diff --git a/docs/approaches.md b/docs/approaches.md index f3e3d95..1ecfc52 100644 --- a/docs/approaches.md +++ b/docs/approaches.md @@ -2,6 +2,12 @@ > These are not mutually exclusive solutions. +## Design Principles + +Whatever approach is adopted, community members have highlighted several principles: + +> "There should be intentional focus on making it easy for server authors to create and expose skills... client hosts are strongly incentivized to have a relatively uniform way to discover and consume them — at least from the point of view of a server author — while also leaving room for client host innovation." — [Peder Holdgaard Pedersen](https://github.com/PederHP) + ## 1. Skills as MCP Primitives Add Agent Skills as a first-class, discoverable primitive in MCP. A skill is a named bundle of instructions plus references to tools, prompts, and resources that together teach an agent how to perform a domain-specific workflow. @@ -20,6 +26,10 @@ Add skill references to MCP registry entries so users know to install associated - https://github.com/NimbleBrainInc/skills - [registry.nimbletools.ai](https://registry.nimbletools.ai/) +**Community input:** + +> "We view skills as an opportunity to use them as both a standalone (general-purpose capabilities) & MCP-paired (tool-specific guidance). For the main registry, the binding could be softer: optional fields like suggestedSkills or recommendedSkills rather than definitive pairing, since skill authorship is often decoupled from server authorship." — [Mat Goldsborough](https://github.com/mgoldsborough) + ## 3. Skills as Tools Expose skills via tools like `list_skills` and `read_skills`. Server instructions can direct the agent to call the skill tool first. diff --git a/docs/open-questions.md b/docs/open-questions.md index 192bd08..fec6b4c 100644 --- a/docs/open-questions.md +++ b/docs/open-questions.md @@ -85,3 +85,11 @@ Note: Some apps like Claude Code have started to indicate in the skill frontmatt **Core Maintainer input:** > "Why not just resources? That feels like the obvious implementation since skills are just files and resources already exist to expose files. i.e. just expose skills as resources the same as they're currently exposed on the filesystem and then just use the existing Agent Skills specification — client can find skills using resources/list to find SKILL.md files." — [Peter Alexander](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/2076#discussion_r2736299627) + +## 13. What is the optimal relationship between skills and MCP? + +Skills already work as simple files that agents load directly. Adding MCP to the process should provide clear value beyond what standalone skills already offer. + +**Community input:** + +> "Skills are simple files that agents can load directly even if they don't have any MCP servers connected. Adding MCP to the process only for that would be over complicating something that already works well... the question becomes 'what is the optimal relationship between skills and MCP?'" — [Cliff Hall](https://github.com/cliffhall) diff --git a/docs/use-cases.md b/docs/use-cases.md index 85e45a4..8e82776 100644 --- a/docs/use-cases.md +++ b/docs/use-cases.md @@ -53,3 +53,13 @@ Skills that evolve over time and need version-aware distribution. **Community input:** > "I'd like for skills over MCP to enable the client to make use of the version attribute... If a skill stored locally has an older version than the skill seen on the MCP server, the client can download the latest skill on the spot." — [woweow](https://github.com/woweow) + +## 7. Enterprise Integration + +Organizations building official MCP servers for established platforms are looking to skills as a distribution mechanism for domain-specific workflow guidance. + +**Community input:** + +> "As part of Apache Airflow community, we are planning to build our official MCP Server... and I am specifically interested in integrating Skills as part of the MCP protocol." — [Kaxil Naik](https://github.com/kaxil) + +**Related:** [Apache Airflow AIP-91 (MCP integration)](https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/AIRFLOW/AIP-91+-+MCP)