The Claude Code plugins I actually left installed

I keep a short list. Not because I tried two hundred plugins and kept a diary. Because a plugin that does not change the next hour is context I am paying for.

This is the set that earns a slot when I am building. Nine names. Two of them are not on the usual roundup.

The filter

A plugin stays if I can finish this sentence: it does X every time I sit down, without me remembering to ask.

That kills most of Discover. A slash command you invoke once is a snippet, not infrastructure.

Frontend Design does not pass. "Make the UI less generic" belongs in CLAUDE.md. skill-creator does not pass unless I am authoring a skill that week. Those two are the usual ninth and tenth. I did not leave them installed.

What stayed

security-guidance. I do not invoke it. It watches edits, the end of a turn, and commits Claude makes. Official: /plugin install security-guidance@claude-plugins-official.

typescript-lsp (or the LSP for the language in front of me). One plugin, one binary on PATH. /plugin install typescript-lsp@claude-plugins-official. I do not install the rest of the languages "just in case."

context7. Library docs that are not in the repo. /plugin install context7@claude-plugins-official.

commit-commands. Official commit / push / PR commands. /plugin install commit-commands@claude-plugins-official. I still read the message.

code-review. PR-time, parallel agents, confidence filter. /plugin install code-review@claude-plugins-official. GitHub only.

playwright. Microsoft's MCP. /plugin install playwright@claude-plugins-official.

chrome-devtools-mcp. Live tab: console, network, traces. /plugin install chrome-devtools-mcp@claude-plugins-official.

Superpowers. Plan, failing test, implementation, review. /plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-official. On for a feature. Off for a rename.

claude-mem. Not official. Marketplace: thedotmack/claude-mem, then /plugin install claude-mem. Do not stack with official remember.

What I uninstall

frontend-design. Taste, packaged. Put the constraint in CLAUDE.md.

skill-creator. Meta. Useful the week I am writing a skill.

plugin-dev. For shipping plugins. Different job.

Also: every LSP I do not compile, and any Figma / Slack / Linear MCP until that tool is in the loop.

The order I would use again

Day one: security-guidance, one LSP, Context7. When I commit more than twice a day: commit-commands. When the unit of work is a PR: code-review. When the proof is a page: playwright or chrome-devtools-mcp. When the work is a feature: Superpowers. When the repo outlives the weekend: claude-mem.

Nine is a ceiling. Three is a working setup.

The rest of the system — named agents and workflow files — lives in ClaudeFlow.