diff --git a/understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/SKILL.md b/understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/SKILL.md
index 36560f8..02a2135 100644
--- a/understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/SKILL.md
+++ b/understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/SKILL.md
@@ -200,9 +200,9 @@ Determine whether to run a full analysis or incremental update.
 Set up and verify the `.understandignore` file before scanning.
 
 1. Check if `$PROJECT_ROOT/.understand-anything/.understandignore` exists.
-2. **If it does NOT exist**, generate a starter file by invoking the bundled script (delegates to `generateStarterIgnoreFile` in `@understand-anything/core`, which reads `.gitignore`, deduplicates against built-in defaults, and emits language-grouped test-file suggestions):
+2. **If it does NOT exist**, generate a starter file by invoking the bundled script (delegates to `generateStarterIgnoreFile` in `@understand-anything/core`, which reads `.gitignore`, deduplicates against built-in defaults, and emits language-grouped test-file suggestions). Pass `$PLUGIN_ROOT` via the env so the script doesn't have to re-derive it from its own path (which breaks for copied skill installs):
      ```bash
-     node <SKILL_DIR>/generate-ignore.mjs $PROJECT_ROOT
+     PLUGIN_ROOT="$PLUGIN_ROOT" node <SKILL_DIR>/generate-ignore.mjs $PROJECT_ROOT
      ```
    - Report to the user:
      > Generated `.understand-anything/.understandignore` with suggested exclusions based on your project structure. Please review it and uncomment any patterns you'd like to exclude from analysis. When ready, confirm to continue.
diff --git a/understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/generate-ignore.mjs b/understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/generate-ignore.mjs
index b684d8d..049a835 100644
--- a/understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/generate-ignore.mjs
+++ b/understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/generate-ignore.mjs
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@
  *
  * Mirrors the @understand-anything/core resolution dance used by
  * scan-project.mjs: workspace-linked package first, plugin-cache dist fallback.
+ *
+ * Plugin root resolution: prefer $PLUGIN_ROOT from the environment (set by
+ * SKILL.md Phase 0 via its multi-candidate search) over the
+ * `resolve(__dirname, '../..')` heuristic. The relative path breaks when
+ * `skills/understand/` is copied into a runtime skills directory whose
+ * parent is not the plugin checkout.
  */
 
 import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
@@ -25,8 +31,16 @@ import { fileURLToPath, pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';
 import { existsSync, mkdirSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 
 const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
-// skills/understand/ -> plugin root is two dirs up
-const pluginRoot = resolve(__dirname, '../..');
+
+function resolvePluginRoot() {
+  const envRoot = process.env.PLUGIN_ROOT;
+  if (envRoot && existsSync(join(envRoot, 'package.json'))) {
+    return envRoot;
+  }
+  return resolve(__dirname, '../..');
+}
+
+const pluginRoot = resolvePluginRoot();
 const require = createRequire(resolve(pluginRoot, 'package.json'));
 
 let core;