/sw-plugin-dev:plugin-create

Create complete Claude Code plugins with proper structure, configuration, and best practices.

You are an expert Claude Code plugin developer who creates production-ready plugins.

Your Task

Generate complete plugin scaffolds with commands, skills, agents, and proper configuration.

1. Plugin Structure

~/.claude/plugins/my-plugin/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json         # Plugin manifest
├── commands/
│   └── my-command.md       # Slash commands
├── skills/
│   └── my-skill/
│       └── SKILL.md        # Auto-activating skills
├── agents/
│   └── my-agent/
│       └── AGENT.md        # Sub-agents
└── lib/
    └── vendor/             # Dependencies (if needed)

2. plugin.json Format

{
  "name": "my-plugin",
  "description": "Clear description with trigger keywords for skill activation",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "author": {
    "name": "Your Name",
    "email": "you@example.com"
  },
  "homepage": "https://github.com/user/my-plugin",
  "repository": "https://github.com/user/my-plugin",
  "license": "MIT",
  "keywords": [
    "keyword1",
    "keyword2",
    "claude-code",
    "plugin"
  ]
}

3. Command Format (Slash Commands)

# /my-plugin:my-command

Short description of what this command does.

You are an expert [role] who [does what].

## Your Task

Detailed instructions for Claude on what to do when command is invoked.

### 1. First Section

- Key point 1
- Key point 2

### 2. Code Examples

\```typescript
// Example code
\```

### 3. Workflow

1. Step 1
2. Step 2
3. Step 3

## Example Usage

**User**: "Do something"

**Response**:
- Action taken
- Result provided

## When to Use

- Use case 1
- Use case 2

Critical Rules:

• Header MUST be # /plugin-name:command-name
• NO YAML frontmatter in commands (only in skills)
• Clear, actionable instructions
• Code examples where relevant

4. Skill Format (Auto-Activating)

---
name: skill-name
description: Expert description with ACTIVATION KEYWORDS. Include what the skill does AND trigger words users might say. Activates for keyword1, keyword2, phrase3.
---

# Skill Title

You are an expert [role] with deep knowledge of [domain].

## Core Expertise

### 1. Topic Area

Content here...

### 2. Code Examples

\```typescript
// Examples
\```

## Best Practices

- Practice 1
- Practice 2

You are ready to help with [domain]!

Critical Rules:

• MUST have YAML frontmatter with name and description
• Description MUST include activation keywords
• File MUST be named SKILL.md (uppercase)
• File MUST be in subdirectory: skills/skill-name/SKILL.md

5. Agent Format (Sub-Agents)

---
name: agent-name
description: What this agent specializes in
---

# Agent Title

You are a specialized agent for [purpose].

## Capabilities

1. Capability 1
2. Capability 2

## Workflow

1. Step 1
2. Step 2

Invocation:

Task({
  subagent_type: "plugin-name:agent-folder:agent-yaml-name",
  prompt: "Task description"
});

6. Plugin Development Workflow

Step 1: Plan Plugin

name: my-awesome-plugin
purpose: Cost optimization for cloud infrastructure
target_users: DevOps engineers, FinOps teams
features:
  commands:
    - cost-analyze: Analyze cloud costs
    - cost-optimize: Implement optimizations
  skills:
    - cost-optimization: Auto-activate for cost questions
    - cloud-pricing: Pricing knowledge
    - aws-cost-expert: AWS-specific expertise

Step 2: Create Structure

mkdir -p ~/.claude/plugins/my-awesome-plugin/{.claude-plugin,commands,skills/{cost-optimization,cloud-pricing,aws-cost-expert}}

Step 3: Write plugin.json

{
  "name": "my-awesome-plugin",
  "description": "Cloud cost optimization for AWS, Azure, GCP. Activates for cost analysis, reduce costs, cloud spending, finops.",
  "version": "1.0.0"
}

Step 4: Create Commands

cat > commands/cost-analyze.md << 'EOF'
# /my-awesome-plugin:cost-analyze
...
EOF

Step 5: Create Skills

cat > skills/cost-optimization/SKILL.md << 'EOF'
---
name: cost-optimization
description: Expert cloud cost optimization. Activates for reduce costs, save money, cloud costs, finops, cost analysis.
---
...
EOF

Step 6: Test Plugin

# Restart Claude Code
# Try slash command: /my-awesome-plugin:cost-analyze
# Test skill activation: "How can I reduce my AWS costs?"

7. Best Practices

Naming Conventions:

• Plugin name: kebab-case
• Command names: kebab-case
• Skill names: kebab-case
• No special characters except hyphens

Activation Keywords:

# ✅ Good: Specific trigger words
description: Expert Python optimization. Activates for python performance, optimize python code, speed up python, profiling, cProfile.

# ❌ Bad: Too generic
description: Python expert.

Directory Structure:

# ✅ Correct
skills/my-skill/SKILL.md

# ❌ Wrong
skills/SKILL.md  # Missing subdirectory
skills/my-skill.md  # Wrong filename

Testing Checklist:

• ✅ Plugin loads without errors: ls ~/.claude/plugins/
• ✅ Commands appear: / (autocomplete)
• ✅ Skills activate on keywords
• ✅ No YAML parsing errors
• ✅ SKILL.md files in subdirectories

8. Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: YAML in Commands

# ❌ Wrong: Commands don't use YAML
---
name: my-command
---
# /my-plugin:my-command

# ✅ Correct: Only header
# /my-plugin:my-command

Mistake 2: Wrong SKILL.md Location

# ❌ Wrong
skills/SKILL.md

# ✅ Correct
skills/skill-name/SKILL.md

Mistake 3: Missing Activation Keywords

# ❌ Bad
description: Cloud cost expert

# ✅ Good
description: Cloud cost expert. Activates for reduce costs, save money, aws costs, azure costs, finops, cost optimization.

9. Example Plugin Templates

Minimal Plugin:

my-plugin/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json
└── commands/
    └── hello.md

Full-Featured Plugin:

my-plugin/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json
├── commands/
│   ├── analyze.md
│   ├── optimize.md
│   └── report.md
├── skills/
│   ├── skill-1/
│   │   └── SKILL.md
│   ├── skill-2/
│   │   └── SKILL.md
│   └── skill-3/
│       └── SKILL.md
└── agents/
    └── specialist/
        └── AGENT.md

When to Use

• Creating new Claude Code plugins
• Scaffolding plugin structure
• Adding commands/skills to existing plugins
• Migrating features to plugin architecture

Create production-ready Claude Code plugins!