[DOCS] `/plugin` marketplace browse pane projected context cost estimates are undocumented

Documentation Type

Missing documentation (feature not documented)

Documentation Location

https://code.claude.com/docs/en/discover-plugins

Section/Topic

Browse available plugins in the /plugin Discover tab walkthrough

Current Documentation

The docs currently say:

Run /plugin to open the plugin manager. This opens a tabbed interface with four tabs you can cycle through using Tab (or Shift+Tab to go backward): Discover: browse available plugins from all your marketplaces Installed: view and manage your installed plugins Marketplaces: add, remove, or update your added marketplaces Errors: view any plugin loading errors Go to the Discover tab to see plugins from the marketplace you just added.

Later, the same page says:

Each plugin works differently. Check the plugin's description in the Discover tab or its homepage to learn what skills and capabilities it provides.

Related plugin-details docs currently say:

Show a plugin's component inventory and projected token cost. The output lists all components the plugin contributes, grouped as Skills (skills and commands), Agents, Hooks, and MCP servers, along with an estimate of how many tokens it adds to each session.

What's Wrong or Missing?

The documentation does not mention the projected context cost now shown directly in the /plugin marketplace browse pane as of v2.1.143.

That leaves the Discover-tab UI under-documented in two ways:

A. The browse-pane cost signal is missing entirely

Users are told that the Discover tab lets them browse plugins and read descriptions, but not that the list now surfaces projected context cost with per-turn and per-invocation token estimates.

B. The only documented token-cost surface is plugin details

The current docs describe projected token cost in claude plugin details, which can make users assume they must open a details view or use the CLI to inspect cost. The new browse-pane estimates are a separate, earlier decision point when comparing plugins before installation.

Suggested Improvement

Update https://code.claude.com/docs/en/discover-plugins in the Browse available plugins step to mention the new cost information shown in the Discover list.

For example, after the Discover-tab bullet list, add guidance like:

In the Discover tab, Claude Code also shows each plugin's projected context cost so you can compare overhead before installing. These estimates include both per-turn and per-invocation token usage.

Then update the later sentence about checking plugin descriptions so it reflects both capability and cost comparison, for example:

Check the plugin's description and projected context cost in the Discover tab to compare what it provides and how much context it may add.

If desired, add a short cross-reference in the general plugin-management docs noting that /plugin can show both plugin details and cost estimates in the interactive UI.

Impact

Medium - Makes feature difficult to understand

Additional Context

Affected Pages:

| Page | Line(s) | Context |
|------|---------|---------|
| https://code.claude.com/docs/en/discover-plugins | 129-169 | Documents the /plugin Discover tab and tells users to inspect descriptions, but does not mention projected context cost in the browse pane |
| https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings | 958-964 | General /plugin management summary lists browsing and viewing details, but not browse-pane cost estimates |
| https://code.claude.com/docs/en/plugins-reference | 892-894 | Documents projected token cost for claude plugin details, which is related context but not the Discover-tab browse-pane feature |

Total scope: 3 pages affected

The changelog for v2.1.143 says:

Added projected context cost (per-turn and per-invocation token estimates) to the /plugin marketplace browse pane