marketplace: research Cursor plugin import with no fork and no Cursor specifics #7556

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1. kyle-sexton

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   needs-humanHuman-in-the-loop required; autonomous sessions must not resolve items carrying this.Human-in-the-loop required; autonomous sessions must not resolve items carrying this.

   on Oct 16, 2026
2. kyle-sexton

   added a parent issue on Oct 16, 2026

   • Epic: absorb Lauren Tan's and Matt Pocock's agent workflows (poteto-review) #7555
3. kyle-sexton

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4. kyle-sexton

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   needs-spec

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5. github-actions commented on Oct 16, 2026

   

   github-actionsBot

   on Oct 16, 2026 – with GitHub Actions

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   Proposed work class: work-class: read-only
   Basis: automated intake triage; a maintainer confirms or changes it.

   Size: Small
   Complexity: Low
   Uncertainty: Knowable
   Flags: none
   Blocked by: none

   Decision recorded.

   The Cursor import question has no recorded answer yet: no comment on this issue starts Probe result:, and no file on origin/main records a Cursor plugin-import probe [...]
   [quote truncated; the full decision is at the link]

   Decision comment: #7556 (comment)

   That decision settles the open questions. I understood this as a research item: record whether Cursor can import this marketplace's plugins with no fork and no Cursor-specific files, and which parts survive (skills, hooks, when_to_use, disallowed-tools, plugin agents). The probe needs a host with Cursor installed, so it stays routed to host-run. I found no likely duplicates among the open issues.

   _{Automated triage. A maintainer reviews it.}
6. github-actions

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   needs-triageNot yet classified. Floor until a type and one priority tier are set.Not yet classified. Floor until a type and one priority tier are set.

   on Oct 16, 2026
7. kyle-sexton

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   needs-specNeeds a Brief or plan before anyone can build it.Needs a Brief or plan before anyone can build it.

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   needs-triageNot yet classified. Floor until a type and one priority tier are set.Not yet classified. Floor until a type and one priority tier are set.

   on Oct 16, 2026
8. kyle-sexton

   removed

   needs-humanHuman-in-the-loop required; autonomous sessions must not resolve items carrying this.Human-in-the-loop required; autonomous sessions must not resolve items carrying this.

   on Oct 24, 2026
9. kyle-sexton commented on Oct 24, 2026

   

   kyle-sexton

   on Oct 24, 2026

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   Released for re-triage under the owner's 2026-10-24 rule: an issue stops for a person only for an intent or vision question, a security call, a host or attended run, or spend outside prepaid credit. The hold label came off and intake triage runs again now; it re-applies a hold, with a numbered question, when one of those applies.

   To hold this issue again, add needs-human (or status: needs-decision) and say why in a comment.
10. kyle-sexton

    added

    host-runNeeds an unattended run on a host; the host runner takes it, not a person or the issue lane.Needs an unattended run on a host; the host runner takes it, not a person or the issue lane.

    status: confirmedA maintainer confirmed the item is real and in scope; ready to be worked.A maintainer confirmed the item is real and in scope; ready to be worked.

    on Nov 2, 2026
11. kyle-sexton commented on Nov 2, 2026

    

    kyle-sexton

    on Nov 2, 2026

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    Decision recorded.

    The Cursor import question has no recorded answer yet: no comment on this issue starts Probe result:, and no file on origin/main records a Cursor plugin-import probe (the instruction-placement migrate references record a headless cursor-agent 2026.09.28-64d2043 probe of instruction-file loading, plugins/instruction-placement/skills/migrate/reference/sources.md:198-245, which does not test plugin import; the only #7556 reference is a test fixture at .github/scripts/intake-triage/admit.test.mjs:2231). The probe needs a host with Cursor installed, which a lane run does not have, so this goes to a host run. The issue body sets the outcome, the options (works as-is, works with named gaps, needs a fork) and the done-when, and it raises no open intent question.

