly.

Plugin vs. bare MCP server: which extension path fits your workflow

Both paths extend Claude Code. The right choice depends on how much you want to configure yourself.

Use a plugin when you want skills + commands + tools in one install. The plugin format bundles everything. You install once and Claude Code knows how to behave with the new tools. No separate prompt engineering, no manual settings edits.

Use a bare MCP server when you're building a custom tool-exposure integration. If you're wiring up your own internal API, a tool like claude mcp add is faster than creating a full plugin structure. You expose the tools and configure Claude's behavior yourself. The Zapier MCP + Cursor setup guide shows this path in detail.

The n8n-skills plugin actually uses both approaches together. It ships seven skills (teaching Claude how to write correct n8n workflows) and a .mcp.json that starts the n8n MCP server (giving Claude tool access to a live n8n instance). The skills handle the "how to think about n8n" layer; the MCP server handles the "how to talk to n8n" layer.

Cline (VS Code extension) reads the same plugin format. If your team uses Cline inside VS Code rather than Claude Code in the terminal, the plugin files work in both environments. Skills and commands you install for Cline are project-scoped the same way - commit .claude/skills/ and every developer using either surface picks them up.

FAQ

Do I need a Claude Pro plan to install plugins?

No. The plugin system is part of Claude Code itself, which requires an Anthropic API key. Any plan that includes API access supports plugins. Pro plan features don't gate plugin installs.

Can I install plugins in a Cursor or VS Code environment?

Cursor doesn't use the Claude Code plugin format natively. VS Code users running Cline can use Claude Code plugins directly - Cline reads the same .claude/skills/ structure. For Cursor, the equivalent is setting up MCP servers via Cursor's own MCP config, which is a bare server setup rather than the full plugin format.

How many plugins can I have active at the same time?

Claude Code doesn't enforce a hard cap, but practical limits apply. Each MCP server a plugin starts consumes memory and a network connection. We'd keep active MCP-server plugins under five to avoid context bloat and startup latency. Skill-only plugins (no .mcp.json) have no meaningful limit.

Do project-scope plugins get checked into git?

Only if you add them. The .claude/skills/ directory in your repo is a standard directory - git doesn't track it automatically. Run git add .claude/skills/ to commit it. If you want teammates to get the plugin on clone, commit it and document it in your README. If the plugin contains credentials or environment-specific config, add .claude/skills/*/secrets to .gitignore before committing.

How do I submit a plugin to the official Anthropic directory?

Submit via the form at clau.de/plugin-directory-submission. Anthropic reviews for quality and security before accepting. Your plugin needs a plugin.json, a clear README, and must pass their security review. The process typically takes one to two weeks based on community reports.

What is the difference between a skill and a plugin?

A skill is a single Markdown file that gives Claude specialized knowledge or behavioral instructions for a specific domain. A plugin is a package that can contain multiple skills, slash commands, agent definitions, hooks, and an MCP server config. Skills are the atoms; plugins are the molecules. You can install a skill directly by dropping a .md file into .claude/skills/ - a plugin installs all its components at once via /plugin install.