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Contributing to ECA Plugins

Thank you for your interest in contributing to the ECA plugin marketplace! This guide walks you through the process of submitting a new plugin.

Plugin structure

Each plugin lives under plugins/<plugin-name>/ and can provide any combination of:

plugins/my-plugin/
├── skills/              # Skill directories (each subfolder is a skill)
│   └── my-skill/
│       └── my-skill.md
├── agents/              # Agent definitions (Markdown files)
│   └── my-agent.md
├── commands/            # Custom commands (Markdown files)
│   └── my-command.md
├── rules/               # Rule files applied to conversations
│   └── my-rule.md
├── hooks/               # Hook definitions
│   └── hooks.json
├── .mcp.json            # MCP server definitions
├── eca.json             # Arbitrary config overrides
└── README.md            # Documentation (displayed on the marketplace website)

You don't need all of these — include only the components your plugin provides.

Adding a plugin

1. Create the plugin directory

mkdir -p plugins/my-plugin

2. Add your plugin components

Add the files for your plugin (skills, agents, rules, etc.) following the structure above.

3. Add a README

Create plugins/my-plugin/README.md describing what your plugin does, how to use it, and any configuration options.

4. Register in the marketplace

Add an entry to .eca-plugin/marketplace.json:

{
  "name": "my-plugin",
  "description": "A short description of what your plugin does",
  "source": "plugins/my-plugin",
  "category": "Development",
  "tags": ["relevant", "tags"],
  "author": "Your Name",
  "icon": "🔧"
}

Fields:

Field Required Description
name Yes Unique plugin identifier (kebab-case)
description Yes Short description (one sentence)
source Yes Path to the plugin directory (relative to repo root)
category Yes One of: Development, Productivity, Workflow, Security, Documentation, DevOps
tags Yes Array of relevant tags for search/filtering
author Yes Author name or organization
icon No Emoji icon for the plugin card
featured No Set to true for featured plugins (maintainers only)

5. Open a pull request

Submit a PR with your plugin. We'll review it for:

  • Usefulness — Does it provide value to ECA users?
  • Quality — Are the skills/agents/rules well-written?
  • Safety — Does it follow responsible AI practices?
  • Documentation — Is the README clear and helpful?

Guidelines

Hook scripts

  • Namespace hook keys with <plugin-name>.<hook-name> (e.g., secret-guard.scan, pomodoro.check). This avoids collisions when multiple plugins are installed.
  • Hook scripts that need to parse JSON should use jq, which is expected as a runtime dependency. If your hook relies on jq, check for its availability at the start and degrade gracefully with a clear error message if it's missing.

General

  • Keep plugin names short and descriptive (kebab-case)
  • Write clear, concise skill/agent prompts
  • Include examples in your README
  • Test your plugin locally before submitting (add it as a local source in your ECA config)
  • One plugin per PR unless they're closely related

Testing locally

You can test your plugin by pointing ECA to your local clone:

{
  "plugins": {
    "local": { "source": "/path/to/eca-plugins" },
    "install": ["my-plugin"]
  }
}

Questions?

Open an issue or reach out on Slack.