SessionStart hook fails — CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT not set by Claude Code for this event

[AKhozya]

Description

The SessionStart hook in hooks.json (line 74) fails because Claude Code doesn't set the CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT environment variable for SessionStart events (it only sets it for PreToolUse, PostToolUse, etc.).

"command": "node \"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/hooks/session-start.js\""

This resolves to node "/scripts/hooks/session-start.js" → MODULE_NOT_FOUND → exit code 1.

Root Cause

This is a Claude Code plugin system bug — filed upstream at anthropics/claude-code#27145. But ECC could work around it by resolving the path differently for SessionStart hooks.

Workaround

Manually replace ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} with the absolute cache path in hooks.json. Needs reapplying after plugin updates.

Environment

• ECC v1.5.0
• Claude Code CLI, macOS

[pangerlkr]

This is a confirmed bug. Root cause: Claude Code does not set CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT for SessionStart events, only for tool-use events (PreToolUse, PostToolUse, etc.).

There is already an open PR #257 by @affaan-m that addresses this with a fallback path resolver in hooks/hooks.json.

In the meantime, the manual workaround is to replace ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} in your local installed hooks.json with the absolute path to the plugin cache directory:

# Find the plugin cache path:
ls ~/.claude/plugins/cache/everything-claude-code/everything-claude-code/
# Then replace in your hooks.json (found in the same cache dir)

The permanent fix in PR #257 adds a path resolution fallback that works even when CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT is not set for SessionStart events. Please track PR #257 for the fix.

[affaan-m]

Resolved in ECC v1.8.0 (released 2026-03-05). SessionStart now has robust plugin-root fallback behavior and no longer depends on CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT being present at SessionStart.\n\nShipped in PR #334 and included in release: https://github.com/affaan-m/everything-claude-code/releases/tag/v1.8.0\n\nIf you still reproduce this on v1.8.0, reopen with your hook payload and platform details.