    Acceptance criteria:

    • A comment on this issue starting Probe result: records the Cursor version, the plugin installed, and for each of skills, hooks, when_to_use, disallowed-tools and plugin agents whether it loaded, with the date.
    • A closing comment records the decision (import works as-is, works with named gaps, or needs a fork) with each claim's source: a Cursor docs URL read that day, or the probe.
    • Every gap the probe found is either filed as a sub-issue of this item or named in the closing comment as accepted.

    Route: host-run

    Posted by the issue-triage session. This was generated by AI.
12. github-actions

    added

    needs-triageNot yet classified. Floor until a type and one priority tier are set.Not yet classified. Floor until a type and one priority tier are set.

    priority: mediumReal value, no hard deadline; normal backlog flow.Real value, no hard deadline; normal backlog flow.

    and removed

    status: confirmedA maintainer confirmed the item is real and in scope; ready to be worked.A maintainer confirmed the item is real and in scope; ready to be worked.

    needs-triageNot yet classified. Floor until a type and one priority tier are set.Not yet classified. Floor until a type and one priority tier are set.

    on Nov 2, 2026
13. kyle-sexton commented on Nov 2, 2026

    

    kyle-sexton

    on Nov 2, 2026

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    Probe result: Cursor CLI cursor-agent 2026.10.19-6bbf2c4 (2026.10.22-27dcf5f was available and was not installed), Linux (WSL) host, 2026-11-02.

    What was installed. No single plugin of ours has all five parts, so the probe used a throwaway fixture plugin in our own layout with no Cursor files: .claude-plugin/plugin.json only (no root plugin.json, no .cursor-plugin/), skills in skills/<name>/SKILL.md, one agent in agents/, and hooks/hooks.json in Claude Code's nested format. It was loaded with cursor-agent --plugin-dir <fixture> (documented in cursor-agent --help). Every fixture name starts with probe7556 so a hit can only come from the fixture. Turns ran headless (-p --model auto --output-format stream-json) from an empty workspace. Runs t6 to t8 used a HOME holding only the Cursor login, so nothing from ~/.claude loaded.

    Second route, observed but not set up by this probe. The account's Cursor CLI already lists Claude Code plugins installed on this machine. Cursor's skill list in runs t1 and t5 included audit-pass and playwright, resolved to paths inside Claude Code's own plugin cache (<claude plugin cache>/melodic-software/playwright/0.16.0/skills/playwright/SKILL.md). So plugins installed with Claude Code reach Cursor through its third-party import with no Cursor-side install. Our melodic-software marketplace was also already registered in Cursor (agent plugin marketplace list, user scope, indexed at an older commit). The probe did not install from it: the CLI has marketplace add/list/update/remove but no install subcommand, and install goes through the interactive /plugin UI.

    Part	Loaded	Evidence
    Skills	Yes	t6 listing: all three fixture skills appear in Cursor's available_skills with their description. t2 /probe7556-control ran the skill body (a shell ls of the target directory).
    Hooks	Partly	SessionStart fired every run, from both the ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} command and the absolute-path command. The hook process got CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT and CURSOR_PLUGIN_ROOT set to the plugin directory, and stdin carried hook_event_name: sessionStart. PreToolUse with matcher Bash fired once per shell call: 3 calls in t2, t3 and t4, the t4 call inside the subagent. UserPromptSubmit never fired in any of the 8 headless runs.
    when_to_use	No	t6, with the fixture as the only plugin: the probe7556-wtu entry carries only its description. The unique phrase that sits only in when_to_use is absent, and the model answered "no" when asked whether the phrase was anywhere in context.
    disallowed-tools (skill)	No	Paired runs. t2 control skill (no key) ran ls. t3 skill with disallowed-tools: Bash also ran ls and printed the listing. The PreToolUse Bash hook recorded both calls.
    disallowedTools (agent)	No	t4: the agent declares disallowedTools: "Bash", yet the subagent ran ls, which the hook recorded, and its reply includes the listing.
    Plugin agents	Yes	t1 listing shows probe7556-agent with its description. In t4 the main agent called Task with subagentType: {custom: {name: "probe7556-agent"}}, and the reply contains the body-only codeword AGENTBODY-8820.

