BMAD-METHOD/docs/how-to/install-claude-cowork.md

title	description	sidebar
How to Install BMad in Claude Cowork	Install BMad in Claude Cowork using the Claude Code plugin marketplace.	order 11

Claude.ai web and the Claude desktop chat have no access to your project files, so npx bmad-method install can't reach them. Claude Cowork does — it sandboxes your project in a VM and exposes a plugin manager. The npx installer still can't write into that sandbox, but Cowork accepts plugins via its marketplace API, which BMad's .claude-plugin/marketplace.json ships with.

Install

Two steps — register the marketplace, then install the plugins:

/plugin marketplace add bmad-code-org/BMAD-METHOD
/plugin install bmad-pro-skills@bmad-method
/plugin install bmad-method-lifecycle@bmad-method

Restart the Cowork session, then /bmad-pro-skills:* and /bmad-method-lifecycle:* slash commands appear.

Update

/plugin marketplace update bmad-method

The marketplace name is bmad-method, not the GitHub slug.

Uninstall

/plugin uninstall bmad-pro-skills@bmad-method
/plugin uninstall bmad-method-lifecycle@bmad-method

Known issue

Cowork's plugin reconciler currently has open bugs (anthropics/claude-code#38429, #39274) that can purge third-party marketplace plugins on session sync. If your slash commands disappear, re-run the /plugin install lines.

Pairing With TEA

To install TEA alongside BMad, register and install its marketplace too. See the TEA README for the exact commands.

Related

• How to Install BMad — the standard npx bmad-method install flow for non-Cowork tools.