Plugin
beginnerDefinition
A package that bundles several Claude Code add-ons, such as skills, subagents, and hooks, so the whole set can be installed, updated, or removed in one step.
In the wild
Instead of copying five files into every project, your team installs one `shipkit` plugin that adds a release-notes skill and a formatting hook.
More from Claude Code
--plugin-dir
A Claude Code launch option that loads a plugin straight from a folder on your computer for one session, so you can try it while you're still building it.
@-mention (File Reference)
Typing @ followed by a file's name in a Claude Code prompt to point Claude at that exact file, so it doesn't have to search for it.
Agentic Loop
The repeating cycle Claude Code works in: look around the project, take one step such as editing a file or running a command, check what happened, and decide the next step until the task is done.
Checkpoint (/rewind)
A restore point Claude Code saves before each edit Claude makes, so you can run /rewind (or press Esc twice) to go back to an earlier moment. It only tracks Claude's own file edits, so it doesn't replace Git.
CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT
A placeholder, written `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}`, that Claude Code swaps for the folder a plugin is installed in, so the plugin's file paths work on everyone's computer. That folder changes with each update, so anything the plugin needs to keep goes in `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA}` instead.
CLAUDE.md
A notes file in your project that Claude Code reads at the start of every session, holding the rules and commands you'd otherwise repeat in every prompt (/init writes a starter version).