[Bug] Plugin-registered CwdChanged and FileChanged hooks don't fire (settings.json works) — v2.1.153

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/44925
2. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/16288
3. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/36793

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Follow-up: narrowed to plugin-installed hooks specifically

Further testing isolates the bug to plugin-installed hooks/hooks.json for CwdChanged and FileChanged. The same hooks registered in .claude/settings.json work fine.

Test matrix (same script, same machine, v2.1.153)

| Registration | SessionStart | CwdChanged | FileChanged |
|-----------------------------------------------|--------------|---------------|---------------|
| Plugin hooks/hooks.json only | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Project .claude/settings.json only | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Both | ✅ (2 fires) | ✅ (2 fires) | ✅ (2 fires) |

In the "both" case, every cd and every mise.toml edit produces two log entries at the same timestamp with the same payload but different pids — i.e., both registrations fire. So the plugin handler can be invoked, it just isn't unless a settings.json registration for the same event exists alongside it. (Best guess: the listener/watcher initialization is skipped for plugin-only registrations, but once any registration creates the listener, the plugin handler gets wired into it.)

Things ruled out

• Hook JSON shape: matches the plugins migration doc, which says the format is identical to settings.json.
• Parent shell (zsh vs bash): identical behavior.
• Plugin cache staleness: the plugin's cache at ~/.claude/plugins/cache/<marketplace>/<plugin>/<version>/ was indeed missing FileChanged because the source had changed since first install, but clearing the cache (rm -rf the plugin cache dir) and restarting did not change the result for CwdChanged. Note: for a source: directory marketplace, no cache directory is re-created on restart — Claude appears to load the plugin directly from the marketplace path. Worth a separate look at whether directory marketplaces invalidate cached plugins when source files change; in our case the cache silently held a stale snapshot until I deleted it.
• source: startup vs source: resume: tested across both; same result.

Reproduction

hooks/hooks.json in plugin (alone — no settings.json hooks):

{
  "hooks": {
    "SessionStart": [
      { "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "\"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/apply-mise-env.sh\"" }] }
    ],
    "CwdChanged": [
      { "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "\"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/apply-mise-env.sh\"" }] }
    ],
    "FileChanged": [
      {
        "matcher": "mise.toml",
        "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "\"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/apply-mise-env.sh\"" }]
      }
    ]
  }
}

1. Start Claude in a project dir containing mise.toml. SessionStart fires. ✅
2. Ask Claude to cd ./subdir (in-project, cwd persists across Bash calls). No CwdChanged. ❌
3. Externally edit mise.toml. No FileChanged. ❌

Now add .claude/settings.json registering the same three events, pointing at the absolute path of the same script. Restart Claude. Both events fire — twice each (once from plugin, once from settings).

Workaround

Register CwdChanged and FileChanged in .claude/settings.json (or ~/.claude/settings.json) instead of, or in addition to, the plugin's hooks/hooks.json.

Closing as a duplicate of https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/16288

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