Brooke Wright
Brooke Wright · @wright_mode
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The 5 Claude Code plugins I'd install first

One prompt installs all five: memory between sessions, a fallback when your usage runs out, fewer tokens per message, Anthropic's official setup check, and a skill that keeps your other skills improving.

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One prompt installs all five plugins: memory, more usage, fewer tokens, the official setup check Jump to the prompt → Join the Membership
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The 5 Claude Code Plugins I'd Install First

Claude Code runs out of usage, forgets everything when you close it, and starts every project with a blank setup. These five free tools fix that. One prompt installs the lot.

5 free tools One installer prompt Mac, Windows or Linux About 15 minutes Undo prompt included

What's inside

This is the whole point of the page. Open Claude Code, paste the prompt below, and it installs four of the five for you and reminds you to type the fifth. Each one gets a plain-English report as it goes, so you always know what just happened on your computer.

Before you paste

You need Claude Code open — Mac, Windows or Linux all work. Any folder is fine, but the project you use most is best. It takes about 15 minutes, and Claude will ask permission before it installs each thing. Say yes. If anything fails it tells you why and keeps going, so you never end up half-done and confused.

Install these five free Claude Code add-ons on my computer, one at a time, and tell me in plain English what you did after each one. Work out which operating system I am on first and use the right install commands for it. Check what's already installed before installing anything. If a step fails, explain what went wrong in one sentence and move on to the next one. Don't stop the whole job. 1. OmniRoute (keeps me working when my Claude usage runs out). It needs Node.js 22 or newer. Check with node -v and install Node the normal way for my operating system if it's missing or too old (Homebrew on Mac, winget or the installer on Windows, my package manager on Linux). Then run: npm install -g omniroute Start it with the command omniroute and tell me the dashboard address (it should be http://localhost:20128). Do NOT change my Claude Code settings to route through it yet. Just get it installed and running. 2. Headroom (fewer tokens per message). It needs Python 3.10 or newer. Install it with: uv tool install --python 3.13 "headroom-ai[all]" If uv isn't installed, install uv first. If that still fails, fall back to: pip install "headroom-ai[all]" Then run headroom doctor and tell me whether it passes. Set HEADROOM_BEACON=off permanently for my shell so it doesn't send usage pings (add the export line to my shell profile on Mac or Linux, use setx or my PowerShell profile on Windows). Do NOT run headroom wrap claude now. Tell me at the end that typing headroom wrap claude instead of claude is how I start a token-saving session. If this is an Intel Mac, skip this step and tell me Headroom needs its Docker install instead. 3. Claude-Mem (memory between sessions). Run: npx claude-mem install Do NOT use npm install -g claude-mem, that installs the library only and skips the hooks. Tell me if it asks me to sign in and what the choices mean in one line each. 4. Task Observer (keeps my skills improving). Download the latest release ZIP from https://github.com/rebelytics/one-skill-to-rule-them-all and put the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/task-observer/ keeping SKILL.md, references/ and scripts/ together. Then add this line to my ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md file: "Invoke the task-observer skill before the first tool call of every session and before proposing any plan." 5. Claude Code Setup (Anthropic's official setup recommender) is a plugin I install myself. At the very end, remind me to type this inside Claude Code: /plugin install claude-code-setup@claude-plugins-official When you're done, give me a five-line summary: each tool, installed or not, and the one thing I do next to use it.
2

Then type this inside Claude Code

Anthropic's official plugin has to be installed by you, not by Claude. One line, hit enter, done.

/plugin install claude-code-setup@claude-plugins-official

Only want one or two?

Paste the big prompt anyway and delete the numbered steps you don't want before you hit enter. Claude only installs what's left.


Claude Code has four habits that make people give up on it: it runs out of usage, it eats tokens on junk, it forgets everything when you close it, and it starts every project with a blank setup. Each of these fixes one of those. Find your annoyance below.

🧭

"I don't know what to set up"

Claude Code Setup. Anthropic's own plugin reads your project and tells you which hooks, skills and MCPs would help. Install this first, whatever else you do.

🧠

"It forgets everything when I close it"

Claude-Mem. Remembers what happened last session and brings the useful bits back. Install when you're sick of re-explaining your business.

🪶

"Every message feels expensive"

Headroom. Squeezes the bulky stuff (logs, file dumps) before Claude reads it. Same answers, fewer tokens. Install when you work with big files or long sessions.

⏳

"I keep hitting the usage limit"

OmniRoute. When your Claude quota runs out it hands the job to another model so you keep working. Install when you've seen the limit message twice this week.

🔁

"My skills never get better"

Task Observer. Watches how you actually work and suggests updates to your skills. Install once you've got a handful of skills and they're not keeping up.

The prompt installs all five. If you'd rather go one at a time, that's the order I'd do it in: Setup first, then memory, then Headroom, then OmniRoute the day you hit a wall, and Task Observer last.


What each one actually does, what changes once it's in, a prompt to prove it's working, and the catch. Strictly speaking two of these are plugins, one's a skill and two are little helpers that run on your own computer. I'm calling them all plugins because that's what they feel like.

1

Claude Code Setup · Anthropic's official setup check

This goes first because it's made by the people who make Claude Code. Ask it "help me set up Claude Code" and it reads your project and comes back with the top one or two things worth adding in each category: MCP servers, skills, hooks, sub-agents and slash commands. It never touches a file. It only recommends, so nothing can break.

