Install a Claude Code plugin from a marketplace

Installing a Claude Code plugin from a marketplace is four commands. This walkthrough uses Anthropic's official knowledge-work-plugins marketplace and was run end to end on Claude Code v2.1.296 (October 2026); every output below is real. CLI behavior changes between versions, so check your version with claude --version if something looks different.

1. Add the marketplace

claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins

Real output:

✔ Successfully added marketplace: knowledge-work-plugins (declared in user settings) Source: GitHub (anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins)

The source can be a GitHub owner/repo, a git or https URL, or a local path. Confirm what is configured:

claude plugin marketplace list

2. Install the plugin

claude plugin install finance@knowledge-work-plugins

Real output:

✔ Successfully installed plugin: finance@knowledge-work-plugins (scope: user)

The name is plugin@marketplace. A bare name without @marketplace resolves against your configured marketplaces.

3. Choose the scope deliberately

The -s flag takes three values, and the default is user:

• user - installs to your account's settings; available in every project on your machine.
• project - writes to .claude/settings.json in the project, so the plugin is shared with the team through version control.
• local - writes to .claude/settings.local.json in the project, which stays uncommitted.

Verified on v2.1.296: a project-scope install of the productivity plugin created .claude/settings.json containing "enabledPlugins": { "productivity@knowledge-work-plugins": true }. For a team-shared plugin, project scope is the one that travels.

4. Verify what landed

claude plugin list claude plugin details finance@knowledge-work-plugins

list shows version, scope and status. details shows the component inventory, and it is worth reading before the first session. The finance plugin's readout:

Skills (8) audit-support, close-management, financial-statements, journal-entry, journal-entry-prep, reconciliation, sox-testing, variance-analysis MCP servers (6) snowflake, databricks, bigquery, slack, google calendar, gmail Projected token cost: Always-on ~583 tok added to every session

The token line is the one people miss: every installed plugin adds always-on context to every session. Install what you use, disable the rest (claude plugin disable <plugin>).

The two errors you will actually hit

Typo in the plugin name:

✘ Failed to install plugin "nonexistent-plugin@knowledge-work-plugins": Plugin "nonexistent-plugin" not found in marketplace "knowledge-work-plugins"

Typo in the marketplace name produces a misleading message:

Plugin "finance" not found in marketplace "no-such-marketplace". Your local copy may be out of date - try 'claude plugin marketplace update no-such-marketplace'.

The CLI does not say "marketplace not found"; it reports the plugin as missing and suggests an update. Check the marketplace name with claude plugin marketplace list first. More on the not-found errors.

Notes on accounts and sync

Installing and managing marketplace plugins worked in our test without signing in. Using a plugin's skills in a session is the account part. Separately, plugins installed in the Claude app sync one-way into Code when you sign in with the same account (Help Center: v2.1.273 or later; not with API-key or cloud-provider sign-in). The Cowork side of this story is in plugin requirements.

Sources

• Plugins reference - Claude Code Docs
• Use plugins in Claude - Claude Help Center
• Commands and outputs: Claude Code v2.1.296, run October 10, 2026