Who needs this
Anyone who installed or updated last30days between v3.0.1 and v3.0.2 (roughly 2026-04-14 to 2026-04-15 morning). Users on pre-v3.0.1 cached installs are unaffected but should update to stay current.
What happened
v3.0.1 added `.gitattributes` rules that excluded `skills/` and `.claude-plugin/` from `git archive` output, to shrink the claude.ai `.skill` bundle under the 200-file cap. Claude Code's `/plugin install` fetches the same archive, so users installing v3.0.1 or v3.0.2 got a tarball with no plugin manifest and no skill files. Install appeared successful but the plugin was empty.
Proof
```
git archive v3.0.0 | grep 'skills/|.claude-plugin/' | wc -l # 8
git archive v3.0.1 | grep 'skills/|.claude-plugin/' | wc -l # 0
git archive v3.0.2 | grep 'skills/|.claude-plugin/' | wc -l # 0
git archive v3.0.3 | grep 'skills/|.claude-plugin/' | wc -l # 8
```
Recovery
```
/plugin update last30days
/reload-plugins
```
If autoUpdate is on, next session start pulls v3.0.3 automatically.
Credit
Thanks to whoever triggered the diagnosis by installing on Claude Code v2.1.109 where the loader is strict enough to surface the missing-manifest issue.