[FEATURE] Add option to skip Git LFS when cloning plugin marketplaces

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Jan 19, 2026 by psebek-sf Closed May 19, 2026

Preflight Checklist

  • [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
  • [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

Problem

When using claude plugin marketplace add with repositories that contain Git LFS tracked files, Claude Code
downloads all LFS objects even though they are typically not needed for the plugin functionality.

For repositories with large LFS files, this makes plugin installation
unnecessarily slow and wastes bandwidth/disk space. The plugin system only needs the .claude-plugin/
directory contents, not large binary files.

Proposed Solution

Add an option to skip LFS when adding marketplaces. This could be:

  1. A flag on the command:

claude plugin marketplace add --skip-lfs git@gitlab.com:org/repo.git

  1. A marketplace-level setting in settings.json:
{                                                                                                            
    "plugins": {                                                                                               
      "skipLfs": true                                                                                          
    }                                                                                                          
  }  
  1. Default behavior: Since plugins typically don't need LFS files, consider making GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1 the

default for marketplace clones.

Alternative Solutions

## Current Workaround

Users can work around this by setting the GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1 environment variable before running Claude
Code, either in their shell or via ~/.claude/settings.json:

```
{
"env": {
"GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE": "1"
}
}

  However, this is not discoverable and affects all git operations globally when set in the shell.            

### Priority

Medium - Would be very helpful

### Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

### Use Case Example

1. User has a marketplace in monorepo with many LFS files
2. Only the plugin related files are installed with marketplace add and plugin install.

### Additional Context

 ##  Environment                                                                                                  
                                                                                                               
  - Claude Code version: 2.1.12                                                                         
  - OS: macOS                                                                                       

 ##  Additional Context                                                                                           
                                                                                                               
  Claude Code already uses --depth 1 for shallow clones, which suggests optimization is already a              
  consideration. Skipping LFS would be a natural extension of this optimization.

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