Summary

On native Windows Claude Code, context-mode has repeatedly hit startup/runtime hook failures after upgrade or reinstall when plugin-managed files use ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} in hook commands and MCP startup args.

Observed failures include:

• Failed with non-blocking status code: node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1479
• SessionStart:startup hook error
• PostToolUse:Edit hook error
• PostToolUse:TaskUpdate hook error
• UserPromptSubmit hook error

This has now been observed across multiple versions, including 1.0.98 and 1.0.103.

What keeps reproducing

After upgrade/reinstall, these plugin-managed files revert to placeholder-based paths again:

• .claude-plugin/plugin.json
• hooks/hooks.json

Examples from fresh plugin state:

"args": ["${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/start.mjs"]

"command": "node \"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/sessionstart.mjs\""

In this Windows environment, that placeholder family repeatedly correlates with runtime loader failures.

Important observations

• ctx-doctor can still pass.
• Direct node --check on hook scripts can still pass.
• Direct manual node <absolute-path> execution of hook scripts can still pass.
• Failures show up during real Claude runtime hook execution.
• Upgrades overwrite the local workaround and the problem returns.

Working local workaround

Replacing ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} with absolute Windows-safe paths in both places restores stability locally:

1. hooks/hooks.json
   • posttooluse.mjs
   • precompact.mjs
   • pretooluse.mjs
   • userpromptsubmit.mjs
   • sessionstart.mjs
2. .claude-plugin/plugin.json
   • replace ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/start.mjs with absolute path

After that:

• startup hook errors stop
• slash commands return
• MCP tools return
• ctx-doctor passes

Why I think this is upstream-worthy

• It has reproduced across multiple versions.
• It is not durable: upgrade restores placeholder-based registration and the issue comes back.
• The current working fix is stable locally.
• This suggests either:
  1. context-mode should not rely on ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} on native Windows Claude Code, or
  2. Claude Code on Windows is expanding/invoking ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} incorrectly during plugin hook execution.

Request

Could you please evaluate one of these directions?

1. Add a Windows-safe registration strategy that avoids ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} for Claude Code hooks / MCP startup on native Windows.
2. Detect broken Windows runtime expansion and self-heal during install/upgrade.
3. Document whether ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} is known to be unreliable on native Windows Claude Code.

I can provide sanitized follow-up details if useful, but I am intentionally omitting machine-specific personal paths from this report.