Refresh Skills After a Release Without Moving the Claude Marketplace Source

[ptr727]

Problem

merge-and-release step 7 refreshes this machine's Skills after a hub release by switching the hub checkout to main, fast-forwarding it, and running scripts/skills_install.py there. The procedure cannot be followed as written where that checkout is the primary checkout, and the obvious workaround has a side effect that breaks Claude Code's Skills.

1. The write guard refuses the step. git checkout main in the primary checkout is denied by gh-write-guard, which blocks mutating git operations against a primary checkout. The step names no alternative checkout, so the session has to improvise.

2. Running the installer from a worktree re-points Claude Code's marketplace. The natural improvisation is a linked worktree detached at origin/main. register_claude_marketplace() runs claude plugin marketplace add <ROOT> with ROOT being whichever checkout runs the script. When the projecttemplate-fleet marketplace is already registered from a different directory, the current claude CLI does not report "already added". It silently moves the source to the new directory:

   Marketplace 'projecttemplate-fleet' was already added from dir:<primary checkout> and now points at dir:<release worktree>.
   

   Claude Code then loads Skills from the temporary worktree, and removing that worktree during step 8's cleanup leaves the plugin pointing at a directory that no longer exists. The installer still exits 0 and prints Claude Code marketplace registered: True, and --report exits 0 too, since its exit reflects the snapshot alone, so nothing flags the move.

Reproduction (constructed)

1. Register the marketplace from checkout A by running python3 scripts/skills_install.py there.
2. Create a linked worktree B of the same repository at origin/main and run python3 scripts/skills_install.py from B.
3. claude plugin marketplace list --json now reports projecttemplate-fleet with path = B.
4. Remove B. The fleet plugin's source directory is gone.

Observed on 2026-09-28 while releasing 2.0.739. Running claude plugin marketplace add <A> pointed the source back at A before the worktree was removed, and --report then showed live back on A.

Expected

The refresh step works without mutating the primary checkout, and without moving Claude Code's registered source as a side effect. Options, recommendation first:

1. (Recommended) Add an installer mode that refreshes only the Codex/opencode snapshot (for example --snapshot-only) and leaves the Claude marketplace registration untouched. Then change step 7 to run it from a detached worktree at origin/main. The live channel already follows its registered checkout by design, so a release never needs to re-register it.
2. Have register_claude_marketplace() refuse, or warn and skip, when the marketplace is already registered from a different directory, unless an explicit flag asks to re-point it.
3. Keep step 7 as is and document that it needs GH_WRITE_GUARD_ALLOW_PRIMARY_CHECKOUT. This does not fix the silent re-point for anyone who runs the installer from a worktree for any other reason.

Options 1 and 2 are complementary: 1 fixes the procedure, and 2 stops the silent move whatever the entry point.

Scope

• scripts/skills_install.py (register_claude_marketplace(), and a new mode if option 1)
• .agents/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md step 7, and the generated distributions through scripts/build_dist.py
• skill-lifecycle and docs/host-setup.md wherever they describe running the installer from a worktree
• A test covering the "already registered from another directory" case