One rule, and your own check

The rule

Its code is laid out so you can check it
Entry read	Every module hooks/hooks.json names was read.78 of 5,315 mods fail this
Parses	Every file parses as TypeScript or JavaScript.3 of 5,315 mods fail this
All its code is in the mod	Every import is a file of the mod or the engine's own module; no packages, no require.193 of 5,315 mods fail this
Readable	No minified lines, no eval or new Function, no import of a computed path, no encoded blobs.110 of 5,315 mods fail this
Calls in the open	Network and programs are reached as $.http.fetch and $.process.run in place, never passed around.28 of 5,315 mods fail this

Of 5,315 mods found on GitHub on 2026-10-11, 4,972 meet it; after copies of the same mod are folded, 4,750 are listed: 3,848 draw in the terminal and the desktop app, 186 in the terminal only, 13 in the desktop app only, and 703 draw nothing (hooks only).

Shown for you to weigh

These never keep a mod out. Each mod's page shows them, flagged where the code does it, so you know where to look first.

Where it draws	The terminal, the desktop app, both, or nothing (hooks only: a guard or a prompt rewriter), as its code says. Shown, never a reason to leave a mod out.a fact, never flagged
Install line	Whether its repository's own .claude-plugin/marketplace.json lists it, so it installs from that marketplace with the lines on its page.3,638 of 4,750 listed mods have an install line
Programs on Windows	Whether every program it starts through $.process exists on Windows (tail, date, open, osascript, /usr/… do not).flagged on 548 of 5,315 mods
Network	Whether every fetch names its https host in the code.flagged on 394 of 5,315 mods
Programs	Whether every program it starts is named in the code and is not a shell, an interpreter or a network tool.flagged on 1,386 of 5,315 mods
Reads and sends	Whether it both reads something of yours (files, environment variables, the transcript, settings) and reaches outside (the network, an MCP server, another session, telemetry).flagged on 951 of 5,315 mods
Keys in the source	Whether the source holds what looks like an API key or a private key.flagged on 5 of 5,315 mods
Licence	An open licence (MIT, Apache-2.0, BSD, ISC, Unlicense, 0BSD, CC0) with its text lets ModsCode show its code; otherwise the code is linked.flagged on 1,620 of 5,315 mods
Settings hooks	Hooks declared in hooks/hooks.json or plugin.json beside the module: a command (a shell when it has no args), an HTTP request, an MCP tool or a model prompt at an event. They run outside $.flagged on 184 of 5,315 mods
Servers it ships	MCP servers (a program, or a URL; a headersHelper is a shell command; a .mcpb bundle is unpacked at run time), LSP servers, monitors (a shell command for the whole session) and bin/ (on the PATH of the Bash tool).flagged on 197 of 5,315 mods
Skills, commands, agents	What its Markdown declares beyond text: allowed-tools granted for the turn, hooks added when a skill is invoked, a command run before Claude reads the skill.flagged on 149 of 5,315 mods
Tools and MCP	Whether every tool it calls through $.tool.call and $.mcp.call is named in the code, and none is a shell (Bash through the tool runs a shell without $.process).flagged on 158 of 5,315 mods
Asks of the model	Completions it runs ($.model.complete, fork, classify), subagents it spawns, prompts it submits as you, and the tools, commands and agents it adds.a fact, never flagged
Events it hooks	By what a hook there can do: gates (refuse a tool call, a prompt, a setting, another plugin), shapes (what the model reads: the system prompt, tool descriptions, each request), reads (your input, the events of the settings hooks, every event with *), and the rest.a fact, never flagged
Reads, by name	The environment variables and files it names, and whether it reads the transcript, settings.json, the prompt box or the mouse selection.a fact, never flagged
Writes, by name	The files and environment variables it names, and whether it changes settings, the prompt box, the clipboard, the conversation (a row the model reads) or another session.a fact, never flagged

Check a mod yourself

1. Read it. Most mods are one or two files of a few hundred lines. Every call outside the mod goes through $: look for $.http (network), $.process (programs), $.fs (files) and $.env (environment variables), and for the reason each is there.
2. Let Claude Code list it. claude plugin validate . in the mod's folder lists every event it hooks and every API it calls.
3. Install the commit you read. A marketplace that follows the author's latest commit changes whenever they push.

When a mod is read

The repositories come from GitHub searches (for Claude Code Mods and for hooks.json files that name modules), the awesome lists and public mod catalogues. Each mod's source is fetched as text at one commit; where it draws is read from its JSX, and the rule and the flags from that text.