What Plugin Categories Are Available in the Claude Plugins Community Marketplace?

The Claude Plugins Community marketplace organizes plugins into thirteen distinct categories, including testing, productivity, development, location, finance, monitoring, deployment, design, database, security, learning, automation, and Developer Tools.

The anthropics/claude-plugins-community repository maintains a curated registry of community-built plugins. Each plugin entry in the canonical marketplace file carries a category field that enables filtering and discovery. Below is the complete reference of available categories drawn directly from the source.

Complete List of Plugin Categories

The following table enumerates every unique category value found in .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, with representative source line references:

Category	Source Line
testing	Line 105
productivity	Line 368
development	Line 695
location	Line 1273
finance	Line 6502
monitoring	Line 6591
deployment	Line 7041
design	Line 8232
database	Line 10041
security	Line 20808
learning	Line 22801
automation	Line 23201
Developer Tools	Line 12397

Note that Developer Tools appears as a capitalized variant, while the majority use lowercase formatting. Both forms are preserved as stored in the marketplace JSON.

How to Browse Plugins by Category

Adding the Marketplace

Before accessing category-filtered listings, register the community marketplace with the Claude CLI:

claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community

Listing and Filtering Plugins

Once added, enumerate available plugins:

claude plugin list

To isolate plugins from a specific category, query the raw .claude-plugin/marketplace.json using jq:

# Extract all "security" category plugin names

jq -r '.plugins[] | select(.category == "security") | .name' \
    .claude-plugin/marketplace.json

For case-insensitive matching when categories vary in capitalization:

# Match both "Developer Tools" and "developer tools"

jq -r '.plugins[] | select(.category | ascii_downcase == "developer tools") | .name' \
    .claude-plugin/marketplace.json

Installing from a Category

Install a plugin directly by its identifier. For example, a productivity plugin:

claude plugin install adaptlypost@claude-community

The category field itself does not serve as a CLI filter flag; rather, it functions as metadata for human browsing and programmatic selection.

Category Use Cases and Examples

• testing — Unit test runners, assertion frameworks, and coverage analyzers
• productivity — Note-taking, task management, and workflow automation utilities
• development — Code generation, linting, and IDE-integrated tooling
• location — Geocoding, mapping, and place-based data services
• finance — Budget tracking, expenditure analysis, and financial modeling
• monitoring — System health checks, log aggregation, and alerting mechanisms
• deployment — CI/CD pipeline integrations and infrastructure provisioning
• design — Asset generation, color palette tools, and UI prototyping helpers
• database — Query builders, schema migration utilities, and ORM connectors
• security — Vulnerability scanners, secret detectors, and access control plugins
• learning — Educational content generators, flashcard creators, and tutorial assistants
• automation — Script execution, scheduled task runners, and robotic process automation
• Developer Tools — Specialized utilities for IDE enhancement and developer experience optimization

Summary

• The Claude Plugins Community marketplace defines thirteen plugin categories in .claude-plugin/marketplace.json.
• Most categories use lowercase naming (testing, productivity, development), with one capitalized exception (Developer Tools).
• Filter plugins programmatically using jq against the category field.
• Install individual plugins via claude plugin install <identifier>@claude-community after adding the marketplace source.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I see which category a plugin belongs to?

Query the marketplace JSON directly. Each plugin object contains a category string field. Use jq '.plugins[] | {name, category}' to display name-category pairs.

Can I filter plugins by category in the Claude CLI?

The base CLI does not expose a --category flag for claude plugin list. Pipe the output through grep or filter the raw .claude-plugin/marketplace.json with jq to achieve category-based selection.

What is the difference between development and Developer Tools?

Both refer to developer-oriented utilities. development is the lowercase canonical form appearing in most entries. Developer Tools appears as a legacy or stylistically distinct label for a subset of plugins. Query both for comprehensive results.

Where is the category data stored in the repository?

Category assignments reside in .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, the central registry file. The root README.md provides repository overview and setup instructions but does not duplicate category metadata.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}