Create Cowork Plugin

Build a new plugin from scratch through guided conversation. Walk the user through discovery, planning, design, implementation, and packaging, delivering a ready-to-install .plugin file at the end.

Overview

A plugin is a self-contained directory that extends Claude's capabilities with skills, agents, hooks, and MCP server integrations. This skill encodes the full plugin architecture and a five-phase workflow for creating one conversationally.

The process:

1. Discovery, understand what the user wants to build
2. Component Planning, determine which component types are needed
3. Design & Clarifying Questions, specify each component in detail
4. Implementation, create all plugin files
5. Review & Package, deliver the .plugin file

Nontechnical output: Keep all user-facing conversation in plain language. Do not expose implementation details like file paths, directory structures, or schema fields unless the user asks. Frame everything in terms of what the plugin will do.

Plugin Architecture

Directory Structure

Every plugin follows this layout:

plugin-name/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json           # Required: plugin manifest
├── skills/                   # Skills (subdirectories with SKILL.md)
│   └── skill-name/
│       ├── SKILL.md
│       └── references/
├── agents/                   # Subagent definitions (.md files)
├── .mcp.json                 # MCP server definitions
└── README.md                 # Plugin documentation

Legacy commands/ format: Older plugins may include a commands/ directory with single-file .md slash commands. This format still works, but new plugins should use skills/*/SKILL.md instead, the Cowork UI presents both as a single "Skills" concept, and the skills format supports progressive disclosure via references/.

Rules: