Observation
Writing the new README surfaced this: cc-explorer is the tool that gets the most mileage ("the big one, by a mile"), but it's packaged as one sub-feature of the project-mining plugin — alongside the mining orchestrator and activity-reflection, which are higher-ceremony and used far less.
The README needed a caveat box to explain the packaging ("cc-explorer ships inside the project-mining plugin, but it's the headliner — enable that plugin for cc-explorer alone and ignore the rest"). When the docs need a disclaimer to explain the packaging, the packaging is the problem.
Why it's awkward
- The plugin is named after
project-mining (the orchestrator), so a user who only wants chat-history exploration installs a plugin named for something else and mentally discards most of it.
- cc-explorer is a standalone FastMCP server with its own version (
cc-explorer 1.38.2) and its own value prop; mining + activity-reflection are consumers of it.
- Discoverability: someone browsing the marketplace for "explore chat history" / "MCP server for transcripts" won't match a plugin called
project-mining.
Breadcrumbs
project-mining/.claude-plugin/plugin.json — one plugin bundling the cc-explorer MCP server, the project-mining skill, the activity-reflection skill, and 6 agents.README.md — the caveat box under "What's in the box" is the tell.- Dependency direction is one-way: mining and activity-reflection lean on cc-explorer's tools (
get_activity_timeline, search/grep/read), not the reverse.
Not urgent
Flagging the smell, not prescribing the fix. Options range from a rename to splitting cc-explorer into its own plugin with project-mining depending on it — a real design decision with marketplace/install-path implications.
Observation
Writing the new README surfaced this: cc-explorer is the tool that gets the most mileage ("the big one, by a mile"), but it's packaged as one sub-feature of the
project-miningplugin — alongside the mining orchestrator and activity-reflection, which are higher-ceremony and used far less.The README needed a caveat box to explain the packaging ("cc-explorer ships inside the project-mining plugin, but it's the headliner — enable that plugin for cc-explorer alone and ignore the rest"). When the docs need a disclaimer to explain the packaging, the packaging is the problem.
Why it's awkward
project-mining(the orchestrator), so a user who only wants chat-history exploration installs a plugin named for something else and mentally discards most of it.cc-explorer1.38.2) and its own value prop; mining + activity-reflection are consumers of it.project-mining.Breadcrumbs
project-mining/.claude-plugin/plugin.json— one plugin bundling the cc-explorer MCP server, the project-mining skill, the activity-reflection skill, and 6 agents.README.md— the caveat box under "What's in the box" is the tell.get_activity_timeline, search/grep/read), not the reverse.Not urgent
Flagging the smell, not prescribing the fix. Options range from a rename to splitting cc-explorer into its own plugin with project-mining depending on it — a real design decision with marketplace/install-path implications.