I Use All 5 Claude Code Plugins Every Day — An Honest Breakdown

Hi, I'm Edi. A month ago I'd run Claude Code for a full year with zero plugins. Today I have five installed and I use all of them every day. I'll lay it all out honestly: what's installed, when each one fires, and the difference between not having it vs having it. No ads, no sponsorship — just my own measured experience.

01 · My 5 Plugins — I use all five daily, in the order I installed them

Bottom line. My first year ran on zero plugins. A month ago (2026-04-26) I started with one — frontend-design — and on May 12 I added four more in a single day. All five have now settled into a daily or near-daily cadence.

Here are the five, ordered by how often I use them, with a one-line note on what situation triggers each.

frontend-design — DAILY · installed 2026-04-26

When it fires. Every time I write a post in my v2 infographic style. It auto-applies the magazine card system, light-tone readability, and my dark-box avoidance rules.

I trigger it inside all five of my post-generation jobs (run-daily · run-devtools-daily · run-weekly · run-ai-intro, etc.).

hookify — DAILY · installed 2026-05-12

When it fires. Right after an automation job has an incident, or when I need a new guard rule. I'm running 2 PreToolUse hooks + 1 PostToolUse hook.

My flow: check the current state with /hookify:list → write a new rule with /hookify:hookify → it lands in settings.json automatically.

skill-creator — DAILY · installed 2026-05-12

When it fires. Whenever I build a new skill or tweak an existing one. I carry 8 project skills (add-launch-job · blog-style-guide, etc.).

It handles the SKILL.md frontmatter format · description tuning · even the eval in one pass, so the cost of adding a skill is basically zero compared to hand-rolling it a year ago.

telegram — DAILY · installed 2026-05-12 (external)

When it fires. Two-way messaging between a Claude Code session ↔ my phone. I use it for interviews and instant job-debugging replies.

To avoid a token clash with my existing yongBlogBot, I spun up a separate bot via BotFather and paired it exclusively to the plugin.

playwright — DAILY · installed 2026-05-12 (external)

When it fires. Debugging publish jobs · inspecting pages. I keep the actual publish code in lib/ Python untouched and use the MCP browser tools only for debugging.

I don't rip out the publish job code all at once — I observe for a week → confirm it's stable → migrate gradually.

02 · Before vs After — The gap is bigger than I expected

Bottom line. For a year I held the "take it or leave it" view. After a month with them, I realized that the time freed up from hand-editing got filled with actual writing time.

Here's how I did each task without the plugin, and how it changed with it — all in one table.

Plugin	Without it (my year)	With it (one month in)
frontend-design	AI output came out as generic boxes. I hand-edited the v2 infographic design stitch by stitch.	Magazine cards · light-tone rules applied automatically. Almost zero design hand-editing.
hookify	Hand-edited settings.json directly. Looked up matcher syntax every time. Guessed at what would fire.	One line with /hookify:list shows the state. Rule writing is standardized. Less debugging time.
skill-creator	Started from a blank SKILL.md. Re-checked the frontmatter every time. Never wrote evals.	Auto format · description tuning · eval package. Zero cost to add a skill.
telegram	Wrote my own polling by hand with my own bot. Paired it manually. 700+ lines of two-way code.	Pair once. Session ↔ phone, two-way, instantly. Less weight on interview jobs.
playwright	Did all publish jobs directly in lib/ Python. To debug, edit code then re-run.	Inspect pages instantly with MCP browser tools. The publish jobs stay intact — it just assists.

Looking at the table taught me one thing. A plugin isn't a "new feature" — it's "automating the manual work I was already doing." All five took over something I'd been doing by hand for a year.

03 · How to Find — I locked in 4 criteria for finding a good plugin

Bottom line. I learned that if you open the marketplace and install everything that looks cool, your menu turns into a mess within days. So I run a 4-step check before installing anything.

1. Map your own workflow first. Standardizing what you already do often is the highest ROI. For me, that was hookify · skill-creator.
2. Official first, external only after vetting. Anthropic's official ones are verified. For external ones, you must check for token · credential clashes. When I installed telegram (external), I built a separate bot to avoid a bot-token clash.
3. One-week trial → measure ROI. If you're not using it, remove it immediately. Leaving things installed clutters the menu and causes command clashes. All five of mine survived past the one-month mark.
4. Don't rip out operational code like publish jobs. Even after adopting playwright, I left my lib/ Python publish code as-is. Observe for a week to confirm no stability impact, then migrate gradually — that's the safe path.

# 1. Open the marketplace
$ /plugin

# 2. Browse the official category first
   ↓ prioritize verified plugins
   ↓ vet external ones for clashes

# 3. Install one at a time (not several at once)
$ /plugin install hookify@claude-plugins-official

# 4. Use for a week → remove if unused
$ /plugin uninstall <the one you don't use>

04 · My Recommend — If you're just starting, I'd recommend three, in this order

Bottom line. All five are good, but if you're just starting, don't be greedy — look at three first. I'd recommend the order skill-creator → telegram → hookify.

The first three touch almost every workflow. The other two are optional.

1. #1 · skill-creator — The first step to turning your workflow into an asset. It's the fastest path to baking your repetitive work into a skill.
2. #2 · telegram — Session ↔ phone, two-way. Getting answers on your phone from inside a Claude Code session touches daily life more often than you'd think.
3. #3 · hookify — Safety net + guard rules. If you have even one automation job, you'll need a hook at some point. /hookify:hookify standardizes the rule writing.
4. optional · frontend-design — Only for people who touch blog · magazine design often. If you're backend-focused, you can skip it.
5. optional · playwright — Consider it if you do publish automation · web scraping often. Migrate operational code gradually, after a week of observation.

Coda — In the end, the answer is: I use all five every day

A month ago I ran a full year on zero. Now I use all five daily, and I can't go back. The way I see it, a good plugin isn't a new feature — it takes over the manual work.

— Edi · after one month of use

Edi's note: Don't install them all at once. Use one at a time for a week and drop it the moment the ROI isn't there — that's how you keep the menu clean.

A plugin isn't a new feature — it's the automation of manual work.

References

Claude Code official

• Plugins — install · manage · marketplace
• Hooks — PreToolUse · PostToolUse
• Sub-agents · Skills

Primary data

• EDIBLOG · one month running five plugins, my own asset (first-hand)
• My own setup · 39 automation jobs · 8 custom skills · 56 lib scripts

Disclaimer: this is my personal operating retro. Results may vary by environment. No ads · no affiliates.

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Original with full infographics and visual structure: https://jessinvestment.com/i-use-all-5-claude-code-plugins-every-day-an-honest-breakdown/