Deployment packages
In this section
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Capabilities and surfaces | What your AI client lets the assistant do: the MCP server, computer use, local code execution and browser control, what each enables, and how to check what your session has. |
| Claude plugin | Install the AI Power Tools skills as a Claude plugin from the novocircle marketplace on your claude.ai account, so Claude Desktop chat, Claude Cowork and the Code tab all load them. |
| Claude Desktop extension | Install the AI Power Tools MCP Server for Sparx EA from a single extension file, so Claude Desktop chat, Claude Cowork and Claude Code all have the server. The skills come from the plugin. |
| VS Code extension | Install the VS Code extension and set up the skills, so the assistant in VS Code can use the AI Power Tools MCP Server for Sparx EA and the AI Power Tools skills. |
| Enterprise fleet deployment | Deploy AI Power Tools to a fleet: approve and roll out the Claude Desktop extension (the server) and the skills plugin, which are versioned together but delivered and updated separately. |
| Moving from an older installation | Move a machine from an older installation to the extension and the skills plugin: keep the extension, add the plugin, remove old skill copies and leftover files, and fix permission rules. |
| Verifying an installation | Prove an installation works with three checks: the server answers and reports no update notice, Enterprise Architect is attached, and the model you intend is open. |
| Updating and uninstalling | Update to a newer release, or remove AI Power Tools, using the steps for the package you installed. |
| Installation troubleshooting | Fix an installation that does not work: the symptom, the likely cause and what to do, and how to send a diagnostic report to help@novocircle.com. |
This part covers how AI Power Tools for Sparx EA reaches a machine: the packages, how to choose between them, how to deploy to a fleet, how to move a machine that used the older skills installer, and how to verify, update, remove and troubleshoot an installation. Installing, updating and removing a package is mechanical: the same steps give the same result. Where a step depends on an AI client's behavior, the text says so.
Choosing a package
Three packages exist. They are not interchangeable: the plugin carries the skills, and the two extensions carry the AI Power Tools MCP Server for Sparx EA. With Claude you need both the extension and the plugin. The VS Code extension carries its own copy of the server; the skills reach VS Code as a plugin that the extension helps you install from VS Code's plugin marketplace (VS Code extension).
| Package | File | Carries | Reaches | Capabilities on those surfaces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Desktop extension | AI-Power-Tools-for-Sparx-EA.mcpb |
The server | Every Claude surface: Claude Desktop chat, Claude Cowork, Claude Code (the Code tab) | MCP server on all three (on Claude Cowork in local sessions only). Browser control on all three. Computer use on Claude Code and Claude Cowork, not Claude Desktop chat. Local code execution on Claude Code, not on Claude Cowork (its local sessions run code in an isolated virtual machine) or Claude Desktop chat |
Claude plugin ai-power-tools |
A marketplace entry on your claude.ai account, or ai-power-tools.plugin |
The skills only | Claude Desktop chat, Claude Cowork, Claude Code (the Code tab) | The skills use the capabilities of the surface they run on |
| VS Code extension | ai-power-tools-ea.vsix |
The server, and the setup of the skills plugin in VS Code | VS Code with GitHub Copilot in Agent mode | MCP server and local code execution. No computer use. Browser control through VS Code's integrated browser |
Claude Code in a terminal (the command line) does not load Claude Desktop extensions.
What each capability enables, and what happens without it, is in Capabilities and surfaces.
| If you... | Use | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Use Claude in any form | The Desktop extension for the server, and the plugin from the marketplace on your claude.ai account for the skills | Claude Desktop extension, Install from the marketplace |
| Prefer not to use the marketplace on a single workstation | The plugin, uploaded as a .plugin file (per machine, no automatic updates), plus the Desktop extension |
Install from a plugin file |
| Use GitHub Copilot in Agent mode in VS Code | The .vsix |
VS Code extension |
| Manage a fleet of workstations | The extension and the skills plugin, each deployed as in the fleet guide | Enterprise fleet deployment |
| Have a machine where skills were installed with the older skills installer | The plugin and the extension, then the migration script | Moving from an older installation |
The two Claude packages are versioned together by release number but delivered and updated separately. The plugin is the one mechanism that loads the skills in every Claude surface, and the extension is the one mechanism that gives every Claude surface the server.
You are told when to update. When the skills or the server are behind the current release, the reply to ping carries a notice, and the first tool response after the server starts says when a newer server exists. The notice gives the steps for the package that is behind. See Updating and uninstalling.
Do not load the skills twice. Install the plugin once, on your claude.ai account. Do not also install it through Claude Code's own plugin commands on the same machine, and remove skills the older skills installer copied: in the Code tab, each skill would load twice (Moving from an older installation). Keep the Desktop extension installed: it is where the server comes from.
Requirements for every package. Windows with Sparx Enterprise Architect installed on the same machine. See Requirements. AI Power Tools is free: there is nothing to purchase and no key to enter.
Download locations
These addresses resolve to whichever release is marked latest. File names never carry a version.
| Package | Address |
|---|---|
| Desktop extension | https://github.com/NovoCircle/ai-power-tools-releases/releases/latest/download/AI-Power-Tools-for-Sparx-EA.mcpb |
| VS Code extension | https://github.com/NovoCircle/ai-power-tools-releases/releases/latest/download/ai-power-tools-ea.vsix |
| Plugin file | https://github.com/NovoCircle/ai-power-tools-skills/releases/latest/download/ai-power-tools.plugin |
| Migration script | The latest release page of NovoCircle/ai-power-tools-releases |