Passthrough plugin

Use --passthrough when you want a plugin’s native files in the provider layout without updating the capabilities file or running capa’s managed server/proxy path for that add.

Goal

Drop a community plugin into Cursor (or another provider) with one command, specifying the provider explicitly in CI/non-TTY.

Command

capa add --plugin slackapi/slack-mcp-plugin --passthrough -p cursor

Other source shapes work the same way:

capa add --plugin anthropics/claude-plugins-official::plugins/frontend-design --passthrough -p cursor
capa add --plugin https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official/tree/main/plugins/code-review --passthrough -p claude-code

Flag	Role here
--plugin	Treat the source as a plugin
--passthrough	Write provider-native files; skip capabilities file / capa management
-p, --provider	Target provider (required in non-TTY)

Caution

Passthrough does not leave you a capa-managed MCP proxy for that add. If you later want managed install, capa sh, or tool exposure modes, declare the plugin in capabilities.yaml and run a plain capa install instead. See Managed vs passthrough.

Plugin sub-agents honor any providers allow-list, so a sub-agent is only written for the providers it targets. Plugin rules are folded using the same shared instruction file layout as a normal install.

Note

capa add --plugin --passthrough does not report rule visibility/scope conflicts or update Gemini CLI’s context.fileName. If you target Gemini CLI or need those checks, declare the rules in the capabilities file and run capa install --passthrough (or a managed capa install).

Managed alternative

When you want the capabilities file to own the plugin:

capa add --plugin slackapi/slack-mcp-plugin --install

Then declare tools that reference the plugin’s MCP servers and bind skills with type: plugin as needed.

See also

• add
• install
• Managed vs passthrough
• Plugins guide