claude-library

Claude Code Library (Plugin)

A reusable Claude Code plugin of skills, agents, hooks, and rules that connects to any project. No file copying needed.

Why This Exists

Setting up Claude Code effectively requires more than just installing it. You need:

• Skills that enforce consistent workflows (safe refactoring, architecture mapping, code review)
• Hooks that automate quality gates and protect sensitive files
• Rules that teach Claude your project's conventions

This library provides all of these, extracted from real-world usage patterns documented in the playbook.

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Quick Start

One-time use

From any project, pass the plugin path directly:

claude --plugin-dir /path/to/claude_experiments

Skills are namespaced:

/claude-library:architecture-arch    # Build mental model of codebase
/claude-library:meta-project-setup   # Analyze project & get recommendations

Permanent setup (no --plugin-dir needed)

Instead of typing the full --plugin-dir path every time, create a shell alias that does it for you. Follow the guide for your OS below.

Why not settings.json? Claude Code's extraKnownMarketplaces config is for marketplace directories (folders containing multiple plugins in subdirectories). A single plugin repo like this one doesn't fit that format. The --plugin-dir flag is the intended way to load a single plugin, and a shell alias is the cleanest way to avoid retyping it.

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Windows (PowerShell) — step by step

This is what most VS Code users on Windows will use.

Step 1: Check if you already have a PowerShell profile

Open a terminal in VS Code (or any PowerShell window) and run:

Test-Path $PROFILE

• If it returns True → you already have a profile, skip to Step 3.
• If it returns False → continue to Step 2.

Step 2: Create the profile file

New-Item -Path $PROFILE -Type File -Force

Step 3: Open the profile in Notepad

notepad $PROFILE

Step 4: Add the alias function

In Notepad, add this line (update the path to match where you cloned this repo):

function claude-lib { claude --plugin-dir "C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\path\to\claude_experiments" $args }

Save the file and close Notepad.

Step 5: Reload the profile

Back in your terminal, run:

. $PROFILE

If you get a script execution error, run this first, then retry:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Step 6: Verify it works

Navigate to any project and run:

claude-lib

You should see Claude Code start with all plugin skills available. Done!

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macOS / Linux (Bash or Zsh) — step by step

Step 1: Open your shell config

# For Zsh (default on macOS)
nano ~/.zshrc

# For Bash (default on most Linux)
nano ~/.bashrc

Step 2: Add the alias

Add this line at the end of the file (update the path to match where you cloned this repo):

alias claude-lib='claude --plugin-dir /path/to/claude_experiments'

Save and exit (Ctrl+O, Enter, Ctrl+X in nano).

Step 3: Reload

source ~/.zshrc   # or source ~/.bashrc

Step 4: Verify it works

Navigate to any project and run:

claude-lib

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What claude-lib does

claude-lib is identical to claude — same features, same flags, same behavior. The only difference is it automatically adds --plugin-dir for you.

You type	What actually runs
claude-lib	claude --plugin-dir "/path/to/claude_experiments"
claude-lib --model sonnet	claude --plugin-dir "/path/to/claude_experiments" --model sonnet
claude-lib --resume	claude --plugin-dir "/path/to/claude_experiments" --resume

Local development (this repo)

# Set up local symlinks so skills work without --plugin-dir
bash setup-local.sh

# Then use skills directly
/architecture-arch map the codebase

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Available Skills

Skills are organized by development phase — find the phase you're in, pick the skill you need.

Essential = don't skip this. If needed = reach for it when the situation fits.

1. Project Setup & Onboarding

Joining a project, assessing health, understanding what exists.