Installation

empn-core reaches you through two separate delivery systems that don't share settings. Which one applies depends on where you work — and one of them is done for you.

The rule of thumb

• Cowork — your admin installs it once for the whole organisation. You do nothing.
• Claude Code — it's a local install on your own computer. You do it yourself, once per machine.
• VS Code extension — a separate surface: install the plugin again there, even if you already set it up in the terminal.

Where empn-core works

Where you work	empn-core there?	Who installs it
Cowork and Claude chat (claude.ai web + the desktop app's Chat tab)	Yes	Your admin, once for the whole org. Everyone gets it automatically, re-synced on every update. Nothing for you to do.
Claude Code — terminal (CLI)	Yes	You. The admin sync above does not reach it. Two commands, once per machine — see below.
Claude Code — desktop app	Yes	You. Same local setup — install from its plugin browser.
Claude Code — VS Code extension	Yes	You, again. Installing in the terminal is not enough — run the install once more inside VS Code. See below.
Claude Code — web (claude.ai/code cloud sessions)	No	Plugins don't run in cloud sessions.
Claude.ai API	No	Plugins aren't an API feature.

Which row is you?

Almost every EMPN member only needs the first row — the plugin is already in your Cowork sessions, no install. The Claude Code rows are for people who also work in the terminal, the Claude Code app, or VS Code.

Cowork — installed by your admin

Nothing to do as a member. Your Cowork admin connects the plugin repo once in the org settings; from then on everyone in the organisation has it, and every update to the plugin re-syncs to every member within minutes.

To check it's live, type /help-tutorial in any Cowork conversation. If nothing happens, your admin hasn't connected it yet — the admin steps are at the bottom of this page.

Claude Code — you install it yourself

Unlike Cowork, Claude Code runs on your own computer and reads only what is installed there. The org sync never reaches it, so you set it up yourself, once per machine.

Two things make it more involved than a normal plugin install: the repo is private, so you have to prove to GitHub who you are before the plugin will download; and the variants of Claude Code are not the same — only the ones that run on your own computer can use the plugin.

Step 0 — download the apps

The plugin installs into Claude Code, so the app has to be on your machine first. Depending on where you want to work:

• Claude Code (terminal or desktop app) — download it from claude.com/claude-code. For the terminal version, npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code also works if you have Node.js.
• VS Code — download it from code.visualstudio.com if you don't have it.
• The Claude Code extension for VS Code — inside VS Code, open the Extensions panel, search for Claude Code (publisher: Anthropic), and install it. Having Claude Code in the terminal does not give you the extension — it's its own download.

Before you start — one-time GitHub setup

1. Get access. Ask the EMPN maintainer to add your GitHub account to EMPN-eu/empn-core as a collaborator. Without this, the install has nothing to download.

   The plugin lives in a private repo shared across the EMPN network, so our skills, house style, and partner-specific settings stay internal to members rather than published to the world. Access is granted person by person.

2. Install the GitHub CLI (a small free tool from GitHub), if you don't have it yet:

   The GitHub CLI (gh) is the easy way to reach GitHub from the terminal. Worth having beyond this plugin: the agents you run in Claude Code use it too, for things like filing issues and opening pull requests.

   macOSWindowsLinux

   Open the Terminal app and run brew install gh. No Homebrew? Download the installer from cli.github.com instead and open it.

   Open PowerShell and run winget install --id GitHub.cli. Or download the installer from cli.github.com and double-click it.

   Follow the one-line command for your distribution at cli.github.com.

3. Sign in to GitHub. In a terminal, run gh auth login and follow the prompts — choose GitHub.com, then Login with a web browser, and paste the code it shows into the page that opens. Done once, it remembers you. (Already use GitHub with SSH keys? You're set — skip this.)

Install, per variant

Terminal (CLI)Desktop appVS Code extensionManaged by IT (whole team)

/plugin marketplace add EMPN-eu/empn-core
/plugin install empn-core@empn
/reload-plugins

Open the plugin browser, add the EMPN-eu/empn-core marketplace, then install empn-core.

Even if you already installed in the terminal, the extension needs its own install. The extension has a graphical plugin manager, so no commands to remember:

1. Type /plugins in the Claude Code chat panel.
2. Marketplaces tab → add https://github.com/EMPN-eu/empn-core.git as a source.
3. Plugins tab → find empn-core → Install for you.

The same two typed commands as the terminal also work in the chat panel, if you prefer them:

/plugin marketplace add EMPN-eu/empn-core
/plugin install empn-core@empn

Your admin deploys a settings file to each machine so the plugin installs automatically — the Claude Code equivalent of the Cowork admin sync. Nothing for you to do.

If the commands fail with a "not found" or authentication error, the GitHub setup above didn't take — check you have repo access and that gh auth status shows you logged in, then ping the EMPN maintainer.

Here is the whole install, as it looks in your session:

> ▋

⏺

Marketplace connected

✓ empn marketplace added from EMPN-eu/empn-core

✓ 1 plugin available: empn-core

Plugin installed

✓ empn-core installed and enabled

✓ skills available in your next conversation

✓ verify with /help-tutorial — and turn on auto-update (next section)

Turn on auto-update — or you drift behind

In Cowork, updates arrive on their own. In Claude Code they don't: auto-update is off by default for non-Anthropic marketplaces, so your copy silently falls behind every release until you update by hand.

• One-off update: /plugin update empn-core.
• Durable fix: /plugin → Marketplaces → empn → Enable auto-update. Do this once on each surface where you installed.

Verify it worked

In a fresh conversation on the surface you just set up, type /help-tutorial. If the tutorial responds, you're done — continue with the Quick start.

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Admin setup (Cowork)

One-time per organisation. Done by your Cowork admin, not by individual members. Skip this section if you're not setting up the plugin for your whole team.

1. Sign in to Cowork as admin.
2. Go to Plugins → Sync from GitHub.
3. Connect EMPN-eu/empn-core and save.

Every member of the organisation has the plugin on their next Cowork session, no per-user install needed. Each push to main re-syncs within minutes.

Partner admins need GitHub access to the EMPN-eu/empn-core repo. The EMPN maintainer adds you as an outside collaborator — ping them if you don't have access yet.