Marketplace Publisher

Prepare Claude Code plugins for distribution through marketplaces by creating marketplace.json and organizing plugin collections.

When to Use

• Creating plugin marketplaces
• Publishing plugins for distribution
• Organizing plugin collections
• Sharing plugins with teams/community

What is a Marketplace?

A marketplace is a catalog of available plugins defined by marketplace.json:

{
  "name": "my-marketplace",
  "owner": {
    "name": "Organization Name"
  },
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "plugin-name",
      "source": "./plugin-directory",
      "description": "Brief description"
    }
  ]
}

Instructions

Create Marketplace Structure

marketplace-repo/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── marketplace.json
├── plugin-1/
│   └── .claude-plugin/
│       └── plugin.json
├── plugin-2/
│   └── .claude-plugin/
│       └── plugin.json
└── README.md

Write marketplace.json

{
  "name": "marketplace-name",
  "owner": {
    "name": "Owner Name",
    "url": "https://github.com/owner"
  },
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "plugin-name",
      "source": "./plugin-directory",
      "description": "What the plugin does"
    }
  ]
}

Plugin Source Options

Local directory:

{
  "source": "./my-plugin"
}

Git repository:

{
  "source": "https://github.com/org/plugin-repo"
}

Subdirectory in Git:

{
  "source": "https://github.com/org/repo/tree/main/plugins/my-plugin"
}

Distribution Methods

GitHub repository:

1. Create repo with marketplace structure
2. Add plugins as subdirectories
3. Users add: /plugin marketplace add org/repo

Local marketplace:

1. Create marketplace directory
2. Users add: /plugin marketplace add /path/to/marketplace

Team distribution:

1. Add marketplace.json to project
2. Configure in .claude/settings.json
3. Team members get plugins automatically

Marketplace.json Schema

Required Fields

{
  "name": "marketplace-name",
  "owner": {
    "name": "Owner Name"
  },
  "plugins": [...]
}

Optional Fields

{
  "owner": {
    "name": "Owner Name",
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "email": "owner@example.com"
  },
  "description": "Marketplace description",
  "homepage": "https://docs.example.com",
  "license": "MIT"
}

Plugin Entry Schema

{
  "name": "plugin-name",
  "source": "./plugin-path",
  "description": "Brief description",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "keywords": ["keyword1", "keyword2"]
}

Best Practices

1. Organize by category: Group related plugins
2. Provide clear descriptions: Help users discover plugins
3. Version plugins: Track changes systematically
4. Test installation: Verify all plugins load correctly
5. Document requirements: List prerequisites
6. Maintain README: Explain marketplace purpose

Example Marketplace

{
  "name": "dev-tools",
  "owner": {
    "name": "Development Team",
    "url": "https://github.com/team"
  },
  "description": "Development productivity tools",
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "code-formatter",
      "source": "./plugins/formatter",
      "description": "Automatic code formatting",
      "keywords": ["formatting", "linting"]
    },
    {
      "name": "test-runner",
      "source": "./plugins/test-runner",
      "description": "Automated test execution",
      "keywords": ["testing", "automation"]
    }
  ]
}

Team Distribution

Configure in .claude/settings.json:

{
  "marketplaces": {
    "team-marketplace": "./path/to/marketplace"
  },
  "enabledPlugins": {
    "plugin-name@team-marketplace": true
  }
}

Team members automatically get configured plugins when they trust the repository.

Reference

For complete marketplace format, see references/marketplace-format.md.