Marketplace Release Automation

A portable release script for Claude Code plugin marketplaces with independent plugin versioning. Each plugin in a marketplace maintains its own version and can be released separately.

Prerequisites

1. GitHub CLI authenticated: gh auth status
2. Clean git state (or acknowledge uncommitted changes)
3. marketplace.json at .claude-plugin/marketplace.json
4. Run from the marketplace root directory

Usage

# Release a specific plugin
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/release.py" <bump-type> <plugin-name> "<release-notes>"

# List all plugins and their versions
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/release.py" --list

# Or copy script to marketplace and run from root
python scripts/release.py <bump-type> <plugin-name> "<release-notes>"

Examples

# Patch release for ghe plugin
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/release.py" patch ghe "Fix avatar loading issue"

# Minor release for marketplace-utils
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/release.py" minor marketplace-utils "Add TOC generator"

# Major release with breaking changes
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/release.py" major ghe "Breaking: New API structure"

# View all plugins and current versions
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/release.py" --list

Version Bump Types

What It Does

1. Validates prerequisites - Checks gh CLI, git repo, uncommitted changes
2. Validates plugin - Runs claude plugin validate to ensure plugin is correct
3. Bumps plugin version - In both marketplace.json and the plugin's plugin.json
4. Updates script versions - Automatically updates __version__ in all scripts (marketplace-utils only)
5. Updates READMEs - Plugin README badges + marketplace README version table
6. Creates commit - With release message
7. Creates git tag - Plugin-specific tag: <plugin-name>-v<version>
8. Pushes to remote - Both commit and tag
9. Creates GitHub release - With installation instructions

Plugin Validation

Before releasing, validate your plugin to catch errors early:

# Validate a specific plugin
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/validate_plugin.py" ghe

# Validate all plugins
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/validate_plugin.py" --all

# Show version
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/validate_plugin.py" --version

The validation script wraps claude plugin validate and provides:

• Individual plugin validation
• Batch validation with --all
• Summary report of all results

Independent Versioning

Each plugin has its own version tracked in marketplace.json:

{
  "name": "my-marketplace",
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "ghe",
      "source": "./plugins/ghe",
      "version": "0.5.4"
    },
    {
      "name": "marketplace-utils",
      "source": "./plugins/marketplace-utils",
      "version": "1.0.0"
    }
  ]
}

When you release a plugin:

• Only that plugin's version is bumped
• Tags are plugin-specific: ghe-v0.5.4, marketplace-utils-v1.0.0
• Other plugins remain unchanged

Configuration Files

marketplace.json (required)

Located at .claude-plugin/marketplace.json:

{
  "name": "my-marketplace",
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "plugin-a",
      "source": "./plugins/plugin-a",
      "version": "1.0.0"
    },
    {
      "name": "plugin-b",
      "source": "./plugins/plugin-b",
      "version": "2.3.1"
    }
  ]
}

plugin.json (auto-detected)

Located at plugins/<name>/.claude-plugin/plugin.json:

{
  "name": "plugin-a",
  "version": "1.0.0"
}

Both files are updated when releasing that specific plugin.

Version Suffix Handling

The script preserves version suffixes like -alpha, -beta:

• Input version: 0.2.5-alpha
• After patch: 0.2.6-alpha
• Tag created: ghe-v0.2.6-alpha

Generated Release Body

## What's Changed

<your release notes>

## Installation

```bash
/plugin marketplace update my-marketplace
/plugin install ghe@my-marketplace

Full Changelog

https://github.com/owner/repo/compare/ghe-v0.5.3...ghe-v0.5.4

## Confirmation Prompt

The script prompts for confirmation before making changes:

Marketplace: my-marketplace Plugin: ghe Current version: 0.5.3 New version: 0.5.4

Proceed with release ghe-v0.5.4? [y/N]

## List Plugins Command

Use `--list` to see all plugins and their current versions:

```bash
$ python release.py --list

Marketplace: my-marketplace

Plugin                    Version         Source
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ghe                       0.5.4           ./plugins/ghe
marketplace-utils         1.0.0           ./plugins/marketplace-utils

Marketplace README Version Table

The release script automatically maintains a version table in the marketplace README.md:

<!-- PLUGIN-VERSIONS-START -->
## Plugin Versions

| Plugin | Version | Description |
|--------|---------|-------------|
| ghe | 0.5.4 | GHE (GitHub-Elements) - Automated project manag... |
| marketplace-utils | 1.0.0 | Portable utility tools for Claude Code plugin m... |

*Last updated: 2025-01-15*

<!-- PLUGIN-VERSIONS-END -->

This section is automatically:

• Inserted before the Table of Contents (if no markers exist)
• Updated in place (if markers already exist)
• Kept current with each release

The main version badge in the README header is also updated to match the first plugin's version.

Troubleshooting

"Plugin validation failed"

The plugin has issues that must be fixed before release. Check the error message and fix the plugin.json or structure.

"marketplace.json not found"

Run from marketplace root directory, not plugin subdirectory.

"Unknown plugin: xyz"

Check plugin name matches exactly what's in marketplace.json. Use --list to see available plugins.

"Not authenticated with GitHub CLI"

Run gh auth login and authenticate.

"You have uncommitted changes"

Commit or stash changes, or proceed and include them in the release.

Portability

This script is fully portable:

• All values read from JSON config files
• GitHub repo info detected via gh repo view
• No hardcoded paths, names, or user-specific values
• Can be copied to any Claude Code marketplace project