    Side observations:

    • Skill name collision. Two plugins each with a skill named check were both listed with no plugin prefix (t7). /check ran plugin two's body with no warning (t8).
    • Skill descriptions dropped under a full install. With this machine's full Claude Code install visible (t5), Cursor listed 254 skills, and most entries, ours included, had no description, only a path. With the isolated HOME (t6), 17 skills were listed, all with descriptions. Why the descriptions were dropped is UNVERIFIED: it could be a listing budget, or it could be that several cached plugin versions were counted.

    Docs read today (2026-11-02):

    • https://cursor.com/docs/plugins.md: two formats only, Agent Plugins (root plugin.json) and Cursor Plugins (.cursor-plugin/plugin.json). Rules, agents, commands and hooks are listed as Cursor Plugins only. The page does not mention .claude-plugin.
    • https://cursor.com/docs/reference/plugins.md: folder discovery for skills/, agents/ and hooks/hooks.json. Skill frontmatter fields are name and description, and so are agent fields. Cursor expands ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} in mcp.json.
    • https://cursor.com/docs/skills.md: skill frontmatter fields are name, description, paths, disable-model-invocation, icon, color and metadata, with no when_to_use and no tool lists. Cursor also loads .claude/skills/ and ~/.claude/skills/.
    • https://cursor.com/docs/subagents.md: agent fields are name, description, model, readonly and is_background, with no tools or disallowedTools. Cursor also loads .claude/agents/ and ~/.claude/agents/.
    • https://cursor.com/docs/reference/third-party-hooks.md: Claude Code hooks load when "Include Third-Party Plugins, Skills, and Other Configs" is on (the default). Mapped events: PreToolUse, PostToolUse, Stop, SubagentStop, SessionStart, SessionEnd, PreCompact, UserPromptSubmit. Notification and PermissionRequest are listed as not supported. Tool mapping: Bash to Shell, Edit to Write, and Glob is not supported.
    • https://cursor.com/docs/hooks.md: points Claude Code hooks to the third-party hooks page. Exit code 2 blocks the action.
    • https://cursor.com/docs/cli/changelog.md: the May 7, 2026 entry reads "Plugins imported from Claude Code appear alongside native ones" and adds --plugin-dir. This is the only page read that says our format loads.
    • https://cursor.com/help/account-and-billing/pricing.md, https://cursor.com/help/models-and-usage/usage-limits.md and https://cursor.com/help/account-and-billing/overages.md: billing basis for the run, covered in the closing comment.
    • cursor-agent --help, agent plugin --help and agent plugin marketplace --help / add --help: the plugin surface is marketplace management plus --plugin-dir.

    Run log: 8 headless turns, t1 to t8, on 2026-11-02 between 19:24 and 19:31 UTC.
14. kyle-sexton

    added sub-issues on Nov 2, 2026

    • skills: carry when_to_use trigger text into Cursor, which ignores the key #12482
    • plugins: decide tool-restriction behavior in Cursor, which ignores disallowed-tools and agent tool lists #12483
    • hooks: decide Cursor behavior for hook events and matchers Cursor does not map #12484
15. kyle-sexton commented on Nov 2, 2026

    

    kyle-sexton

    on Nov 2, 2026

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    Decision: import works, with named gaps. No fork is needed.

    Cursor loads our plugins as they are. Skills and plugin agents work, and hooks work for the events Cursor maps. when_to_use and the tool-restriction keys are ignored. Every claim below cites the probe result (Cursor CLI 2026.10.19-6bbf2c4, 2026-11-02) or a Cursor docs page read on 2026-11-02.

    What works

    • Our plugin format loads unchanged. That means .claude-plugin/plugin.json, no Cursor files, loaded with --plugin-dir. Source: probe. The plugins docs (https://cursor.com/docs/plugins.md) name only root plugin.json and .cursor-plugin/plugin.json. Only the CLI changelog (https://cursor.com/docs/cli/changelog.md, May 7, 2026: "Plugins imported from Claude Code appear alongside native ones") says this format is supported, so it rests on a changelog line, not a documented contract.
    • Plugins installed with Claude Code also show up in Cursor with no Cursor-side install. Source: probe, which shows audit-pass and playwright resolved from Claude Code's plugin cache. The import setting "Include Third-Party Plugins, Skills, and Other Configs" is on by default: https://cursor.com/docs/reference/third-party-hooks.md.
    • Skills load and run. Source: probe.
    • Plugin agents load and are delegated to. Source: probe.
    • Hooks load from hooks/hooks.json and fire for mapped events. The probe saw SessionStart and PreToolUse with the Bash matcher fire, with ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} set. Sources: probe, plus the event and tool mapping in https://cursor.com/docs/reference/third-party-hooks.md.

