# Plugin Systems Comparison: Ours vs Claude vs emes

> **Date:** 2026-01-09
> **Status:** Living document
> **Related:** [ADR-005](../adr/005-dual-publish-plugin-architecture.md)

## Overview

Three plugin/skill systems for AI coding agents:

| System | Origin | Focus |
|--------|--------|-------|
| **Ours** | This repo | Cross-agent portability |
| **Claude Plugins** | Anthropic (Oct 2025) | Claude Code extensibility |
| **emes** | [evil-mind-evil-sword](https://github.com/evil-mind-evil-sword) | Mechanical quality enforcement |

## Feature Comparison

| Aspect | **Our System** | **Claude Plugins** | **emes** |
|--------|---------------|-------------------|----------|
| Primary file | `SKILL.md` | `plugin.json` + `skills/*.md` | `plugin.json` + tools |
| Distribution | Nix + `deploy-skill.sh` | `/plugin install` + marketplace | `/plugin install @emes` |
| Discovery | Symlink to `~/.claude/skills/` | Auto-discovery from `skills/` | Auto-discovery |
| Multi-agent | ✅ Gemini, OpenCode, Claude | ❌ Claude only | ❌ Claude only |
| Hooks | ❌ None | ✅ 9 lifecycle events | ✅ Uses hooks heavily |
| Issue tracking | beads | N/A | tissue (their own) |
| Quality gates | ❌ Manual | ✅ Hooks possible | ✅ idle (blocks exit) |
| Messaging | N/A | N/A | jwz (async, identity-aware) |

## Architectural Principles

| Principle | Ours | Claude | emes |
|-----------|------|--------|------|
| Context injection | Push (SKILL.md loaded upfront) | Push (skill loaded upfront) | **Pull on-demand** |
| Enforcement | Prompt-based ("please do X") | Hooks available but optional | **Mechanical (hooks required)** |
| Content style | Inline markdown | Inline markdown | **References to files** |
| Interface | Human-readable | Human-readable | **Machine-first (JSON)** |

## Unique Strengths

### What We Have (that others don't)

1. **Cross-agent support** - Works with Gemini, OpenCode, not just Claude
2. **Nix deployment** - Declarative, reproducible, system-level
3. **Lenses pattern** - Multi-pass focused review (bloat, security, coupling, etc.)
4. **beads integration** - Issue tracking across sessions

### What Claude Has (that others don't)

1. **Official support** - Anthropic-maintained, documented
2. **Marketplace ecosystem** - Community plugins, discovery
3. **Scope control** - user/project/local installation
4. **9 lifecycle hooks** - SessionStart, PostToolUse, PreCompact, etc.

### What emes Has (that others don't)

1. **idle** - Quality gate that mechanically blocks exit until reviewer approves
2. **tissue** - Issue tracker designed for agents (JSON, non-interactive)
3. **jwz** - Async messaging with git context and identity
4. **alice** - Adversarial reviewer agent (Opus-based)
5. **Mechanical enforcement** - Hooks enforce policy, not prompts

## emes Tool Details

| Tool | Purpose | Language |
|------|---------|----------|
| **idle** | Quality gate - blocks exit until alice reviews | Shell + hooks |
| **tissue** | Git-native issue tracking, machine-first | Zig |
| **jwz** | Async messaging with identity/git context | Zig |
| **marketplace** | Plugin distribution registry | JSON |
| **alice** | Read-only Opus reviewer, creates issues | Agent |

### emes Key Principles

From their architecture:

1. **Pull context on-demand** - Don't inject large prompts upfront
2. **Mechanical enforcement** - Use hooks to enforce, not prompt instructions
3. **References over inline** - Point to files, don't embed content
4. **Machine-first interfaces** - JSON output, non-interactive CLIs

## Philosophical Stances

| System | Core Belief |
|--------|-------------|
| **Ours** | "Skills should work everywhere" - agent-agnostic |
| **Claude** | "Plugins extend Claude Code" - platform-specific |
| **emes** | "Enforce quality mechanically" - trust hooks, not prompts |

## Integration Points

### We Could Adopt from emes

- [ ] **idle pattern** - Quality gate for code-review skill (skills-9jk)
- [ ] **tissue** - Alternative to beads? (probably not, beads is good)
- [ ] **Pull on-demand** - Reduce upfront context injection
- [ ] **Machine-first** - JSON output modes for scripts

### We Could Adopt from Claude

- [x] **plugin.json** - Already doing via dual-publish
- [x] **marketplace.json** - Already created
- [ ] **Hooks** - Add to skills that need lifecycle events
- [ ] **Scope control** - Let users choose install scope

## Current Strategy: Dual-Publish

We maintain both systems:

```
skills/my-skill/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json        # Claude plugin system
├── skills/
│   └── my-skill.md        # Claude auto-discovery
├── SKILL.md               # Nix deployment (cross-agent)
└── README.md
```

**Rationale:** Cross-agent support is important. Gemini can't use Claude plugins (skills-bo8).

## Deployment Strategy

| Environment | Issue Tracker | Plugins | Notes |
|-------------|---------------|---------|-------|
| **Local** (skills, dotfiles) | beads | Our dual-publish | Familiar, cross-agent |
| **Remote** (ops-jrz1 VPS) | tissue | emes ecosystem | First deployment target |

We use beads locally, tissue on the remote server. Not replacing one with the other - they coexist by environment.

## Open Questions

1. ~~Should we adopt tissue or stick with beads?~~ → Both, by environment
2. How much of emes philosophy (mechanical enforcement) should we adopt?
3. Can we make lenses work as Claude plugin hooks?
4. Should skills output JSON for machine consumption?
5. How do beads and tissue sync/interop? (or do they?)

## References

- [Claude Code Plugin Docs](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/plugins)
- [emes org](https://github.com/evil-mind-evil-sword)
- [emes idle](https://github.com/evil-mind-evil-sword/idle)
- [emes tissue](https://github.com/evil-mind-evil-sword/tissue)
- [Anthropic marketplace](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/blob/main/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json)