[BUG] Plugin installed locally prevents same plugin from being installed locally in another project

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

I have two projects. I installed a plugin in the first project locally. Then I went to the second project and tried to install it there, and I got a message saying it was already installed. It did not show up in the list of plugins for this project, yet it still affected my ability to install it.

installed_plugins.sh

"vtsls@claude-code-lsps": [
{
"scope": "local",
"installPath": "/Users/bbutton/.claude/plugins/cache/claude-code-lsps/vtsls/1.0.0",
"version": "1.0.0",
"installedAt": "2026-01-09T20:13:44.834Z",
"lastUpdated": "2026-01-09T20:13:44.834Z",
"gitCommitSha": "3da93c72bb828f0d002c9a5be64fd7428e26f394",
"projectPath": "/Users/bbutton/Projects/FullTddExamples/ChatApp/ChatApp"
}

Tried to install into an entire different installPath and got the already installed error.

What Should Happen?

I should be allowed to install the plugin locally into a number of different projects and have each of them work.

Error Messages/Logs

⎿  Plugin 'vtsls@claude-code-lsps' is already installed. Use '/plugin' to manage existing plugins.

got this while in the second folder.

Steps to Reproduce

Install plugin locally in a project
go to a different project and try to install it locally. It should fail

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.2 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_