    Gaps filed as sub-issues

    • skills: carry when_to_use trigger text into Cursor, which ignores the key #12482: when_to_use is ignored. Sources: probe, and https://cursor.com/docs/skills.md, which has no such field.
    • plugins: decide tool-restriction behavior in Cursor, which ignores disallowed-tools and agent tool lists #12483: tool restrictions are not enforced. Skill disallowed-tools and agent disallowedTools are ignored (source: probe). Agent tools: and skill allowed-tools have no Cursor field (source: https://cursor.com/docs/subagents.md and https://cursor.com/docs/skills.md, not probed). The Q561 per-job disallowed-tools plan depends on this item.
    • hooks: decide Cursor behavior for hook events and matchers Cursor does not map #12484: hook events and matchers our plugins use that Cursor does not map. Examples are PostToolBatch for the formatters, Notification, StopFailure, PostCompact, the Worktree* events, and NotebookEdit/PowerShell/Skill/mcp__* matchers. Source: https://cursor.com/docs/reference/third-party-hooks.md crossed with plugins/*/hooks/hooks.json. The same item also covers UserPromptSubmit, which the probe saw not fire in headless runs.

    Gaps accepted, not filed

    • Same-named skills across plugins. The probe found both check skills listed unprefixed, and /check silently ran one of them. Accepted because the existing decision already covers it: consolidation plus distinct first clauses (D82, Q179, Q186). Source: probe.
    • Skill descriptions dropped under a large install. With this machine's full Claude Code install visible, Cursor listed 254 skills, most without descriptions, while the isolated run listed 17 with descriptions. The cause is UNVERIFIED (a listing budget, or duplicate cached plugin versions). Accepted because it depends on how many plugins a user installs, and a day-job install would be a curated subset. Source: probe.
    • No CLI install from a marketplace. cursor-agent 2026.10.19 can add, list, update and remove marketplaces but has no install subcommand. Installing goes through the interactive /plugin UI, or the IDE's Customize page (https://cursor.com/docs/plugins.md). Accepted. The probe did not install from our registered marketplace through that UI; only the --plugin-dir route and the Claude Code import route were probed. Sources: cursor-agent plugin marketplace --help and https://cursor.com/docs/cli/changelog.md.
    • ${PLUGIN_ROOT} and ${PLUGIN_DATA} are not expanded. https://cursor.com/docs/reference/plugins.md says Cursor does not expand them in mcp.json, and does expand ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}. Accepted, since our plugins use ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}.

    Billing basis for the probe. The account is on the Free tier (cursor-agent about), and the runs used --model auto with no model: key on the fixture agent.

    • https://cursor.com/help/account-and-billing/pricing.md: individual plans have Auto Cost mode only, which draws from the included pool.
    • https://cursor.com/docs/models-and-pricing.md: Free does not include third-party models.
    • https://cursor.com/help/account-and-billing/overages.md: extra charges come only from prepaid top-ups, which are off until turned on, or from on-demand usage on legacy paid plans.
    • The one thing the probe could not see is whether a payment method or Auto Top-up is configured on the account.
16. kyle-sexton commented on Nov 2, 2026

    

    kyle-sexton

    on Nov 2, 2026

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    Done (2026-11-02): Cursor imports our plugins with no fork, with named gaps. Skills, plugin agents and mapped hooks work; when_to_use and tool restrictions are ignored. Probe: #7556 (comment). Decision: #7556 (comment). Gaps tracked in #12482, #12483 and #12484.
17. kyle-sexton

    closed this as completedon Nov 2, 2026