Why do my crew stations run without their factory skills when the Tares plugin is also installed from the marketplace?

Tares crew stations lose their factory skills when a marketplace copy of the plugin (tares@tares) at a different version is loaded instead of the one your tares package ships. Claude Code loads the marketplace copy, so the stations start without the skills the software factory for Claude Code relies on. Update the marketplace copy to the shipped version, or remove it with claude plugin uninstall tares@tares. Run tares factory doctor and it tells you when the two versions differ.

How it works

The tares package includes the Tares plugin the crew uses, so there is nothing to install in Claude Code for the software factory to work. Every station in the crew (the orchestrator, the reviewer, the builders and the releaser if you ask for one) is a Claude Code session, and each session uses that shipped plugin.

The clash happens when you have also installed the plugin from the marketplace as tares@tares, for example from the /plugin install tares@tares command used for the Claude Code connector. If that copy is at a different version from the one your tares package ships, Claude Code loads the marketplace copy instead. The stations then run without their factory skills.

The record of your project is not affected. Tares holds the plan, the tickets, the reviews and your answers, so the fix only concerns which copy of the plugin the sessions load.

• Shipped copy: comes with the tares package, matches your CLI version.
• Marketplace copy (tares@tares): installed separately, can drift to another version.
• When they differ, Claude Code picks the marketplace copy.

Set it up

1. Check whether the two copies differ. tares factory doctor checks everything the crew needs and tells you when the marketplace copy and the shipped copy are at different versions.

tares factory doctor

2. Pick one of two fixes.
   • Keep the marketplace copy. Update it to the plugin version your tares package ships, so both match.
   • Remove the marketplace copy. Run claude plugin uninstall tares@tares. The crew then uses the plugin that comes with the tares package. This is the simpler choice if you only installed the marketplace copy by habit.
3. Run the check again to confirm the two no longer differ.

tares factory doctor

4. If you upgrade the tares package later, run tares factory doctor again. A kept marketplace copy can fall behind the shipped version, and the doctor flags it when it does.
5. Carry on with the crew as usual. If you have not brought it up yet, the one command to remember is tares factory crew up.

tares factory crew up

The full path from install to a running crew is on the Get started page, including the MCP endpoint every crew session shares and the GitHub access Tares needs.

What you get

• Stations that start with their factory skills, because Claude Code loads one plugin version that matches your tares package.
• A clear signal for the problem: tares factory doctor reports when the marketplace copy and the shipped copy differ, so you do not have to guess from station behavior.
• No extra install step in Claude Code. Once the marketplace copy is gone or matches, the plugin shipped with the tares package is all the crew needs.
• A crew that keeps its place. The plan, tickets, reviews and your answers stay on Tares while you fix the plugin.

When something else fits

• If you only use Tares for the Claude Code connector, which streams session transcripts into Tares, the marketplace plugin is the way to install it. Keep it, and keep it at the same version as your tares package so the factory is not affected.
• If tares factory doctor reports no version difference and the stations still misbehave, look at the rest of its checks, since it covers everything the crew needs, such as gh, the MCP endpoint and your Claude Code login.

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