Auto-load plugin skills when working inside a plugin repo

Problem

When working inside a plugin's own repository (which has .claude-plugin/plugin.json and a skills/ directory), the plugin's skills are not available. You have to launch with --plugin-dir . even though Claude Code is already in the plugin directory.

For other projects, claude --plugin-dir <path-to-plugin> works fine. But when developing the plugin itself, it would be nice if Claude Code detected the plugin structure and loaded it automatically.

Current workarounds

• claude --plugin-dir . every time
• Shell alias
• Separate launcher script in the repo

None of these are declarative/repo-embedded.

Proposed solutions (either would work)

1. Auto-detection: If the current working directory contains .claude-plugin/plugin.json, automatically load it as a plugin.
2. Settings key: Allow .claude/settings.json to specify local plugin directories, e.g.:

``json
{
"pluginDirs": ["."]
}
``

Option 1 is simpler and covers the main use case (developing a plugin). Option 2 is more general.