Codex/Plugin/Q/Can you make plugin reference material in both Codex plugins and Claude plugins?

• Can you make plugin reference material in both Codex/Plugins and Claude/Code/Plugins?

  • AI Answer

    • Short answer: Yes. Both can distribute reference documents alongside a skill. A small SKILL.md describes when the material is relevant and which files to read; the detailed material lives in supporting files.
    • Answer/Official from OpenAI: Build skills — Add supporting resources and Claude Code: Add supporting files.

    • Shared reference layout

      • The same skill and reference files can be packaged for both hosts. For example:
        • text

          my-plugin/
          ├── plugin.json
          ├── .claude-plugin/
          │   └── plugin.json
          └── skills/
              └── product-reference/
                  ├── SKILL.md
                  └── references/
                      ├── terminology.md
                      └── architecture.md

      • In SKILL.md, name the trigger and link to each document, such as: “When answering questions about product terminology, read terminology.md.” The example link resolves inside the packaged skill directory.
      • OpenAI's portable package uses root plugin.json; .codex-plugin/plugin.json remains a supported compatibility format. Claude Code uses .claude-plugin/plugin.json and discovers skills under root skills/. The reference contents can stay shared while the manifests describe the package for each host. OpenAI package structure, Claude Code standard layout.

    • When the material is read

      • Supporting files are read when needed. Bundling documents does not load all their contents into every conversation. Link the documents from SKILL.md and explain when to consult each one.
      • A reference skill can answer questions from documentation without running scripts or connecting to an MCP server. OpenAI explicitly supports skills containing only packaged instructions and resources; Claude Code describes reference material as a skill content type. OpenAI skills, Claude Code skill content types.