31 January 2026claude-code#release#claude-code#skills#tasks#plugins
Claude Code in January 2026 — skills, tasks, and native plugin management
January merged slash commands with skills, introduced dependency-aware tasks, improved plugin management, and prepared users to leave the npm installer.
Claude Code's January releases, from 2.0.76 through 2.1.29, simplified customization and added stronger project coordination.
What changed
- Slash commands and skills became one model, reducing the distinction users had to remember.
- A dependency-aware task system arrived, while VS Code gained native plugin management and remote-session browsing.
- The CLI began warning npm-install users to move to
claude installand the native installer. - MCP tool search gained a configurable context threshold, plans gained a custom directory, and
/configbecame searchable. --from-prmade it possible to resume sessions associated with a pull request.
Why it matters
The month established several concepts that later 2026 releases build on: skills as the reusable unit, tasks with explicit dependencies, and plugins that can be managed without hand-editing files.
What to do
Use claude install if your setup still depends on the deprecated npm-global installation. Review project commands that were written before skills and slash commands were unified.