Plugin skills: standalone registration removes namespace discoverability and namespace form lacks argument-hint
Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Apr 1, 2026 by 5TuX Closed May 7, 2026
Problem
Plugin skills have a tradeoff that makes them less discoverable:
Option A - Standalone registration (e.g., /my-skill):
- Shows argument-hint/signature in autocomplete
- But the skill disappears from the namespace prefix list (
/my-plugin:no longer shows it)
Option B - No standalone registration (e.g., /my-plugin:my-skill):
- Browsable by typing
/my-plugin:to see all plugin skills - But no argument-hint/signature is displayed
There is no way to get both behaviors simultaneously.
Expected Behavior
- Plugin skills registered as standalone should still appear under their namespace prefix (e.g.,
/my-plugin:my-skillshould remain discoverable even when/my-skillexists as standalone) - Namespace-prefixed skills (
/plugin-name:skill-name) should display theargument-hintfrom the skill's SKILL.md frontmatter, just like standalone skills do
Steps to Reproduce
- Create a plugin with a skill that has
argument-hintin its SKILL.md frontmatter - Register it as a standalone skill (via marketplace.json + skills/ directory)
- Type
/skill-name- argument-hint shows correctly - Type
/plugin-name:- the skill no longer appears in the list - Remove standalone registration
- Type
/plugin-name:- the skill appears again, but without argument-hint
Use Case
When a user forgets a skill name but remembers which plugin it belongs to, they should be able to type /plugin-name: to browse available skills. Currently this only works if the skill is NOT registered standalone, forcing a choice between discoverability and signature display.
Environment
- Claude Code CLI on Windows 11
- Observed with both custom and first-party plugins
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