The generic archive and its installer are opaque to coding agents: something
external has to download and unpack them, which is why the generated installer
script exists. Agents can resolve npm packages on their own, so publishing the
same release contents to an npm registry lets them install and update without
an installer in the loop.
Opt in with `publish_npm`. The package is built from the same staged directory
as the generic archive, so the two cannot drift, and `package.json` is generated
with the release version so it stays in step with the plugin manifest versions
that release-please already bumps.
Two npm behaviours are handled explicitly:
- `npm pack <path>` without a leading `./` is parsed as a GitHub owner/repo
spec, so npm attempts a clone instead of packing the directory.
- npm's ignore rules can drop dot-directories, and the agent catalogs live in
`.agents/` and `.claude-plugin/`. The packed tarball is verified to contain
every released path before publishing, rather than shipping a package that
installs but has no catalog.
The generic archive, installer, and GitHub Release paths are unchanged, so
existing consumers are unaffected.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <[email protected]>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Jm9AfbCJBD4tkxnxxnq7Wm
