Claude Code plugin

plugins/claude-code-ae-plugin/ is the moment AE stops being "another CLI" and becomes invisible scaffolding the agent uses. It bundles a project-open hook, two slash commands, the distillation skill that teaches Claude what JSON to return, and the MCP server auto-wiring. A Cursor-flavored equivalent is roadmapped (see Roadmap → 3.1).

What's in the plugin

plugins/claude-code-ae-plugin/
  plugin.json                         # manifest (name, version, hooks, slash, skills, mcp)
  hooks/
    on_project_open.sh                # detects .ae_hub/, surfaces it to Claude
  slash_commands/
    ae-status.md                      # /ae-status — wraps `ae status`
    ae-distill.md                     # /ae-distill <pack> <concept> — manual distillation flow
  skills/
    ae-distill-skill.md               # the distillation contract (ae.canonical.draft.v1)
  mcp/
    ae-mcp-config.json                # auto-wires AE MCP server

Install

The plugin is installed like any Claude Code plugin: point Claude Code at the plugin directory, or symlink it into the user's plugin path. The plugin.json declares claudeCode.minVersion: 1.0.0 and one ProjectOpen hook. After installation, opening a project that contains a .ae_hub/ directory triggers hooks/on_project_open.sh, which surfaces the hub's presence and the canonicals it contains so Claude can offer to load them into context.

Slash commands

/ae-status

Runs ae status against the current project root and pretty-prints the tier-classified report. Equivalent to typing ae status in a terminal but kept inside the chat surface — useful for "what should I work on next?" without context-switching. See CLI reference → ae status.

/ae-distill <pack> <concept>

Dispatches a distillation: turn an artifact pack into a canonical pack. The slash command (see slash_commands/ae-distill.md in the plugin) walks Claude through:

1. Confirming the artifact exists (ae artifact list).
2. Building a DistillationTask per the wire format (the skill below teaches the shape).
3. Reading the artifact's index.md, meta.yaml, and source files referenced by meta.source.files.
4. Returning a DistillationOutput validated against ae.canonical.draft.v1.

Now that ae canonical distill --pack <pack> --concept <concept> is wired through to a DistillationService (commit 5c6bcd8), the slash command's role shifts to orientation — running the underlying CLI is the recommended path; the slash command remains for the manual review-and-merge flow.

The distillation skill

skills/ae-distill-skill.md is what makes this work. It teaches Claude the exact JSON shape AE expects back: ae.canonical.draft.v1 with an index_md, a matrix (column schema + features), and an optional patterns_md. AE validates the response against the schema and retries once on failure with the validation error included as additional context (see spec §7). On a second failure AE refuses to merge — there is no silent partial accept.

This is the bit that lets AE outsource heavy thinking without giving up determinism. The skill is the contract; AE is the validator; Claude is the executor.

MCP auto-wiring

mcp/ae-mcp-config.json registers the agentic_executables_mcp server with Claude Code. After plugin installation, the twelve AE MCP tools are available alongside Claude's built-ins — ae_status, ae_canonical, ae_artifact, and the rest. No manual MCP config in the user's settings; the plugin handles it.

Cursor and others

The plugin shape is intentionally generic — slash commands, skills, MCP config, a project-open hook. A Cursor flavor is on the 3.1 fast-follow list. Other agent hosts (Zed, Continue, etc.) can wire the MCP server directly and skip the slash-command and hook layers.

Where to next

• MCP tools reference — the tools the plugin auto-wires.
• Authoring canonicals → Distill workflow — what /ae-distill is for.
• Roadmap — Cursor flavor and beyond.