claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix enabledPlugins in settings.json not persisting across restarts

Bug Description

Plugins installed via the plugin system show as disabled after every Claude Code restart, even though enabledPlugins is correctly set in ~/.claude/settings.json.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install a plugin: /plugins install caveman
2. Enable the plugin in /plugins menu
3. Verify ~/.claude/settings.json contains:

   {
     "enabledPlugins": {
       "caveman@caveman": true
     }
   }

4. Restart Claude Code
5. Plugin shows as disabled in /plugins menu

Expected Behavior

Plugins should remain enabled after restart since enabledPlugins is set in settings.json.

Actual Behavior

Plugins revert to disabled state on every restart, requiring manual re-enabling via /plugins menu.

Environment

• Claude Code version: latest
• OS: macOS (Apple Silicon)
• Plugins affected: caveman, context-mode, andrej-karpathy-skills

Additional Context

Both ~/.claude/settings.json and ~/.claude/plugins/installed_plugins.json have enabledPlugins set to true, but the plugin system appears to use a separate internal state that overrides these settings on startup.

Setting skillListingBudgetFraction: 0.03 in settings.json also does not resolve the issue.