Installing a corpus plugin¶

A corpus plugin is a corpus (one repository of knowledge records kept in git) packaged for Claude Code. A reader installs it from the marketplace your corpus publishes, and takes each new version from there. Turn on auto-update for that marketplace, and a version you publish loads in the reader's next session. Claude Code leaves auto-update off for every marketplace but Anthropic's official ones.

/plugin marketplace add paul80nd/knowledge-as-code@marketplace   # register the marketplace
/plugin install example-dogfooding@knowledge-as-code             # install one plugin from it

Both commands run inside a Claude Code session. bundle writes a plugin and a marketplace offering it, and does not publish either. Push that marketplace to a repository your readers can clone. The examples on this page use the marketplace this repository publishes on its marketplace branch.

The names an install uses¶

A marketplace bundle writes has the plugin's name. Where a pipeline publishes several plugins in one marketplace, that marketplace has a name of its own.

Auto-update for everyone in a repository¶

Commit the marketplace to the repository's .claude/settings.json, with autoUpdate set to true:

{
  "enabledPlugins": {
    "example-dogfooding@knowledge-as-code": true
  },
  "extraKnownMarketplaces": {
    "knowledge-as-code": {
      "source": { "source": "github", "repo": "paul80nd/knowledge-as-code", "ref": "marketplace" },
      "autoUpdate": true
    }
  }
}

• The key under extraKnownMarketplaces is the marketplace name.
• enabledPlugins takes <plugin>@<marketplace>.
• Claude Code registers the marketplace once a reader accepts the workspace trust dialog for the folder.
• A marketplace bundle writes lists its plugin by a relative path, so the plugin loads with no install step.

claude plugin marketplace add <source> --scope project writes the extraKnownMarketplaces entry for you. Check that the entry it wrote has "autoUpdate": true, and add it where it does not.

Auto-update for a whole organisation¶

An administrator puts the same extraKnownMarketplaces entry, with "autoUpdate": true, in managed settings. Auto-update is then on for everyone who receives those settings, and Claude Code refuses a reader's own toggle. A managed enabledPlugins entry installs the plugin and turns it on for each of them.

Auto-update for one reader¶

In a session, run /plugin, open Marketplaces, select the marketplace, and select Enable auto-update. An autoUpdate value in a settings file takes precedence over this toggle.

When a new version loads¶

Claude Code updates a plugin only when its version changes. bundle writes the plugin's version from content-version in .corpus.yaml, as the plugin manifest shows. Move content-version to publish a new version.

With auto-update on, Claude Code waits a random delay of up to ten minutes after the first message of a session. It then refreshes each marketplace with auto-update on, and updates the plugins installed from it on disk. The running session keeps the version it loaded, and shows Plugin updated: <name> · Run /reload-plugins to apply. Run /reload-plugins to load the new version now. Otherwise it loads at the next launch.

Without auto-update, a reader takes a new version only by asking for it:

/plugin marketplace update knowledge-as-code              # in a session
claude plugin update example-dogfooding@knowledge-as-code # in a shell

What stops auto-update¶

• An environment variable. DISABLE_UPDATES=1, DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1 or CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1 turns the whole pass off, unless FORCE_AUTOUPDATE_PLUGINS=1 is also set.
• A cloud session. It never shows the workspace trust dialog, so it ignores the marketplaces a repository's .claude/settings.json lists.
• A private marketplace with no stored credential. The background check never prompts. Where git cannot authenticate without asking, the update fails and the reader keeps the version they have. Run gh auth login and then gh auth setup-git to store a credential for GitHub.

Claude Code's own pages on keeping users up to date and when auto-update runs give the full rules.

Where to go next¶

Skills says which skills an installed plugin contains, and which record types each one reads.