Paid-plan developers can file MCP connectors or GitHub plugin bundles, watch review, then pull install and search numbers after launch.
Anthropic opened a directory submission portal Friday for plugins that sit inside Claude.
The company said millions of people already hook Claude to apps, work tools and data every day. Friday’s portal is how outside developers are supposed to reach that crowd.
Plugins package MCP connectors, Agent Skills, or both. Anthropic calls them the main way third parties extend Claude. Build the package, push it through the portal, and an approved listing shows up in the Claude directory.
Only developers on paid Claude plans can use the portal.
Two routes in. A single MCP connector is just a pointer to a remote MCP server. Nothing else required on that path. A plugin bundle mixes MCP servers and skills, lives on GitHub, and goes in as the repo. Claude Code can take more in that same bundle: LSPs, commands, hooks and agents. Those extras are called out for Code, not for every Claude surface.
The portal is meant to walk a listing from drop-off to launch. Whichever path a developer picks, the same board handles the trip.
Submit and the system checks the package on the spot. A safety scan runs with that first pass. The point, Anthropic said, is to surface problems before review drags on.
Status stays visible. Developers can see where a plugin sits in the queue, what the scan turned up, and which changes the company wants.
Approval is not an automatic go-live. Once the listing clears, the developer chooses the publish moment inside Claude.
Live listings get usage numbers. Installs break out by product surface and by version. That split is what the company says should drive which bugs and features get attention first.
Discovery stats sit next to those install counts. How often the directory card was viewed. Which searches dumped a user onto it. The listing copy can be tightened against those queries.
None of that changes the protocol underneath. Claude already supports the latest Model Context Protocol specification, commonly called MCP 2.0. The spec includes a stateless core.
Two extensions can dress the plugin. MCP Apps put interactive UI in the chat itself. Enterprise Managed Auth handles zero-touch OAuth for company users.
More MCP features and extensions are coming. Anthropic did not attach a date.
Discovery itself is about to flatten, at least on the product map. Over the coming weeks the company plans one discovery experience across Claude and Claude Code.
Skills and MCP connectors are not being retired. They stay the building blocks. The directory will keep listing them on their own. Later, a developer will be able to turn a connector listing into a plugin.
Already in the catalog? Leave it. An existing skill, connector or plugin on the Claude directory does not need a rewrite for this portal.
Build notes live in the public docs. Submission is the same portal used for tracking.
For executives, the practical cut is distribution and telemetry. A paid-plan team can put an MCP server or a GitHub bundle in front of Claude users, then see installs by surface and the search terms that found the listing. Review is gated. Publish timing stays with the submitter.
For developers, the cut is narrower. Pick connector or bundle. Expect an immediate validate-and-scan. Watch the recommended changes. Ship when you choose. Then use the install and search tables instead of guessing which surface is actually running the thing.
The announcement does not name a reviewer team, a typical turnaround, or a rejection rate. It also does not price the portal separately from a paid Claude plan.
What it does say is blunt enough. Plugins are how third parties extend Claude. The directory is where those plugins are supposed to be found. The portal is the intake, the status board and, after launch, the usage pane.