[power-pages][Bug] Unable to install power platform skills marketplace - JSON parse error with marketplace.json

[KevinMcDonaldIAI]

Plugin

power-pages

Plugin Version

Latest

Skill / Command

power platform skills

Bug Description

Attempting to install the marketplace either through claude directly "/plugin add marketplace microsoft/power-platform-skills" or using iwr with Powershell results in the same issue:

Failed to parse marketplace file at C:\Users\xx.claude\plugins\marketplaces\microsoft-power-platform-skills.claude-plugin\marketplace.json: Invalid JSON in C:\Users\xx.claude\plugins\marketplaces\microsoft-power-platform-skills.claude-plugin\marketplace.json: JSON Parse error: Unexpected token '.'

Attempted across multiple different machines and even home PC - same issue.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Ensure marketplace is not already installed
2. begin claude session
3. run command "/plugin marketplace add microsoft/power-platform-skills"
4. See error

Alternative:

1. Open Powershell terminal with Admin rights
2. Execute: "iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/power-platform-skills/main/scripts/install.js -OutFile install.js; node install.js; del install.js"
3. If pre-requisites are satisfied (may take multiple runs) - you'll see the same JSON parse error.

Expected Behavior

Local folder "C:\Users\xx.claude\plugins\marketplaces" should successfully contain the power platform skills marketplace and you should then be able to install the plugins from that marketplace.

Actual Behavior

Failed to parse marketplace file at C:\Users\xx.claude\plugins\marketplaces\microsoft-power-platform-skills.claude-plugin\marketplace.json: Invalid JSON in C:\Users\xx.claude\plugins\marketplaces\microsoft-power-platform-skills.claude-plugin\marketplace.json: JSON Parse error: Unexpected token '.'

Relevant Logs / Screenshots

Environment

• OS: Windows 11
• Claude: v2.1.183
• Pac: v2.8.1

[KevinMcDonaldIAI]

Cloning down the repository and working from a version (checkout a earlier commit) pre the Open Plugins format change still seems to work

[aarnacapital]

same for me also.

[Felix-Ruesche]

Root cause: .claude-plugin/marketplace.json is committed as a git symlink, which breaks on Windows without Developer Mode

I traced the Unexpected token '.' error to its source. The marketplace file is tracked as a symlink, not a regular file:

$ git ls-files -s .claude-plugin/marketplace.json
120000 787ab60b09f6460ae7ed691b475f929b6e494a15 0  .claude-plugin/marketplace.json

Mode 120000 = symlink → it points at the repo-root ../marketplace.json.

On Windows, core.symlinks defaults to false unless Developer Mode (or elevated git) is enabled. So when the repo is cloned/pulled, git can't materialize the symlink and instead writes a regular 19-byte text file whose contents are the link target:

$ od -c .claude-plugin/marketplace.json
0000000   .   .   /   m   a   r   k   e   t   p   l   a   c   e   .   j
0000020   s   o   n

Claude Code then runs JSON.parse("../marketplace.json"), which fails at the very first character → JSON Parse error: Unexpected token '.'. This is why it reproduces on every Windows machine (as several commenters confirm) and why checking out a pre–Open-Plugins-format commit works — that older commit had a real JSON file there, not a symlink.

Suggested fix

Don't use a symlink for the manifest. Either:

1. Commit .claude-plugin/marketplace.json as a real file (duplicate of root marketplace.json, or move the canonical copy into .claude-plugin/ and drop the root one), or
2. If a single source of truth is desired, generate the .claude-plugin/ copy in the install.js script instead of relying on a symlink.

Symlinked manifests will break all Windows users who don't have Developer Mode enabled, which is the default.

Workaround for affected users (until fixed)

In the cloned marketplace dir (~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/power-platform-skills):

cp marketplace.json .claude-plugin/marketplace.json
git update-index --skip-worktree .claude-plugin/marketplace.json   # keeps the fix across auto-updates

Then /reload-plugins. (Enabling Windows Developer Mode + git config core.symlinks true and re-cloning is the cleaner long-term fix.)

Environment: Windows 11, core.symlinks=false, Developer Mode off.

[priyanshu92]

Fixed in #203