Plugin manifests and dependencies

Source: .claude-plugin/marketplace.json and plugins/*/.claude-plugin/plugin.json in dfg-inc/praxis-marketplace.

The marketplace

marketplace.json has name: praxis, metadata.version: 0.1.0-alpha.48 and six plugin entries. Each entry points to a directory inside the marketplace repository (source: ./plugins/NAME); no entry points outside it.

Plugin	Contents	dependencies	Declared in
praxis	One getting-started skill; no server, no MCP config	praxis-runtime, praxis-ba, praxis-architect, praxis-developer, praxis-quality	marketplace entry and its plugin.json
praxis-runtime	The MCP server server/praxis-mcp.cjs (+ sql-wasm.wasm) and .mcp.json	none	n/a
praxis-ba	Skills, prompts, hooks, templates, canon-graph tool	praxis-runtime	marketplace entry only
praxis-architect	Skills, prompts, hooks, agents, templates	praxis-runtime	marketplace entry only
praxis-developer	Skills, prompts, hooks, agents	praxis-runtime	marketplace entry only
praxis-quality	Skills, prompts, hooks	praxis-runtime	marketplace entry only

Why dependencies are where they are

• The bundle plugin praxis has nothing to run itself. Installing it installs the five plugins it depends on.
• A role plugin needs the Runtime for its praxis_* tools. The dependency on praxis-runtime is declared in the marketplace entry, not in the role's own plugin.json. The role's plugin.json is also what goes into praxis-<role>.zip (the manual upload package for Claude Desktop Chat), so the role manifest is kept free of dependencies to keep that ZIP uploadable on its own. The marketplace entry supplies the dependency when the plugin is installed from the marketplace.
• Installing a single role, for example claude plugin install praxis-quality@praxis, installs praxis-runtime automatically.

Verified with Claude Code CLI 2.1.304 against a git-cloned marketplace in a clean config directory: installing praxis pulled five dependencies; installing praxis-quality alone pulled praxis-runtime.

The single MCP server

Only praxis-runtime has an MCP configuration:

{
  "praxis-runtime": {
    "command": "node",
    "args": ["${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/server/praxis-mcp.cjs", "--role", "runtime"]
  }
}

The server is a stdio process started by the client, inherits the client's environment, including the env block of a repository's .claude/settings.json (so Praxis refuses protected actions while a repository's settings set any env entry; see Configuration), and exposes all tools. Role plugins contain no .mcp.json, so a full install has exactly one Praxis MCP server (checked by accept:marketplace-install). The role skills call the Runtime's tools; if praxis_doctor or praxis_session_start is not available, the skills stop with PRAXIS_RUNTIME_UNAVAILABLE.

Role plugin.json fields

Role manifests carry name, version, description, author, license, keywords and defaultEnabled: true. praxis-ba, praxis-architect and praxis-developer are Apache-2.0; praxis-quality, praxis-runtime and the bundle are UNLICENSED. The role plugin directories also contain a .claude-plugin/marketplace.json of their own (a single-plugin catalog used by the role repository); the one that clients use is the marketplace repository's root file.

Versioning and pinning

• Every manifest and marketplace entry carries the same version, 0.1.0-alpha.48, written by tools/scripts/set-ecosystem-version.mjs in each source repository.
• The marketplace entries do not pin a git commit or SHA. What a client installs is what the marketplace repository contains at the revision it cloned. Release-candidate verification compares the staged copies with the role repositories file by file (Marketplace distribution).
• Dependencies are plain names without version constraints in the manifests above. Today all six plugins are released at the same version.

How updates work

• Updating means pulling a newer marketplace revision and installing the newer plugin versions. Verified with Claude Code CLI 2.1.304: a marketplace at the previous revision (alpha.47) upgraded to alpha.48 in place.
• A new Runtime process starts with the next session. A chat or session that started earlier keeps the tool list it had. Check build.version and build.tools.count from praxis_doctor.
• Desktop Chat does not update from the marketplace: the praxis-runtime.mcpb is replaced by installing the new file in Settings, Extensions.
• A client that still shows an older Runtime after updating is usually running an old session or a second, older installation; see Troubleshooting.

Not verified: the update behaviour in the Claude UI plugin manager and for a marketplace hosted on GitHub.