plugins

plugins

Install open-plugin format plugins into coding agents and editors, including Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Grok Build, Kimi Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, and VS Code.

npx plugins add owner/repo

Usage

Add plugins from a GitHub repo

# GitHub shorthand
npx plugins add vercel/vercel-plugin

# Full HTTPS URL
npx plugins add https://github.com/vercel/vercel-plugin

# SSH URL (auto-retries via HTTPS if SSH auth fails)
npx plugins add git@github.com:vercel/vercel-plugin.git

Add plugins from a local directory

npx plugins add ./my-plugins
npx plugins add /absolute/path/to/plugins

Discover plugins without installing

npx plugins discover owner/repo

List detected agent tools

npx plugins targets

Commands

Command	Description
plugins add <source>	Discover and install plugins from a source
plugins discover <source>	Inspect plugins without installing (dry run)
plugins targets	List available agent tools and their detection status

If no subcommand is given, plugins <source> defaults to add.

Flags

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--target	-t	auto-detect	Install to a specific agent tool (for example, grok or vscode)
--scope	-s	user	Installation scope: user, project, or local
--yes	-y	false	Skip the confirmation prompt
--help	-h		Show usage information

Supported targets

The CLI auto-detects which agent tools are installed and installs to all of them.

Target	Detection
Claude Code	claude binary on PATH
Cursor	cursor binary on PATH
Codex	codex binary on PATH
Grok Build	grok binary on PATH
Kimi Code	kimi on PATH or Kimi's install directory
GitHub Copilot CLI	copilot binary on PATH
Visual Studio Code	code or code-insiders binary on PATH

Target details

• Codex installs vercel/vercel-plugin through Codex's curated vercel@openai-curated marketplace entry. That native package contains the Codex-supported Vercel surfaces and avoids upstream lifecycle hooks that are not compatible with Codex.
• Grok Build uses its native grok plugin install command. Its Claude Code compatibility provides skills, commands, agents, hooks, MCP servers, and LSP support.
• Kimi Code installs into its native plugin store, which the /plugins TUI reads on reload. Kimi plugins support skills, commands, hooks, and MCP servers; Kimi does not currently expose plugin agents or LSP servers.
• GitHub Copilot CLI registers the source with copilot plugin marketplace add, then installs plugin@marketplace. This avoids Copilot's deprecated direct local-path installs and keeps copilot plugin update working. This is the standalone Copilot CLI, not the legacy gh copilot extension.
• VS Code registers the staged OpenPlugin directory in its user-level chat.pluginLocations setting. VS Code agent plugins are currently a Preview feature; enable chat.plugins.enabled if your organization manages that setting.

Kimi, Copilot CLI, and VS Code install plugins per-user. Their native plugin systems do not currently provide the CLI's project or local installation scopes.

How it works

Source resolution

The CLI accepts GitHub shorthand (owner/repo), HTTPS URLs, SSH URLs, or local paths. Remote repos are shallow-cloned to ~/.cache/plugins/<slug>. SSH URLs that fail automatically retry via HTTPS.

Plugin discovery

Discovery follows a 3-step fallback:

• Marketplace index — looks for a marketplace.json that indexes multiple plugins
• Root plugin — checks if the repo root itself is a plugin
• Recursive scan — scans subdirectories (up to 2 levels deep) for plugin directories

A plugin is any directory containing skills, commands, agents, rules, hooks, MCP servers, or LSP servers.

Installation

The CLI translates the vendor-neutral .plugin/ format into target-specific formats, then installs via the target's native plugin system. Plugin authors write once; the CLI handles the rest.

Environment variables

Variable	Purpose
DISABLE_TELEMETRY	Disable anonymous install telemetry
DO_NOT_TRACK	Disable anonymous install telemetry (standard)
NO_COLOR	Disable color output
FORCE_COLOR	Force color output

Development

npm install
npm run build
node dist/index.js --help

Zero runtime dependencies. Built with tsup as a single bundled ESM file targeting Node.js 18+.

License

Apache 2.0