Photoshop 27.9.1 — Packaged UXP plugin (.ccx) fails to install ("Couldn't install plugin" / "Compatible app required"), Premiere fine, dev-mode fine

Photoshop UXP Plugin API
1

Hi all,

We’re seeing a packaged UXP plugin fail to install specifically on Photoshop 27.9.1, while the exact same plugin architecture works fine on Premiere Pro. Posting in case others are hitting this with the new 27.9 plugin backend rollout.

Setup:

  • manifestVersion 5
  • host: { "app": "PS", "minVersion": "23.3.0" }
  • Photoshop installed: standard release (not Beta), version 27.9.1
  • Creative Cloud Desktop shows Photoshop as “Installed,” and other third-party UXP plugins already work fine in CCD’s “Manage plugins” for this same Photoshop install

Symptoms:

  • Packaging the plugin with our own build script and double-clicking the .ccx → Creative Cloud Desktop shows: “Compatible app required — You do not have an app compatible with this plugin installed.”
  • Packaging the same manifest/source using the UXP Developer Tool’s own “Package” button instead (Adobe’s official tooling, not our script) and double-clicking that .ccx → different error: “Couldn’t install plugin, try again.”
  • Both failures reproduce on two separate machines.

What we’ve already ruled out through direct testing:

  • Version mismatch — installed Photoshop (27.9.1) is well above our declared minVersion (23.3.0)
  • Beta channel — confirmed standard release, not Photoshop (Beta)
  • Missing panel entrypoint icons — this was a real separate bug we found and fixed (UDT’s validator caught it), but fixing it didn’t resolve the install failure
  • localFileSystem: "request" vs "fullAccess" — tried both, no difference
  • Plugin id — tried a completely fresh, never-before-used id, no difference
  • Stale local Creative Cloud Desktop cache — reproduces on a second, independent machine

What works fine, for comparison:

  • The same plugin’s Premiere Pro counterpart (nearly identical manifest, just different host.app/minVersion) installs and runs perfectly via the exact same double-click .ccx method, on the same machines.
  • Dev-mode loading of the Photoshop plugin (UXP Developer Tool → Add Plugin → Load, pointing at the unpacked source folder) works perfectly. This isolates the problem entirely to the packaged-install path via Creative Cloud Desktop, specific to Photoshop.

This lines up with the recent Photoshop 27.9 UXP plugin backend rewrite (“Drover”) that went to full public rollout on July 26. I also found a related open, unanswered GitHub issue that may be connected: AdobeDocs/uxp-photoshop-plugin-samples#99 (“UXP Invisible Plugin - Does not load as package (PHSP 27)”) — different exact symptom (theirs installs but doesn’t execute; ours fails to install at all), but the same fingerprint: Photoshop 27-only, packaged-install-only, dev-mode-fine.

Has anyone else run into this with 27.9? Any workaround, or can someone from Adobe take a look?

Thanks,
Ved

2

Check the CC app to see if Photoshop 2026 is actually installed. Also, this error results if only PS Beta is installed.