How to Install the Community Manager Claude Plugin (Cowork & Code)

Don't want to install anything? You don't have to. The free web tools for community managers on The AI Career Lab give you the same pre-built workflows in your browser — five runs a day on a free account, no terminal, no install. Create a free account if you'd rather skip straight to the tools.

The Community Manager Claude plugin from The AI Career Lab is the fastest way to turn Claude into a community-aware co-worker. It bundles 4 pre-built slash commands and 2 auto-activating skills that already know what working community managers actually do — moderation playbook generation, 7-day onboarding sequences, sentiment monitoring with honest sample-size limits, and stakeholder-ready health reports.

The plugin works in both runtimes Claude offers:

• Claude Cowork — Claude's agent workspace in the Claude desktop app. The easiest path: no terminal, no command lines. Requires a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise) to access plugins.
• Claude Code — the terminal CLI for power users and developers. Requires Node.js + npm, and a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise) or Anthropic API credits.

What this plugin gives you

A normal Claude session is a blank chat window. A plugin replaces that with slash commands — pre-built shortcuts that contain the structure, formatting rules, and community management conventions for a specific task.

In this plugin you get:

• /moderation-playbook — translates community guidelines into platform-specific moderation logic (Discord AutoMod, Slack Workflow Builder, Discourse trust levels) with tiered enforcement and edge cases
• /onboarding-sequence — generates a 7-day new-member activation sequence with platform-native touchpoints and the Day 3 nudge that prevents inflection-point churn
• /sentiment-report — produces a directional sentiment analysis from a message sample with churn signal flags and recommended actions
• /health-report — turns weekly or monthly metrics + qualitative notes into a stakeholder-ready report tailored to the audience

Which runtime should you use?

Use Claude Cowork if:

• You already use claude.ai for chat work
• You prefer a graphical interface to a terminal
• You don't want to set up Node.js or npm
• You have a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise)

Use Claude Code if:

• You're already comfortable in a terminal
• You want to script and automate workflows (e.g., scheduled weekly sentiment runs)
• You'd rather pay per use than subscribe — Claude Code also runs on an Anthropic API key with pay-as-you-go billing (it is not free either way: it needs a Pro/Max/Team plan or API credits)

Path A: Install in Claude Cowork (easiest, no command lines)

Cowork is becoming part of the main Claude app. On September 16, 2026 Anthropic announced it is merging Cowork into the main Claude app, rolling out to Pro and Max first. The Customize → Plugins install path below is the same either way. What changed.

1. Open the Claude desktop app and sign in. Plugin install happens in the desktop app.
2. Make sure you're on a paid plan (Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise). The plugin marketplace is gated to paid plans.
3. Click Customize in the left sidebar, open the Plugins tab, then click Add ▾ → Add marketplace → Add from a repository.
4. In the modal, paste this into the URL field:

alexclowe/awesome-claude-cowork-plugins

5. Leave Sync automatically on so you get our updates, then click Sync. Claude pulls the marketplace catalog from the public alexclowe/awesome-claude-cowork-plugins repo.
6. With Discover selected, find the Community Manager plugin (listed as "by awesome-claude-cowork-plugins") and click Add.

That's it. The commands and skills are now available in your Cowork chats.

Path B: Install in Claude Code (terminal CLI, two commands)

One-time Claude Code setup

1. Install Claude Code. Open a terminal and run:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

If you don't have npm, install Node.js first (download the LTS version, run the installer).

2. Sign in once. Run claude in your terminal and follow the sign-in flow.

Install the plugin

Inside Claude Code, run these two commands:

/plugin marketplace add alexclowe/awesome-claude-cowork-plugins
/plugin install community-manager@awesome-claude-cowork-plugins

To verify, type /help and you should see the new commands listed alongside Claude Code's built-ins.

Your first command

After install, the most useful command to try first is the one that unlocks the biggest weekly time sink:

/moderation-playbook

When you run it, Claude asks for your platform, community focus, guidelines (paste the real text, not a paraphrase), toxicity tolerance, and mod team size. The output is a structured playbook — platform-specific rules, 4–5 enforcement tiers with message templates, and 6–10 edge cases with decision frameworks.

You implement the auto-mod layer (clear spam, clear slurs) in your platform's native tool. You keep tier-2 ambiguous cases in human review. That split is what makes the playbook hold up under pressure.

First 4 workflows to try after install

Once the plugin is installed, these are the workflows worth running this week:

1. Moderation playbook — /moderation-playbook in the plugin, or /tools/community-manager-moderation-playbook on the web. Run this first
2. 7-day onboarding sequence — /onboarding-sequence in the plugin, or /tools/community-manager-onboarding-sequence on the web
3. Sentiment report — /sentiment-report in the plugin, or /tools/community-manager-sentiment-report on the web
4. Community health report — /health-report in the plugin, or /tools/community-manager-health-report on the web

Skills you get for free

This plugin also includes Claude Skills that activate automatically when you're working on relevant tasks — no command required, no extra prompting:

• Tiered Moderation Logic — keeps moderation drafts in the tiered structure (warning → mute → removal → ban → escalation) rather than collapsing into binary block/allow
• Sample-Size Honesty — surfaces sample-size caveats in sentiment analysis and flags when the sample is too small for a confident read

The first time the sample-size skill auto-activates and refuses to give you "92% positive" from 40 messages, you'll see the difference between using Claude generically and using Claude as a community manager's co-worker.

Where to go from here

• Claude Cowork playbook for community managers — the full setup guide with the five high-leverage prompt structures behind the slash commands
• Free web tools for community managers — same workflows, browser-based, no install required
• Best AI Tools for Community Managers in 2026 — the broader landscape including Claude, platform-native moderation, sentiment tools, and member CRMs
• AI for Community Managers guide — the working playbook for offloading the grind while keeping the strategy

Common issues

I don't see the "Add marketplace" option in Claude Cowork. You need to be on a paid plan. Claude Code needs a paid plan (or API credits) too, so on the Free plan you'll need to upgrade to install plugins. The free browser tools at theaicareerlab.com/tools work on a free account.

The marketplace sync failed in Claude Cowork. Double-check the URL field has exactly alexclowe/awesome-claude-cowork-plugins — a GitHub owner/repo format, no https://, no trailing slash.

The slash commands aren't showing up after install. Start a new chat (Cowork) or type /help (Claude Code). If you see the built-in commands but not the new ones, the install didn't complete — re-run the install.

I want to use this without installing anything. Use the free web tools instead. Same workflows, browser-based, no install or paid plan.

Ready to try it without installing

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This article is general guidance for community managers. Platform terms of service (Discord, Slack, Discourse, Reddit), regional regulations (GDPR, UK Online Safety Act, COPPA), and your organization's trust & safety policy are the authoritative references for moderation enforcement. Consult those before automating enforcement decisions.