[DOCS] No documented way to install the official modules when the core comes from the Skills CLI or a plugin

[riaworks]

What type of documentation issue is this?

Missing information

Documentation location

• BMAD-METHOD/README.md — the "Start Building" section and the "BMad Ecosystem" table
• bmad-plugins-marketplace/README.md — "Install a Module"
• bmad-module-creative-intelligence-suite/README.md — "Installation"

What's the issue?

The README now offers three install routes for the core — "Choose one install route": npx skills add bmad-code-org/BMAD-METHOD, the Claude Code plugin marketplace, the Codex plugin marketplace — and no longer mentions npx bmad-method install anywhere.

A few lines further down, the "BMad Ecosystem" table lists five official modules (BMad Builder, Creative Intelligence Suite, Test Architect, Loop, Game Dev Studio) with no instruction for how to add any of them from any of the three routes.

Following the links leads straight back to the installer the README dropped:

• bmad-module-creative-intelligence-suite README → "CIS is installed as a module during BMad Method setup: npx bmad-method@alpha install"
• bmad-plugins-marketplace README, "Install a Module" → "All registered modules can be installed through the BMad installer: npx bmad-method install"

The plugin route does not cover them either: bmad-plugins ships only bmad-method and bmad-toolbox, and bmad-plugins-marketplace/INDEX.md currently registers 3 modules, 0 of them official.

What this produced in my project. I had a classic install from 2026-09-02: core 6.11.0, plus bmb v2.2.2, cis v0.3.2, tea v1.24.0. Reading the new README I concluded npx bmad-method install had been retired and ran npx skills add bmad-code-org/BMAD-METHOD. That installed 29 skills at 6.13.0-next alongside the 47 skill folders the old installer had left, and _bmad/_config/manifest.yaml still reports version: 6.11.0 — which bmad setup is right not to touch, since it never modifies what a classic installer left under _bmad. The end state reads like a broken install even though both halves are behaving exactly as designed.

Two questions I could not answer from the documentation:

1. What is the supported way to add an official module when the core came from the Skills CLI or from a plugin?
2. If npx bmad-method install is still the answer, how do you run it for modules only, without it also laying down a second, older copy of the core? (6.11.0 introduced core-only installs; I could not find the inverse.)

A version note that adds to the confusion. The Skills CLI and the plugin marketplace both track main, so a fresh install reports 6.13.0-next, while the newest release tag and npm view bmad-method version are both 6.12.0. That is a defensible choice, but nothing in the README says it, so the install looks like it overshot the project's own releases by accident.

Suggested improvement

• Add a short Modules section to the README, right after "Start Building", stating which route installs an official module today.
• If the classic installer is still that path, keep one line pointing to it rather than removing it entirely — its absence from the README is precisely what makes users assume it is gone and stop using it.
• Update each module README once the answer is settled (CIS still says npx bmad-method@alpha install).
• State somewhere that the Skills CLI and plugin routes track main, and therefore report a -next version ahead of the newest release tag.
• Optionally, a short migration note for projects that already have a pre-skills _bmad/: what bmad setup will and will not rewrite, and why manifest.yaml keeps reporting the old version.

BMad Version (if applicable)

Core 6.13.0-next via npx skills add, installed 2026-09-06. Pre-existing classic install 6.11.0 from 2026-09-02, with bmad-builder v2.2.2, cis v0.3.2, tea v1.24.0.