`plugin.json` `"skills": ["./"]` rejected by Claude Code's manifest validator

[frntman]

Recent versions of Claude Code reject the "skills": ["./"] entry added in v0.7.1 (commit 8f1d0e3, "feat: add cross-harness package compatibility").

Error shown in /plugin → Errors tab

visual-explainer (user)
skills path escapes plugin directory: ./
Paths in plugin.json must not use ".." to reference files outside the plugin directory

Where

plugins/visual-explainer/.claude-plugin/plugin.json:

"skills": ["./"]

Why it fires

Claude Code resolves skills entries relative to the manifest location (.claude-plugin/). From there, ./ normalizes back into .claude-plugin/ itself, which the validator treats as outside the intended plugin root and rejects.

Reproduction

1. /plugin install visual-explainer@visual-explainer-marketplace
2. Open /plugin → Errors tab

Observed impact

The skill itself still loads (auto-discovery finds SKILL.md and commands/), but the plugin shows a persistent error badge.

Suggested fix

Remove the skills field entirely — every other plugin I have installed (figma, superpowers, etc.) omits it and relies on Claude Code's default discovery, which already finds the root SKILL.md and commands/ directory just fine.

   "repository": "https://github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer",
-  "license": "MIT",
-  "skills": ["./"]
+  "license": "MIT"
 }

PR title

fix(plugin): remove invalid skills: ["./"] from plugin.json

PR body

Closes #

Claude Code's plugin manifest validator rejects "skills": ["./"] with:

skills path escapes plugin directory: ./

The field was added in 8f1d0e3 alongside the v0.7.1 bump. Removing it restores parity with the standard plugin shape used by figma, superpowers, and others — Claude Code's default skill discovery already picks up the root SKILL.md and commands/ directory, so no behavior is lost.

Verified locally by patching the field out of the cached manifest: skills still load, error badge disappears.

[umar-s]

Confirming this still reproduces on Claude Code 2.x / Linux (Ubuntu 24.04) with visual-explainer 0.7.1 as of 2026-05-14 — same Path escapes plugin directory: ./ on /reload-plugins and /doctor.

Option A from the issue (drop the "skills": ["./"] line) verified locally by patching the cached manifest at ~/.claude/plugins/cache/.../plugin.json: the /doctor badge clears and visual-explainer:* skills/commands keep working.

Three open issues now track this (#49, #51, #58); a one-line revert of 8f1d0e3 would close all of them.

[NikiforovAll]

FYI, I ported it to claude code, and removed surf dependency - https://nikiforovall.blog/claude-code-rules/plugins/#handbook-visual-explainer