Claude Code plugin marketplace add times out due to devtools-frontend submodule

[whoisYeshua]

Description of the bug

Following the Claude Code plugin instructions, /plugin marketplace add fails with a timeout. The cause is not network connectivity: HTTPS access to GitHub works fine, and a plain git clone --depth 1 of the repo finishes in about 3 seconds (~18 MB).

Claude Code clones the marketplace repository together with its submodules, and third_party/devtools-frontend is large enough that the clone goes over Claude Code's default 120 s git timeout:

/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/ChromeDevTools/chrome-devtools-mcp.git
  ⎿  Error: Failed to clone marketplace repository: Git clone timed out after 120s. The repository may be too large for the current timeout. Set CLAUDE_CODE_PLUGIN_GIT_TIMEOUT_MS to increase it (e.g., 300000 for 5 minutes).

     Original error: Cloning into '~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/temp_git_..._5gsa9z..clone'...
     Submodule 'devtools-frontend' (https://github.com/ChromeDevTools/devtools-frontend.git) registered for path 'third_party/devtools-frontend'
     Cloning into '~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/temp_git_..._5gsa9z..clone/third_party/devtools-frontend'...
     warning: Clone succeeded, but checkout failed.

After the failure, /plugin does not list the marketplace at all. Increasing the timeout solved it for me.

The existing troubleshooting section "Claude Code plugin installation fails with Failed to clone repository" only covers port 443 / firewall issues, so this case is not documented.

Reproduction

1. In Claude Code, run /plugin marketplace add ChromeDevTools/chrome-devtools-mcp (or the full HTTPS URL), as described in docs/client-configurations.md.
2. Wait for the clone to hit the 120 s timeout while cloning the third_party/devtools-frontend submodule.
3. Run /plugin and see that the chrome-devtools-plugins marketplace is not listed.

Expectation

The docs should cover this case. Suggested addition to the troubleshooting section (and maybe a link from the Claude Code tip in client-configurations.md):

Clone times out (Git clone timed out after 120s)

The repository includes the third_party/devtools-frontend submodule, which Claude Code clones along with the marketplace. On slower connections this can take longer than Claude Code's default git timeout. Start Claude Code with a longer timeout and retry:

CLAUDE_CODE_PLUGIN_GIT_TIMEOUT_MS=600000 claude

MCP configuration

Claude Code plugin (chrome-devtools-mcp@chrome-devtools-plugins), installed via /plugin marketplace add.

Chrome DevTools MCP version

1.10.1

Chrome version

154.0.8037.58

Coding agent version

Claude Code 2.1.281

Model version

No response

Chat log

No response

Node version

v24.21.0

Operating system

macOS

Extra checklist

• I want to provide a PR to fix this bug