After install, nothing looks different. The change is that you can finally ask Claude what to set up instead of guessing.

Recommend automations for this project. Which hooks, skills, MCP servers, sub-agents and slash commands would actually help me here, and why? Explain each one in a single plain-English sentence, and tell me which one to set up first.

The catch: it reads, it doesn't do. You still say yes to each recommendation and Claude sets it up in a separate step. That's a feature, not a bug. See the plugin on GitHub →

2

Claude-Mem · memory between sessions

Close Claude Code and it forgets your project, your preferences and the thing you fixed yesterday. Claude-Mem records what happened in each session, compresses it, and drops the relevant bits into your next session before you've typed a word. It also adds a search skill, so you can ask "what did we decide about pricing last week?" and get a real answer.

After install, restart Claude Code. Context from earlier sessions starts appearing on its own. There's no manual step.

What do you remember from my last few sessions? Search your memory for anything about this project and give me five bullet points: what we were working on, what we decided, and anything I asked you not to do again.

The catch: it has just renamed itself Grok Mem. The package is still called claude-mem and the install is the same, so don't panic when you see the new name. The hosted memory service is free for 30 days, then it falls back to running on your normal Anthropic plan, which still works and costs nothing extra. Wrap anything sensitive in <private> tags and it won't be stored. See it on GitHub →

3

Headroom · fewer tokens per message

Claude Code reads a lot of junk on your behalf: log files, giant file dumps, tool output. Headroom sits in the middle and squeezes that down before Claude sees it. The makers quote about 20% fewer tokens on everyday coding work and far more on messy data files. Everything runs on your own computer. Nothing is sent anywhere to be compressed.

After install there's one change to your routine. When you open Terminal, you type the line below instead of claude. That's it.

headroom wrap claude

Then, inside that session, check it's earning its keep:

Run headroom savings and tell me in plain English how many tokens Headroom saved this session, roughly what that's worth, and what kind of content it compressed most.

The catch: it only works in a session you started with that command, so make it a habit. Intel Macs need the Docker version instead (the installer prompt checks for you). It also installs a code-navigation helper called Serena alongside it, which is fine, and the prompt switches off its anonymous usage ping. See it on GitHub →

4

OmniRoute · keeps you working past the usage limit

Your Claude plan has a usage cap, and it always runs out mid-task. OmniRoute is a free switchboard that connects Claude Code to 350-odd other AI providers, including a big stack of free ones. When your Claude usage runs out, it hands the job to the next best model instead of stopping you. The makers put the free allowance at around 1.5 billion tokens a month, which is their number, not mine.

The installer prompt only gets it running. To actually switch Claude Code over, use the prompt below the day you hit a limit. It's reversible.

Set Claude Code up to use OmniRoute as a fallback when my Claude usage runs out. Run omniroute configure claude, show me exactly what it changed, tell me which model it will fall back to first, and give me the one command to switch back to plain Claude Code.

The catch: when it falls back, a different model answers. Not Claude. For everyday admin that's fine. For anything with client data, open the dashboard first (it's at localhost:20128 once it's running) and check which provider it's about to route to. See omniroute.online →

5

Task Observer · keeps your skills improving

Once you've built a few skills they freeze. They never learn from how you actually use them. Task Observer watches your sessions, notices where you correct Claude or repeat yourself, and writes up suggested changes to your skills. It doesn't touch them itself. You review, you apply. The author calls it "One Skill to Rule Them All", and that phrase triggers it too.

There's no installer for this one. The prompt drops the folder in place and adds one line to your rules file so it actually switches on. At the end of a session, ask it this:

Any observations logged? Show me what you noticed about how I work this session, where I corrected you or repeated myself, and what you'd change in my skills because of it.

The catch: installing it is not the same as switching it on. If there's no skill-observations folder after a few real sessions, it isn't running, so ask Claude to check the line in your rules file. And if you only have two or three skills, Claude's built-in memory already covers most of this. It earns its keep once you've got a proper stack. See it on GitHub →


Nothing here is permanent. If you decide you don't want any of it, or you want to start clean, paste this and Claude removes all five and puts your settings back.

Remove the five add-ons you installed for me and put things back the way they were. Show me a checklist as you go. 1. If Headroom has been wrapped, run headroom unwrap first. Then uninstall it: uv tool uninstall headroom-ai (or pip uninstall headroom-ai if that's how it went in). Remove the HEADROOM_BEACON setting from my shell profile (or undo the setx on Windows). 2. Uninstall OmniRoute: npm uninstall -g omniroute. If omniroute configure claude was ever run, undo that change to my Claude Code settings and confirm I'm back on plain Claude Code. 3. Uninstall Claude-Mem with its own uninstaller if it has one. If it doesn't, tell me the manual steps before you do anything. 4. Delete ~/.claude/skills/task-observer/ and remove the task-observer line from my ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md. 5. Remind me to remove claude-code-setup from the /plugin menu inside Claude Code myself. When you're done, tell me in one line whether anything is left over.

Keep the tools that solved a real problem for you and bin the rest. Most people end up with Setup, memory and one of the usage fixes. That's a good place to land.


Ready to go deeper?

Where to go from here.