[BUG] /plugin marketplace update silently fails to upgrade installed plugin — no error when skills don't load

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Running /plugin marketplace update <name> refreshes the marketplace source but does not upgrade the installed plugin. The plugin appears in /reload-plugins as one of the loaded plugins, but none of its skills, agents, or hooks are actually registered. There is no error or warning — the failure is completely silent.

What Should Happen?

/plugin marketplace update should either upgrade installed plugins from that marketplace, or clearly indicate a newer version is available and prompt the user to upgrade
/reload-plugins should warn when a plugin is detected but fails to register any skills, agents, or hooks (e.g. Plugin qa-superpowers loaded but no skills found)
/plugin install should support a --force or --upgrade flag to reinstall over an existing version

Error Messages/Logs

Error Messages/Logs
No error is shown. The misleading output is:


/plugin marketplace update qa-superpowers
✔ Updated 1 marketplace

/reload-plugins
Reloaded: 2 plugins · 3 skills · 6 agents · 1 hook
Plugin shows as loaded but contributes 0 skills, 0 agents, 0 hooks.


/plugin install qa-superpowers@qa-superpowers --scope user
Plugin 'qa-superpowers@qa-superpowers' is already installed globally. Use '/plugin' to manage existing plugins.
Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

Install a plugin: /plugin install qa-superpowers@qa-superpowers --scope user
Plugin author pushes a fix to the marketplace source (v1.0.0 → v1.1.0)
Run /plugin marketplace update qa-superpowers — reports success
Run /reload-plugins — reports 2 plugins loaded
Attempt to use any skill from the plugin — Unknown skill
Run /plugin install qa-superpowers@qa-superpowers --scope user — reports already installed
No upgrade path available without manually editing installed_plugins.json

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Latest (VSCode extension)

Platform

Other

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

VS Code integrated terminal

Additional Information

_No response_