How to Use the Claude Code Setup Plugin Safely

Install Anthropic's official Claude Code Setup plugin, ask it to recommend automations for the current project, and review its report before implementing anything. The plugin analyzes the repository in read-only mode and recommends a small set of hooks, skills, MCP servers, subagents, and slash commands. Success means you leave with a short, project-specific plan, not a large collection of extensions you have not audited.

This guide shows the exact installation and verification steps, what the report should contain, how to judge each recommendation, and how to recover from the common marketplace errors.

Prerequisites

You need:

• a current Claude Code installation;

• a project under version control;

• a clean working tree, or a saved diff you can compare afterward;

• permission to install a Claude Code plugin at the intended user, project, or local scope.

Before installing any plugin, review what it contains. Claude Code 2.1.145 and later shows a Will install inventory for commands, agents, skills, hooks, MCP servers, and LSP servers. Choose local scope when you are evaluating the plugin for one repository and do not yet want to change the shared project configuration.

Step 1: Install the Official Plugin

Open Claude Code in the project you want to analyze and run:

/plugin install claude-code-setup@claude-plugins-official

The official Anthropic marketplace is normally available by default. The install flow opens the plugin details and lets you choose user, project, or local scope.

After installation, activate it in the current session:

/reload-plugins

Expected result: claude-code-setup appears in the Installed tab of /plugin without a load error.

Step 2: Ask for a Project-Specific Audit

Run the plugin from the repository root and use its documented prompt:

recommend automations for this project

You can narrow the request when you already know the category:

what hooks should I use

The plugin examines project structure, package or language files, dependencies, existing .claude configuration, and recognizable workflows. Its documented default is the top one or two recommendations in each of five categories:

Expected result: the report connects each suggestion to evidence in this project. A generic list of popular plugins is not a successful audit.

Step 3: Confirm That the Audit Stayed Read-Only

Anthropic describes the plugin as read-only: it analyzes the repository and does not modify files. Verify that contract instead of assuming it.

Run your normal status command before and after the audit:

git status --short

Expected result: the second output matches the first. If files changed, stop and inspect the diff before accepting any recommendation.

Read-only does not mean risk-free. Analysis can still expose repository content to whatever model and tools the session is permitted to use. Do not run the audit over secrets, generated credential files, or data that should not enter the session context.

Step 4: Review Recommendations Before Implementing Them

Score every suggestion against four questions:

1. Evidence: What file, dependency, or repeated task caused this recommendation?

2. Scope: Does it solve a current problem in this repository?

3. Permission: What files, commands, credentials, or external systems can it reach?

4. Verification: What observable check proves it works without introducing a regression?

Reject a suggestion when the report cannot tie it to the project. Also reject duplicate functionality. For example, do not add a second formatter hook when the existing pre-commit workflow already formats the same files.

For hooks, inspect the triggering event and exact command. For skills and subagents, read their instructions and allowed tools. For MCP servers, inspect the server source, transport, schemas, credential handling, and context cost. Follow the complete agent skill audit checklist before adopting third-party instructions.

Step 5: Implement One Recommendation at a Time

The setup plugin recommends changes but does not make them. Start with the highest-value, lowest-risk suggestion and ask Claude to propose the exact implementation separately.

Use a bounded request such as:

Implement only the formatter hook from the setup report.
Show the files and commands it will add before editing.
Use the repository's existing formatter command.
Afterward, run the narrow validation and show the diff

Expected result: one reviewable change, one verification command, and no unrelated configuration. Commit or discard that change before evaluating the next recommendation.

This order matters because several individually reasonable automations can overlap. Installing them all at once makes it difficult to tell which hook changed a file, which MCP server expanded context, or which subagent produced a conflicting instruction.

Step 6: Treat External Integrations as a Separate Security Decision

An MCP recommendation is not permission to paste an API key into a prompt or configuration file. Verify that the integration is necessary, then choose the narrowest account and scopes that can complete the task.

Before connecting one, check:

• whether a read-only operation is enough;

• whether the tool catalog can be searched on demand instead of loaded in full;

• where credentials are stored and refreshed;

• whether destructive operations require an explicit acknowledgement;

• how to revoke the connection.

If a project needs several real-world services, compare managed integration access with direct MCP setup and reduce MCP context overhead before attaching every suggested server.

Common Claude Code Setup Plugin Failures

Marketplace "claude-plugins-official" not found

Add the official marketplace, then retry:

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-official
/plugin install claude-code-setup@claude-plugins-official

Plugin not found in marketplace

Your local marketplace copy may be stale. Refresh it:

/plugin marketplace update claude-plugins-official
/plugin install claude-code-setup@claude-plugins-official

The Plugin Installed but Does Not Run

Activate newly installed plugins with:

/reload-plugins

Then open /plugin, check the Installed and Errors tabs, and confirm the plugin is enabled at the scope you intended.

The Recommendations Are Generic

Run Claude Code from the repository root, make the target explicit, and ask for evidence:

Recommend automations for this project.
For every recommendation, cite the project file or repeated workflow that justifies it.
Return at most one recommendation per category

If the report still cannot connect a suggestion to the repository, do not implement it.

You Want to Remove the Plugin

Run /plugin, open the Installed tab, select claude-code-setup, and choose disable or uninstall. Project-scoped plugins may require choosing whether to disable the plugin only for yourself or remove it from the shared project configuration.

Why This Workflow Works

The plugin compresses a broad repository scan into a short list of candidate automations. The safety comes from keeping recommendation and implementation separate: first collect evidence, then inspect permissions, then make one reversible change and verify it.

That structure follows the repeatable lesson from Aident's Ollama networking guide: use the reader's exact terminology, answer the immediate task first, provide reproducible steps and expected results, and diagnose named failure modes. It does not assume that a popular tool is automatically useful for every project.

Once the local recommendations are reviewed, set up managed access for one necessary external service:

Follow https://aident.ai/SETUP.md
Confirm my Aident Loadout account and Vault status.
Find one connected read-only Action relevant to this project, inspect its current
input schema, and run it once with a harmless input. Do not perform writes

Use Aident Loadout to verify one read-only Action without copying a provider credential into the prompt. Measure success as one schema-inspected Action returning the expected result with no repository diff.

Sources

• Claude Code Setup plugin, Anthropic, accessed July 26, 2026

• Claude Code Setup plugin repository, Anthropic, accessed July 26, 2026

• Discover and install plugins, Anthropic, accessed July 26, 2026

• Claude Code plugin reference, Anthropic, accessed July 26, 2026

• Claude Code hooks guide, Anthropic, accessed July 26, 2026

• Claude Code MCP guide, Anthropic, accessed July 26, 2026

• Claude Code subagents guide, Anthropic, accessed July 26, 2026

Refresh this guide when the plugin manifest, read-only contract, recommendation categories, install commands, scope behavior, or official marketplace recovery steps change.