Plugins and marketplaces - Docs by LangChain

Plugins extend Deep Agents Code with reusable skills, MCP servers, and hooks. Marketplaces provide catalogs for discovering and installing plugins across projects or teams. Deep Agents Code supports Claude- and Codex-style plugin manifests and marketplace catalogs, as described in Create a plugin and Create a marketplace.

Install plugins and marketplaces only from sources you trust. An enabled plugin can add instructions and run MCP servers or hook commands with your user permissions.

Manage plugins interactively

To browse marketplaces and manage plugins in a dcode session:

Run /plugins to open the plugin manager.
Add a marketplace from its Marketplaces tab. Supported sources include:
- A GitHub repository in owner/repo format, optionally followed by @branch-or-tag.
- An HTTPS Git repository URL, optionally followed by #branch-or-tag.
- An HTTPS URL that serves a marketplace JSON file.
- A local marketplace directory or JSON file.
Install a plugin from the marketplace.
Run /reload to activate newly installed plugin skills, MCP servers, and hooks without restarting the session.

The plugin manager also lets you enable, disable, and uninstall installed plugins. Disabling a plugin keeps it installed but excludes its skills, MCP servers, and hooks after you run /reload or start a new session. Removing a marketplace uninstalls its plugins and removes managed cache data. Deep Agents Code preserves the original source when the marketplace came from a local directory or file. Run /reload or start a new session to apply the removal to an active session.

Automatically update plugins

Deep Agents Code can update installed plugins in the background after the first prompt. Updates apply only to enabled plugins that opt in through their own manifest. Plugin authors opt in per plugin by adding this block to that plugin’s plugin.json:

{
  "extensions": {
    "com.langchain.deepagents.code": {
      "autoUpdate": true
    }
  }
}

The running session continues to use its current plugin version until you run /reload. To disable automatic plugin updates globally, set [plugins].auto_update = false in config.toml or DEEPAGENTS_CODE_PLUGIN_AUTO_UPDATE=false in the environment.

Manage plugins from the command line

Use dcode plugin for scripts and terminal-based administration. Plugin IDs use the format plugin-name@marketplace-name.

# Add and inspect a marketplace
dcode plugin marketplace add acme/plugins
dcode plugin marketplace list

# Browse and install plugins
dcode plugin list
dcode plugin install code-review@acme-tools

# Change plugin state
dcode plugin disable code-review@acme-tools
dcode plugin enable code-review@acme-tools

# Remove a plugin or marketplace
dcode plugin uninstall code-review@acme-tools
dcode plugin marketplace remove acme-tools

plugin list and plugin marketplace list accept --json. After installing a plugin, run /reload in an active interactive session or start a new session.

Use plugin skills, MCP servers, and hooks

Plugin skills are namespaced to prevent collisions with project, user, and other plugin skills. Invoke a skill with its plugin ID and skill path:

/skill:plugin-name@marketplace-name:skill-name optional arguments

In interactive mode, autocomplete also matches the shorter /plugin-name:skill-name form and expands it to the canonical /skill: command. Nested skill directories add each directory to the namespace. For example, skills/review/security/SKILL.md from quality@acme-tools becomes /skill:quality@acme-tools:review:security. An enabled plugin can also contribute MCP servers. Deep Agents Code merges these servers with your regular MCP configuration when plugins load. Use /mcp to inspect available servers and tools. Plugin hooks use the same lifecycle events and handler format as user and project hooks. The plugin manager lists the events each plugin declares. Enabling the plugin is the only consent gate for its hooks: workspace trust applies to project hooks, not plugin hooks.

Create a plugin

A Deep Agents Code plugin is a directory containing any of the supported components:

my-plugin/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json
├── skills/
│   └── review/
│       └── SKILL.md
├── hooks/
│   └── hooks.json
└── .mcp.json

Deep Agents Code also recognizes .codex-plugin/plugin.json. The manifest is optional when components use their default locations. If the plugin contains one skill only, you can place SKILL.md at the plugin root instead of creating skills/.

Define the plugin manifest

When present, .claude-plugin/plugin.json or .codex-plugin/plugin.json must contain a name. You can also declare a version and custom component paths:

{
  "name": "my-plugin",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "skills": "./skills",
  "mcpServers": "./.mcp.json",
  "hooks": "./hooks/hooks.json"
}

The skills, mcpServers, and hooks fields accept a path string or an array of paths. mcpServers and hooks can also contain inline configuration objects. Every component path must start with ./, remain inside the plugin root, and not contain ... When no custom path is declared, Deep Agents Code discovers:

Skills under skills/, or a root SKILL.md when no skills/ directory exists.
MCP servers in a root .mcp.json file.
Hooks in hooks/hooks.json.

Add skills

Organize each skill as a directory containing SKILL.md:

skills/
└── review/
    ├── SKILL.md
    └── checklist.md

Use the same skill format as standalone Deep Agents Code skills. The installed plugin name becomes the skill namespace. For more information, see Memory and skills.

Add MCP servers

Place standard MCP server definitions in .mcp.json or declare them inline with mcpServers in the plugin manifest. MCP servers and hook commands support these path variables:

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} or ${PLUGIN_ROOT}: The installed plugin directory.
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA} or ${PLUGIN_DATA}: The writable data directory for the plugin.
${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}: The active project directory.

For example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "review-tools": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/server.py"],
      "env": {
        "CACHE_DIR": "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA}"
      }
    }
  }
}

For supported MCP transports and fields, see MCP tools.

Add hooks

Place a hook document at hooks/hooks.json, declare a relative hooks path, or define hooks inline in the plugin manifest. Hook commands receive the path variables above. See Hooks for the configuration and event reference.

Create a marketplace

A marketplace is a JSON catalog with a name and a plugins array. Store it at one of these paths in the marketplace root:

.claude-plugin/marketplace.json
.agents/plugins/marketplace.json
.agents/plugins/api_marketplace.json

The following marketplace contains one plugin stored in the same repository:

{
  "name": "acme-tools",
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "code-review",
      "source": "./plugins/code-review",
      "description": "Review code for correctness and maintainability"
    }
  ]
}

Each plugin entry requires a name and source. It can also include description and author. Local source paths must start with ./ and stay inside the marketplace root. Set metadata.pluginRoot when all local plugins share a different base directory. Marketplace entries can also use external Git sources:

{
  "name": "acme-tools",
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "code-review",
      "source": {
        "source": "github",
        "repo": "acme/code-review-plugin",
        "ref": "v1.0.0"
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "release-tools",
      "source": {
        "source": "git-subdir",
        "url": "https://github.com/acme/developer-tools.git",
        "path": "./plugins/release-tools",
        "ref": "main"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Supported external plugin source types are github, url, and git-subdir. Remote URLs must use HTTPS. A marketplace added as a direct JSON URL cannot contain local relative plugin sources because only the catalog file is downloaded. Use a Git repository or local directory when the catalog references plugin directories in the same source tree. Test a local marketplace by adding its directory, installing a plugin, and starting a new session or running /reload:

dcode plugin marketplace add ./my-marketplace
dcode plugin install code-review@acme-tools

​Manage plugins interactively

​Automatically update plugins

​Manage plugins from the command line

​Use plugin skills, MCP servers, and hooks

​Create a plugin

​Define the plugin manifest

​Add skills

​Add MCP servers

​Add hooks

​Create a marketplace

​See also

Manage plugins interactively

Automatically update plugins

Manage plugins from the command line

Use plugin skills, MCP servers, and hooks

Create a plugin

Define the plugin manifest

Add skills

Add MCP servers

Add hooks

Create a marketplace

See also