02c486e162* 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>
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Skills Over MCP Working Group
⚠️ Experimental — This repository is an incubation space for the Skills Over MCP Working Group. Contents are exploratory and do not represent official MCP specifications or recommendations.
Charter: modelcontextprotocol.io/community/skills-over-mcp/charter — mission, scope, membership, active work items, and success criteria. Project board: Skills Over MCP WG Meeting notes: Skills Over MCP WG discussions Discord: #skills-over-mcp-wg Open work: Pull requests — proposals, decisions, implementations, and other in-flight contributions welcome.
Why Skills Over MCP?
MCP servers give agents tools, but tools alone are insufficient for complex workflows — tool descriptions tell an agent what a tool does, not how to orchestrate multiple tools to achieve a goal. Skills bridge this gap. They are structured "how-to" knowledge: multi-step workflows, conditional logic, and orchestration instructions that can run to hundreds of lines.
Skills are context, and MCP is a context protocol. Agents already connect to remote services over MCP to get tools — they can get the know-how to use those tools through the same channel. A remote MCP server can serve both its tools and the instructions for using them together, as a single atomic unit. This also enables automatic discovery (connect to a server, find its skills), dynamic updates (server-side changes flow without reinstall), multi-server composition (skills orchestrating tools across servers), and enterprise distribution (RBAC, multi-tenant, version-adaptive content) — all through infrastructure MCP servers already provide.
See why-and-when.md for the full value proposition and a guide for when MCP distribution applies vs. simpler alternatives.
Problem Statement
Native "skills" support in host applications demonstrates demand for rich workflow instructions, but there's no convention for exposing equivalent functionality through MCP primitives. Current limitations include:
- Server instructions load only at initialization — new or updated skills require re-initializing the server
- Complex workflows exceed practical instruction size — some skills require hundreds of lines of markdown with references to bundled files
- No discovery mechanism — users installing MCP servers don't know if there's a corresponding skill they should also install
- Multi-server orchestration — skills may need to coordinate tools from multiple servers
See problem-statement.md for full details.
Repository Contents
| Document | Description |
|---|---|
| Problem Statement | Current limitations and gaps |
| Why Skills Over MCP? | Value proposition and decision guide |
| Use Cases | Key use cases driving this work |
| Approaches | Approaches being explored (not mutually exclusive) |
| SEP-2640: Skills Extension | Proposal to serve skills over MCP via the Resources primitive. Original working draft: docs/sep-draft-skills-extension.md. Comments and review happen on the PR. |
| Open Questions | Unresolved questions with community input (see also issues and meeting notes) |
| Experimental Findings | Results from implementations and testing |
| Related Work | SEPs, implementations, and external resources |
| Decision Log | Record of key decisions with context and rationale |
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to participate.