--plugin-dir vs /plugin marketplace add
V1 distributes plugins via the --plugin-dir CLI flag, not via /plugin marketplace add. This page covers the constraint that forced that choice and what changes when V2 unblocks the marketplace path.
The constraint
Section titled “The constraint”ACN’s enterprise Claude Code policy sets strictKnownMarketplaces: true. That config rejects any /plugin marketplace add <url> whose source is not on the CIO-maintained allowlist. The CodeCommit-hosted toolkit URL is not on that list yet.
--plugin-dir, by contrast, is a launch-time flag pointing at a local directory the user already trusts. It bypasses the marketplace mechanism entirely — Claude loads the plugin’s .claude-plugin/plugin.json directly from disk and exposes its skills, rules, agents, and commands for the session.
How they differ
Section titled “How they differ”| Aspect | --plugin-dir (V1) | /plugin marketplace add (V2 target) |
|---|---|---|
| Where the plugin lives | Local directory the user clones | Network URL listed in a marketplace manifest |
| Update mechanism | git pull on the local clone | /plugin marketplace update (network refresh) |
| Allowlist required | No | Yes — CIO must whitelist the marketplace URL |
Visible in /plugins list | Tagged inline | Tagged with the marketplace name |
Visible in /plugin list | Returns (no content) (cosmetic) | Lists the plugin |
| Per-session opt-in | Yes — flag at launch | No — once installed, plugin is on by default |
The cosmetic gotcha: /plugins (plural, UI) shows inline plugins; /plugin (singular, CLI) returns (no content) for them. Use the plural form during the pilot.
When marketplace add becomes available
Section titled “When marketplace add becomes available”V2 depends on the CIO allowlisting the toolkit’s CodeCommit URL. When that lands, the install path becomes:
/plugin marketplace add codecommit::us-east-2://magellan@acn-claude-toolkit/plugin install acn-base-sdlcPilot users would migrate from the claude-acn shell function to the marketplace path. No content changes in the plugins themselves — the directory layout already matches Anthropic’s claude-plugins-official reference, which is what the marketplace flow expects.
Until then, --plugin-dir is the only supported install. See Install for the launch commands and Updating the Toolkit for the git pull update model.