karen

Claude Code Plugin Marketplace

A local plugin marketplace for Claude Code providing development workflows and document processing.

What

Extends Claude Code with:

• Development Workflows: langs, bdfl, karen, workflow
• Documentation: doc-writer (technical writing best practices)
• Claude Code Knowledge: Documentation access and skill creation tools

Why

• Language-specific patterns (langs: React, TypeScript)
• Write quality documentation (doc-writer)
• Opinionated project bootstrapping and migration (bdfl)
• Scope gatekeeper to prevent feature creep (karen)
• Official Claude Code docs at your fingertips (claude-code-knowledge)

How

Setup

1. Configure environment variable (add to your shell profile: ~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc, etc.):

   export CT_PLUGINS_DIR=~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/codethread-plugins/plugins
   

   After adding, reload your shell: source ~/.zshrc (or restart your terminal)

Install

# Add marketplace
/plugin marketplace add [email protected]:codethread/claude-code-plugins.git

# Install plugins
/plugin install claude-code-knowledge@codethread-plugins
/plugin install doc-writer@codethread-plugins
/plugin install langs@codethread-plugins
/plugin install workflow@codethread-plugins
/plugin install bdfl@codethread-plugins
/plugin install karen@codethread-plugins

Then run claude --init (or claude --init-only) in any project to install dependencies and build plugins. Each plugin's Setup hook handles its own initialization automatically.

Use

After installation, plugins provide slash commands, agents, and skills. See individual plugin READMEs for usage:

• plugins/claude-code-knowledge/README.md - Claude Code docs and skill creation
• plugins/doc-writer/README.md - Documentation writing guidance
• plugins/langs/README.md - Language-specific patterns
• plugins/workflow/README.md - Development workflow
• plugins/bdfl/README.md - Opinionated project bootstrapping and migration
• plugins/karen/README.md - Scope gatekeeper agent

Ask Claude

For detailed information, ask Claude:

What can the langs plugin do?
How do I create a new plugin?
Show me the plugin directory structure

Claude will reference CLAUDE.md files for comprehensive architecture details.

Development

Repository maintenance

Project-level slash commands for maintaining this repository:

• /release - Prepare plugin releases with version bumps, changelog updates, and git tags
  • Safety checks for accidental commits (.env, node_modules, hidden files)
  • Detects and squashes WIP commits
  • Processes plugins in parallel (version bump in marketplace.json, CHANGELOG.md)
  • Creates single conventional commit: type(plugin1,plugin2): description
  • Creates git tags: <plugin-name>-v<version>
  • Does NOT push (review with git show first)

Plugin Suggestions

Plugins provide automatic suggestions via hooks using structured XML tags. All plugin suggestions follow the pattern <plugin-PLUGINNAME-suggestion>, allowing you to control Claude's attention to these recommendations in your project's CLAUDE.md.

Example 1: Emphasize all plugin suggestions

# CLAUDE.md

ALWAYS follow `<plugin-*-suggestion>` tags closely. These provide
context-specific recommendations from installed plugins.

Example 2: Emphasize specific plugins

# CLAUDE.md

- ALWAYS follow `<plugin-langs-suggestion>` when test files are detected
- Consider `<plugin-claude-code-knowledge-suggestion>` for Claude Code questions

Example 3: Ignore specific suggestions

# CLAUDE.md

Follow all `<plugin-*-suggestion>` tags except `<plugin-langs-suggestion>`
(I prefer to manage test files manually).

The XML tag format ensures Claude treats these suggestions as structured prompts rather than visual formatting, improving reliability with Anthropic models.

Attribution

Skill creation scripts sourced from Anthropic's skills repository.

Reference

• Official Plugin Marketplace Docs
• Anthropic Skills Repository