Claude Code Plugins Now Activate Immediately After Install
Claude CodeClaude Code 2.1.221 changed plugins installed via /plugin to activate immediately when it's safe to do so, instead of always requiring a manual /reload-plugins or session restart. The same release made /plugin install refresh a stale marketplace catalog and retry automatically before reporting a plugin as not found.
Sources & Mentions
2 external resources covering this update
No More Manual Reload for Most Installs
Before Claude Code 2.1.221, installing a plugin with /plugin install never took effect in the current session — developers had to run /reload-plugins or restart the session before a newly installed plugin actually became usable. That extra step is now gone for most installs: plugins installed from /plugin activate immediately whenever doing so is safe.
When It Still Requires a Manual Reload
Immediate activation isn't always possible. If activating a plugin would invalidate the prompt cache, or if the activation attempt fails outright, Claude Code still asks for /reload-plugins to finish the job. So the manual step hasn't disappeared entirely, but it is now the exception rather than the default for every install.
Marketplace Catalogs Also Get More Reliable
The same release changed /plugin install to refresh a stale marketplace catalog and retry automatically before reporting that a plugin wasn't found. Previously, an out-of-date local copy of a marketplace's catalog could cause installs to fail for plugins that had, in fact, already been published — this fix removes that class of false negative.
Why It Matters
Plugin installation is a workflow developers go through repeatedly as they customize Claude Code, and the previous requirement to reload or restart after every install broke that flow unnecessarily. Making activation immediate by default, combined with a more resilient marketplace catalog lookup, removes friction from a part of the product that developers touch every time they extend their setup with a new plugin.