Plugin cache not refreshed on update/reinstall when version string unchanged
Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Mar 10, 2026 by cdmihai Closed Mar 14, 2026
Bug Description
When a marketplace plugin's content changes but its version string stays the same (e.g., 1.0.0), /plugin update and /plugin uninstall + /plugin install fail to refresh the cached plugin files.
Steps to Reproduce
- Add a marketplace and install a plugin:
/plugin install my-plugin@my-marketplace - Push new content to the marketplace repo without changing the version in
plugin.jsonormarketplace.json - The marketplace clone at
~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/<marketplace>/updates correctly (viaautoUpdate: true) - Run
/plugin update my-plugin@my-marketplace - Observe that
~/.claude/plugins/cache/<marketplace>/<plugin>/<version>/still has stale files installed_plugins.jsonstill shows the oldlastUpdatedtimestamp andgitCommitSha
Attempting /plugin uninstall followed by /plugin install also fails — the cache directory remains empty and the metadata is unchanged.
Expected Behavior
/plugin updateshould detect content changes (e.g., by comparing git SHAs) and refresh the cache, even if the version string hasn't changed./plugin uninstallshould fully remove the plugin entry frominstalled_plugins.json./plugin installafter uninstall should create a fresh cache from the current marketplace state.
Actual Behavior
/plugin updateis a no-op when the version string is unchanged, ignoring content changes./plugin uninstallleaves the plugin entry ininstalled_plugins.json./plugin installafter uninstall doesn't re-cache the plugin files.
Workaround
Manually copy files from the marketplace clone to the cache:
rm -rf ~/.claude/plugins/cache/<marketplace>/<plugin>/<version>
cp -r ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/<marketplace>/<plugin> ~/.claude/plugins/cache/<marketplace>/<plugin>/<version>
Environment
- Claude Code CLI (latest as of 2026-03-10)
- macOS Darwin 24.6.0
This issue has 3 comments on GitHub. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