plugin marketplace update fetches new version but doesn't update installed_plugins.json
Open 💬 1 comment Opened Jul 12, 2026 by jfenal
Bug
claude plugin marketplace update <plugin> downloads the new plugin version into the cache directory but does not update the installPath and version fields in ~/.claude/plugins/installed_plugins.json. New sessions continue using the old version.
Reproduction
- Publish a new version of a plugin (bump version in
plugin.json, push to git) - Run
claude plugin marketplace update <plugin-name> - Start a new Claude session
Expected: New skills/features from the updated plugin are available.
Actual: Session loads the old version. New skills missing.
Root cause
After update, the cache has both versions:
~/.claude/plugins/cache/bat-skills/bat-skills/1.20.0/skills/ # old — 7 skills
~/.claude/plugins/cache/bat-skills/bat-skills/1.21.0/skills/ # new — 10 skills (3 added)
But installed_plugins.json still points to the old version:
"bat-skills@bat-skills": [
{
"installPath": "…/cache/bat-skills/bat-skills/1.20.0",
"version": "1.20.0",
…
}
]
Workaround
Manually edit ~/.claude/plugins/installed_plugins.json — update installPath and version to the new version directory.
Environment
- Claude Code CLI (latest as of 2026-07-12)
- Linux (Fedora 44)
- Plugin: custom marketplace plugin with
plugin.jsonversioning
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