Plugin testing

Skill neurawork-git/n8n-autopilot/skills/plugin-testing

The ONLY supported way to test changes to the n8n-autopilot plugin itself: commit → push to the private repo → install FROM that repo → restart → verify registration. Use whenever a plugin change (agent, skill, hook, script) must be exercised in a real session. Hard rule: no cache hand-copying, no directory-pointer marketplace, no hand-edited settings.json. Push to repo, install from there, nothing else.From its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add neurawork-git/n8n-autopilot --skill plugin-testing

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

One thing to look at

18 stars18 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.

SKILL.md

5.5 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

Plugin Testing — push to repo, install from there, nothing else

THE RULE. A change to this plugin (agent def, skill, hook, script, manifest) is tested in exactly one way: commit it, push it to neurawork-git/n8n-autopilot-internal, install the plugin FROM that GitHub repo, restart, verify. Nothing else counts. A change you have not pushed-and-installed has not been tested — you are looking at stale or inconsistently-registered state.

Why (lessons paid for)

Hand-copying files into ~/.claude/plugins/cache/.../<version>/ registers inconsistently: agents silently fail to appear, /reload-plugins does not pick up newly-added agents, and you end up with two plugins thinking different things. NEVER do it.
A directory-pointer marketplace (extraKnownMarketplaces … source: directory) drifts from the committed truth and produces dual stale installs. Do not use it for testing.
Hand-editing .claude/settings.json enabledPlugins desyncs the install records. Use the CLI (claude plugin enable/disable).
/reload-plugins is NOT sufficient for newly-added agents/hooks — only a full session restart reliably registers them.

The flow

1. Commit + push + bump version

The installer is version-keyed: install/update no-op if the version already present. So every test cycle bumps the version.

# bump .claude-plugin/plugin.json + .claude-plugin/marketplace.json version (e.g. 4.8.0 -> 4.8.1)
git add -A
git commit -F - <<'MSG'
<type>: <subject>            # clean Conventional Commit — NO leading "@", umlauts correct (ä/ö/ü/ß)

<body>

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <[email protected]>
MSG
git log -1 --format='[%s]'   # verify subject is clean (no stray @)
git push origin main

2. Register the repo marketplace (once) — point at `-internal`, mind the name collision

We push to and install from neurawork-git/n8n-autopilot-internal (the dev repo). Its marketplace.json name is n8n-autopilot — the same name as the public release marketplace (neurawork-git/n8n-autopilot). Two marketplaces cannot share a name, so:

# if a `n8n-autopilot` marketplace already points at the PUBLIC repo, remove it first:
claude plugin marketplace list                      # check the Source of `n8n-autopilot`
claude plugin marketplace remove n8n-autopilot      # only if it points at the public repo / a directory

claude plugin marketplace add neurawork-git/n8n-autopilot-internal   # GitHub source = single truth

Never add a directory source for this name (that is the cache-drift trap).

3. Pull the new version + install

claude plugin marketplace update <marketplace-name>     # re-pull the just-pushed commit
claude plugin install n8n-autopilot@<marketplace-name> --scope user
# (or `claude plugin update n8n-autopilot@<marketplace-name>` once installed)

4. Restart the session

Plugins — especially new agents and hooks — register at session start. Restart fully. /reload-plugins does not reliably register newly-added agents.

5. Verify registration (post-restart)

Run the verification probe — a short Workflow that confirms the install is real:

// for each expected agentType, confirm it resolves + that its skills: loaded
phase('Verify')
const AGENTS = ['n8n-researcher','n8n-node-verifier','n8n-comprehender','n8n-author',
                'n8n-validator','n8n-deployer','n8n-tester','n8n-mirror']
const r = await parallel(AGENTS.map(a => () =>
  agent(`Reply with exactly: OK ${a}. Then name one skill you have loaded from your context.`,
        { agentType: `n8n-autopilot:${a}`, label: a }).catch(e => ({ a, error: String(e).slice(0,120) }))))
return r

Every agent resolves (no "agent type not found") ⇒ registration clean.
Each names a loaded skill ⇒ skills: pass-through works.
Also confirm SessionStart hooks fired (look for report-session-env / check-mirror-drift output).

Cleaning up a messy state (one-time)

If dual/stale installs or a directory-pointer marketplace exist:

# uninstall is BLOCKED while the plugin is enabled at PROJECT scope (.claude/settings.json).
# `--scope local` does NOT clear that — use --scope project:
claude plugin disable n8n-autopilot@<mp> --scope project
claude plugin uninstall n8n-autopilot@<mp>                     # removes stale install records (per version)
claude plugin marketplace remove <directory-pointer-name>     # drop any directory pointer / public-repo mp
# then: marketplace add (github -internal) -> install -> restart -> verify

Never resolve a messy state by editing cache files or settings.json by hand — only the CLI (claude plugin disable/enable/uninstall, claude plugin marketplace remove/add).

Definition of done

A plugin change is "tested" only when: pushed to main, installed from the GitHub marketplace at the new version, session restarted, and the verification probe is green (all agents resolve, skills load, hooks fire).