Plugin marketplace commands not discoverable despite proper installation

[atxtechbro]

Problem

Plugin commands from the dotfiles-marketplace are not being discovered by Claude Code, despite the plugin being installed and enabled.

Symptoms

1. Plugin shows as "Enabled" in /plugin UI
2. Debug logs show: Total plugin commands loaded: 0
3. Commands like /close-issue, /retro don't appear in autocomplete
4. No errors in debug logs initially, but schema validation error appeared

Root Causes Discovered

This issue had THREE separate problems that all needed to be fixed:

Issue 1: Missing commands field in plugin.json

Problem: plugin.json didn't specify where to find command files
Fix: Added "commands": ["./commands/"] to plugin.json
PR: #1360

Issue 2: plugin.json in wrong location

Problem: marketplace.json said source: "." (repo root) but plugin.json was in .claude-plugin/ subdirectory
Fix: Moved plugin.json from .claude-plugin/plugin.json to repo root ./plugin.json
PR: #1361

Issue 3: Schema validation error

Problem: Source path used "." instead of "./"
Error: Invalid schema: plugins.0.source: Invalid input: must start with "./"
Fix: Changed source from "." to "./" in marketplace.json
PR: #1362

Final Working Structure

dotfiles/  (repo root)
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── marketplace.json  (source: "./")
├── plugin.json           (commands: ["./commands/"])
└── commands/
    ├── close-issue.md    (symlink)
    ├── create-issue.md   (symlink)
    ├── retro.md          (symlink)
    └── extract-best-frame.md (symlink)

Key Learnings

1. Symlinks work fine - they weren't the issue
2. Schema is strict - relative paths MUST start with "./" not "."
3. Path resolution - plugin.json location must match marketplace source
4. Debug logs are essential - ~/.claude/debug/*.txt shows "Total plugin commands loaded: 0"

Test Plan

After all three fixes:

1. Run /plugin → No schema errors
2. Plugin shows in list as enabled
3. Type /close → /close-issue appears in autocomplete
4. All 4 commands are available

Related Documentation

• Plugin Marketplaces
• Slash Commands