create-cowork-plugin

A guided workflow for building a Claude Cowork plugin from scratch through conversation, taking the user from initial idea to a ready-to-install .plugin file. The skill encodes the full plugin architecture and a five-phase process: Discovery (understanding the problem and audience), Component Planning (deciding which component types are needed), Design and Clarifying Questions, Implementation (writing all plugin files), and Review and Package. It is intended for the Cowork desktop app environment and requires access to the outputs directory so the finished package can be delivered.

Plugins are self-contained directories that extend Claude with skills, agents, hooks, and MCP server integrations. The skill documents the canonical layout, where the manifest at .claude-plugin/plugin.json is always required (its only mandatory field is name), and component directories such as skills/ and agents/ live at the plugin root. It favors the skills/*/SKILL.md format over the legacy single-file commands/ directory, since skills support progressive disclosure through references/. Naming follows kebab-case, versions follow semver starting at 0.1.0, and ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} is used for intra-plugin path references rather than hardcoded absolute paths.

Use it when someone wants to create, scaffold, design, or start a plugin and would benefit from being walked through the decisions. The conversation is meant to stay in plain language, hiding file paths and schema details unless asked, and uses AskUserQuestion for each prompt rather than assuming defaults. For plugins meant to be shared outside an organization, an optional ~~ placeholder pattern lets workflows reference tool categories (for example ~~project tracker) instead of specific products, documented in a CONNECTORS.md file. Detailed component schemas live in references/component-schemas.md.