Slash commands for plugin skills return 'Unknown skill' with custom CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR

[zigorou]

Description

When using a custom profile via CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR (e.g., CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-custom claude), slash commands for plugin-provided skills return "Unknown skill", even though the skill is correctly loaded and functional via the Skill tool and natural language triggering.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Set up a custom profile:

   export CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-custom

2. Install a plugin from a custom marketplace:

   claude plugin install my-skill@my-marketplace

3. Launch Claude Code with the custom profile and run /reload-plugins — output shows the plugin is loaded:

   Reloaded: 3 plugins · 0 commands · 5 agents · 0 hooks · 0 plugin MCP servers
   

4. The skill appears in the system prompt's available skills list:

   - my-plugin:my-skill: ...description...
   

5. Try invoking via slash command:

   /my-plugin:my-skill
   

   Result: "Unknown skill"

Expected Behavior

/my-plugin:my-skill should invoke the skill, just like the Skill tool does.

What Works

• Skill tool invocation: Skill tool with skill: "my-plugin:my-skill" works correctly
• Natural language triggering: Describing the task in natural language correctly triggers the skill
• Plugin list: claude plugin list shows the plugin as installed and enabled
• Plugin validation: claude plugin validate <path> passes

Environment

• OS: macOS (Darwin 25.3.0, Apple Silicon)
• Shell: zsh
• Custom profile via CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR (not the default ~/.claude/)
• Plugin installed from a custom marketplace (extraKnownMarketplaces in settings.json)

Analysis

The slash command autocomplete/resolution system and the Skill tool appear to use different lookup paths. The Skill tool correctly resolves plugin skills from the custom CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR, but the interactive slash command resolver may be falling back to the default ~/.claude/ directory, missing the plugin registry in the custom profile.

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. Skills not loaded when using CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable #20993
2. CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR does not support automatic plugin discovery #20321
3. Skills not loaded from CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR — hardcoded to ~/.claude/skills/ #31649

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[yurukusa]

This looks like the slash command registry reads from the default ~/.claude/ path but plugins are loaded from CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR. The Skill tool works because it resolves skills dynamically at invocation time, while slash commands are registered at startup from a hardcoded path.

Workaround: symlink the plugin registry

If your custom profile is at ~/.claude-custom:

# Ensure the slash command registry can find plugins from both locations
ln -s ~/.claude-custom/plugins ~/.claude/plugins-custom

# Or, if you only use the custom profile:
ln -s ~/.claude-custom/plugins ~/.claude/plugins

Alternative: invoke via Skill tool instead of slash commands

Since the Skill tool works correctly, you can create a slash-command wrapper that delegates:

Add to ~/.claude-custom/skills/my-shortcut.md:

---
name: my-shortcut
---
Invoke the Skill tool with skill: "my-plugin:my-skill" and pass along any arguments from this prompt.

Now /my-shortcut works as a slash command that internally routes through the Skill tool, bypassing the broken slash command registry.

For multiple plugins, you can create one wrapper per plugin skill, or a single dispatcher:

---
name: dispatch
argument-hint: [plugin:skill] [args...]
---
Parse the first argument as a plugin:skill identifier.
Invoke Skill tool with that identifier and the remaining arguments.

Then: /dispatch my-plugin:my-skill arg1 arg2

Not as clean as native slash commands, but it works immediately with CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR.

[github-actions]

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.