test-plugin

name	test-plugin
description	End-to-end test a Claude Code plugin by launching an interactive Claude session in a tmux pane with the plugin loaded, sending prompts, and verifying behavior.
user-invocable	true

Test Plugin via tmux

Launch an interactive Claude Code session in a tmux split pane with a plugin loaded, send prompts to it, and verify the plugin works correctly.

Procedure

Step 1: Resolve plugin info

Read the plugin's .claude-plugin/plugin.json to get the plugin name. If the plugin has .mcp.json, check if any server declares claude/channel capability by reading the source.

Step 2: Build the launch command

Base command:

claude --debug --plugin-dir <absolute-path-to-plugin>

If the plugin has a channel server, append:

--dangerously-load-development-channels plugin:<plugin-name>@inline

Step 3: Launch in a tmux pane

tmux split-window -h '<launch-command>'

Then find the new pane index:

tmux list-panes -F '#{pane_index} #{pane_current_command}'

Step 4: Handle confirmation prompts

The --dangerously-load-development-channels flag shows a confirmation dialog. Accept it:

tmux send-keys -t :.<pane> Enter

Wait for Claude to fully start (check for the welcome banner):

sleep 10 && tmux capture-pane -t :.<pane> -p

Step 5: Send test prompt

tmux send-keys -t :.<pane> "<prompt>" Enter

If no prompt was provided, use a default that asks Claude to list connected MCP servers and their capabilities.

Step 6: Wait and capture result

Poll the pane output periodically:

sleep <interval> && tmux capture-pane -t :.<pane> -p -S -100

Look for the response to complete (the input prompt ❯ reappears at the bottom).

Step 7: Check debug log

Find the debug log path from the pane output (it shows "Logging to: ..."). Grep for errors:

grep -i "ERROR\|WARN\|channel\|<plugin-name>" <debug-log-path>

Step 8: Report results

Summarize:

• Whether the plugin loaded successfully
• Whether MCP servers connected
• Whether channel notifications were received (if applicable)
• Any errors from the debug log
• The Claude session's response

Step 9: Clean up

Kill the test pane:

tmux kill-pane -t :.<pane>

Important Notes

• Always use tmux capture-pane -t :.<pane> -p to read output, not manual inspection
• For channel plugins loaded via --plugin-dir, the channel identifier is plugin:<name>@inline
• The debug log path is shown in the pane output after startup
• If tmux split-window silently fails (pane count doesn't increase), the command errored — add ; sleep 30 to keep the pane alive and see the error