[Feature Request] Support relative/portable paths in plugin manifest installPath for cross-environment ~/.claude sharing

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened May 5, 2026 by Hoeze Closed May 5, 2026

Bug Description
Plugin manifests installed_plugins.json and known_marketplaces.json store installPath / installLocation as absolute paths captured at install time (e.g. /home/alice/.claude/plugins/cache/...).

This breaks any setup where ~/.claude is shared across environments with different usernames:

  • Devcontainers (host user ≠ container vscode/node)
  • Multi-user shared homedirs over NFS
  • Restoring .claude backup on a new machine with different username
  • Codespaces / remote dev where $HOME differs from local

Symptom: plugins listed but slash commands/skills not loaded inside the second environment, since paths point nowhere.

Request: support one of

  • ~ expansion in installPath / installLocation
  • $HOME / ${HOME} expansion
  • Paths relative to the JSON file's directory (or to ~/.claude)

Preferred: relative paths, since they're unambiguous and don't depend on env at read time. Could be opt-in via a config flag if backward compatibility is a concern.

Repro: install any plugin on host, bind-mount ~/.claude into a devcontainer with a different remoteUser, observe plugin missing.

Environment Info

  • Platform: linux
  • Terminal: konsole
  • Version: 2.1.126
  • Feedback ID: 556123c7-4b9d-4fc9-a9a2-1b018b78d8d1

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