ext-skills/docs/related-work.md
Ola Hungerford 02c486e162
docs: link SEP-2640 across repo and tidy Related Work table (#90)
* Update documentation for Skills Extension SEP and related resources

- Revised links and descriptions in README.md to reflect the submitted Skills Extension SEP (PR #2640).
- Updated current status in approaches.md to indicate submission of the Skills Extension SEP.
- Clarified tracking information in open-questions.md regarding the Skills Extension SEP submission.
- Adjusted related work in related-work.md to include the Skills Extension SEP and mark a rejected proposal.
- Changed status in sep-draft-skills-extension.md to 'submitted' and updated author information.
- Enhanced skill-uri-scheme.md to indicate the incorporation of feedback into the submitted Skills Extension SEP.

* Move rejected SEP-2093 to the bottom of SEPs and Proposals table

Keeps the list active-proposals-first so readers aren't distracted by the
struck-out entry.

🦉 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Mark SEP-2076 as closed and move to the bottom of proposals table

PR #2076 was closed without merge on 2026-02-24.

🦉 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Use SEP-2640 naming convention per MCP SEP guidelines

Per https://modelcontextprotocol.io/community/sep-guidelines, a submitted
SEP is named "SEP-<PR-number>". Rename in-repo references from "PR #2640"
to "SEP-2640" and update the draft doc heading from the "SEP-0000"
placeholder to "SEP-2640".

Also mark Approach 1's SEP-2076 status as closed (2026-02-24, no sponsor
found); approaches.md still listed it as "Draft, seeking sponsor".

🦉 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Fix SEP-2076 closure rationale

Closure followed the WG's decision to first explore a convention-based
approach using existing primitives, not a sponsor issue.

🦉 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Refine SEP-2640 description in README to clarify proposal details

* Link issues and meeting notes in Open Questions README row

🦉 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Surface SEP-2640 in README and related-work table order

README: move the Skills Extension SEP from the bottom of the Repository
Contents table to sit after Approaches, matching the narrative flow
(framing → options → proposal → supporting material).

related-work.md: lead the SEPs and Proposals table with SEP-2640 (this
WG's headline proposal), followed by the prerequisite PR #2527.

🦉 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Add 'Open work' link to README header pointing to open PRs

Signals that alternative proposals, decisions, implementations, and
other in-flight contributions are welcome — SEP-2640 is one direction,
not the only one.

🦉 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-04-24 04:52:35 -07:00

8.6 KiB

Related Work

SEPs and Proposals

Proposal Venue Description
SEP-2640 (Skills Extension) MCP Spec This WG's proposed extension: skills served over MCP using the Resources primitive and skill:// URI scheme (working draft)
PR #2527 MCP Spec Recommend clients expose resource read to models — prerequisite for the resources-based skills approach
skills.json format proposal MCP Registry Skills metadata in registry schema
SEP-2093 MCP Spec Resource Contents Metadata and Capabilities: scoped resources/list, per-resource capabilities, resources/metadata endpoint — rejected (labeled upstream)
SEP-2076 MCP Spec Agent Skills as a first-class MCP primitive — closed (2026-02-24, without merge)

Working Group Member Implementations

Work by WG leads and active participants that directly implements the group's core patterns: SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter, skill:// resource URIs, and progressive disclosure via MCP primitives.

Implementation Author URL Notes
skilljack-mcp Ola Hungerford github.com/olaservo/skilljack-mcp SKILL.md, skill:// resources, tools, and prompts; progressive disclosure (index→skill→files); file watching for dynamic updates; audience annotations
skills-over-mcp Keith Groves github.com/keithagroves/skills-over-mcp SKILL.md, skill:// resources with progressive disclosure (index→skill→documents); Zod validation against Agent Skills spec
skillsdotnet Peder HP github.com/PederHP/skillsdotnet C# implementation: SKILL.md, skill:// resources, load_skill tool for progressive disclosure, manifest with file hashes; published on NuGet; compatible with FastMCP 3.0

Alternative Approaches

Work by WG members and MCP maintainers that explores skills over MCP through different technical approaches than the core SKILL.md / skill:// pattern.

Implementation Author Organization URL Notes
skillful-mcp Kurtis Van Gent Google Cloud github.com/kurtisvg/skillful-mcp Progressive disclosure via 4 lightweight tools (list_skills, use_skill, read_resource, execute_code); wraps downstream MCP servers as skills using mcp.json config rather than SKILL.md; sandboxed code execution via Monty
Astronomer agents Kaxil Naik Astronomer github.com/astronomer/agents Production skills catalog for Apache Airflow (blueprint, migration, warehouse-init); uses SKILL.md frontmatter but distributed via plugin marketplace rather than MCP resources; demonstrates real-world skills adoption at scale
mcpGraph skill Bob Dickinson TeamSpark.ai github.com/TeamSparkAI/mcpGraph Declarative YAML-based tool orchestration engine (directed graphs of MCP tool calls); includes SKILL.md files as documentation; explores a complementary "no-code composition" approach to skill authoring

Other Community Implementations

External projects building on skills patterns or integrating skills into frameworks.

Implementation Author URL Notes
FastMCP 3.0 Skills FastMCP gofastmcp.com/servers/providers/skills Native skills provider (#2694)
PydanticAI Skills PydanticAI pydantic/pydantic-ai#3780 Agent skills with tools-based approach
mcp-execution bug-ops github.com/bug-ops/mcp-execution Compiles MCP servers into skill packages; --dry-run preview
mcp-cli philschmid github.com/philschmid/mcp-cli Wraps MCP servers as CLI for progressive disclosure
my-cool-proxy karashiiro github.com/karashiiro/my-cool-proxy MCP gateway with skills as resources via Lua scripts; result offloading, session persistence (v1.6.x)
NimbleBrain skills repo NimbleBrain github.com/NimbleBrainInc/skills Monorepo with .skill artifact format
NimbleBrain registry NimbleBrain registry.nimbletools.ai Registry with skill metadata support
NimbleBrain skill:// servers NimbleBrain github.com/NimbleBrainInc skill:// resource colocation examples: mcp-ipinfo, mcp-webfetch, mcp-pdfco, mcp-folk, mcp-brave-search
Kiro powers directory Kiro github.com/kirodotdev/powers Plugin directory bundling skills + MCP servers; active catalog (AWS, GCP migration, SAM, etc.)

Projects that illustrate the problem space or use adjacent patterns.

Project Author URL Notes
chrome-devtools-mcp Anthropic github.com/anthropics/anthropic-quickstarts/…/chrome-devtools-mcp Real-world example of the problem: skills/ folder requires separate install path
Strands Agents MCP server AWS github.com/strands-agents/mcp-server Docs-as-MCP: TF-IDF search + doc fetch
AWS MCP server AWS docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-mcp/… retrieve_agent_sop (skills) + call_aws (tool)

Specifications and Standards

  • Agent Skills Standard: agentskills.io
  • Agent Skills Discovery RFC v0.2.0 (Matt Silverlock / Cloudflare): github.com/cloudflare/agent-skills-discovery-rfc — Domain-level skill discovery using /.well-known/agent-skills/ (RFC 8615). Defines index.json with progressive disclosure, skill-md and archive distribution types, $schema versioning, SHA-256 content integrity, and archive safety requirements. Complementary to MCP-level discovery: .well-known answers "what skills does this domain publish?" while MCP answers "how does the agent consume them at runtime?"
  • Skill dependency declaration: agentskills/agentskills#110 — Discusses how skills should declare their tool/server dependencies
  • Apache Airflow AIP-91 (MCP integration): cwiki.apache.org/…/AIP-91+-+MCP

Background Reading