Plugin agents not loaded from standalone agent-only plugins
Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Jan 30, 2026 by adam-silk Closed Feb 2, 2026
Description
Agents defined in standalone plugins (plugins with only an agents/ directory and no skills/ directory) are not being registered as available subagent_type options for the Task tool.
Steps to Reproduce
- Install a plugin that only has agents (no skills), e.g.,
code-simplifier@claude-plugins-official - Verify the plugin is installed: check
~/.claude/plugins/installed_plugins.json - Start a new Claude Code session
- Attempt to use
subagent_type: "code-simplifier:code-simplifier"in Task tool - The agent is not available
Expected Behavior
Agents from all installed plugins should be discovered and registered, regardless of whether the plugin also contains skills.
Actual Behavior
Only agents from plugins that ALSO have a skills/ directory are registered. For example:
superpowers:code-reviewer✅ works (plugin has bothskills/andagents/directories)code-simplifier:code-simplifier❌ not available (plugin only hasagents/directory)
Environment
- Claude Code version: 2.1.25
- OS: macOS
Plugin Structures (both valid)
Working plugin (superpowers):
superpowers/4.1.1/
├── .claude-plugin/
│ └── plugin.json
├── agents/
│ └── code-reviewer.md
└── skills/
└── (multiple skill directories)
Non-working plugin (code-simplifier):
code-simplifier/1.0.0/
├── .claude-plugin/
│ └── plugin.json
└── agents/
└── code-simplifier.md
Both have identical valid frontmatter in their agent .md files (name, description, model fields).
Workaround
Copy the agent .md file into a plugin that has skills:
cp ~/.claude/plugins/cache/claude-plugins-official/code-simplifier/1.0.0/agents/code-simplifier.md \
~/.claude/plugins/cache/claude-plugins-official/superpowers/4.1.1/agents/
Then use superpowers:code-simplifier instead.
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