plugin-advisor

plugin-advisor skill loaded.

By Joshua Martell (jmartell). Originally from claude-kit.

How It Works

A compact plugin index lives at ~/.claude_files/plugin-index.md. Each line is one plugin with its source and a short description. The index is built by a Sonnet subagent reading marketplace.json — no Python script needed.

On load, check freshness and rebuild if the index is missing or stale (see Freshness Check). This ensures the index is warm before friction occurs.

Freshness Check

Use ls -l (not stat — stat triggers quoted-chars permission prompts):

ls -l ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/*/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json

Then read the index (~/.claude_files/plugin-index.md) and compare each marketplace section's <!-- source: metadata against the ls -l output. Rebuild if:

• Index doesn't exist
• A marketplace file's size or mtime differs from what's in the section header
• A marketplace appears in ls -l but has no section in the index (new marketplace)

Friction Detection

Consider suggesting a plugin when you observe two or more of these signals:

• You attempted something and it failed or produced poor results
• The user corrected your approach or expressed dissatisfaction
• You're retrying the same task with a different strategy
• You don't have a good tool/workflow for what's being asked
• The task is in a domain where you're improvising (hooks, PR review, interactive UI)

Do not suggest on first attempt. Only after genuine friction.

When Friction Is Detected

1. Check freshness (see above). Rebuild if stale.
2. Read ~/.claude_files/plugin-index.md
3. Scan for a plugin whose description matches the problem domain
4. If a match looks strong, read the full plugin directory to confirm: ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/*/plugins/<name>/ (Anthropic first-party) ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/*/external_plugins/<name>/ (vendor/external)
5. For vendor/external plugins, check what's involved (MCP gateway? service account?)
6. If confirmed, suggest it

Suggestion Format

Brief, one line, with install command:

Plugin available: playground — self-contained HTML explorers with live preview. Install: claude plugin install playground

Then continue working on the task. The suggestion is informational — don't stop.

Rules

• Max 1 suggestion per plugin per session — don't nag
• Max 1 suggestion per ~10 turns — spread them out
• Never suggest already-installed plugins — check ~/.claude/plugins/installed_plugins.json
• Check for skill overlap — the user's installed skills (visible in the skills list in context) may already cover the plugin's capability. If there's overlap, note it: "You already have the jira skill which covers this" rather than suggesting
• Layer 2 confirmation required — always read the full plugin dir before suggesting to verify the plugin actually addresses the friction
• No sales pitch — state what it does, give the install command, move on

Rebuilding the Index

When the index is stale or missing, launch a Sonnet subagent with this prompt. Pass the ls -l output as context so the subagent can embed the metadata.

Build a compact plugin index. Use ONLY Read and Write tools. No Bash.

For EACH marketplace directory under ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/:
  Read: ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/<name>/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json

Skip rules:
- Skip plugins with "-lsp" in the name
- Skip "example-plugin"

For each kept plugin, write one line:
  name (source): description (under 70 chars, specific to when it helps)

Source labels:
- "Anthropic" if source starts with "./plugins/"
- "vendor" if source starts with "./external_plugins/"
- Author/org name if source is a URL

Drop any plugin whose description is too vague to match a specific problem.

Output format — one section per marketplace, with source metadata from the
ls -l output I'm providing:

  # Available Plugins
  # On friction, suggest matching plugin: claude plugin install <name>

  ## claude-plugins-official
  <!-- source: 548512 Mar 13 14:23 marketplace.json -->
  plugin-name (Anthropic): description
  another-plugin (vendor): description

  ## devex-claude-plugins
  <!-- source: 12345 Mar 12 09:15 marketplace.json -->
  some-plugin (vendor): description

The <!-- source: SIZE DATE TIME marketplace.json --> line stores the size and
mtime from ls -l. Use the actual values from the ls -l output below:

{paste ls -l output here}