Agent Skills vs MCP vs Plugins: What Each Is and When to Use It
An agent skill is a SKILL.md folder an agent loads on demand; MCP is a live protocol to tools and data; a plugin bundles both. What to use when.
#windsurf
25 articles with this tag.
How to Install Any Agent Skill With npx skills add (and Verify It First)
npx skills add installs a skill folder into every agent directory it detects. The exact syntax, the 79 agent paths, and the check to run before you install.
How to run a Claude Code skill on any machine
One command installs a registry skill on every machine you use, into each agent's own directory, verified against the publisher's SHA-256 tree hash.
Best Claude Code Skills for DevOps and CI/CD [2026]
10 DevOps and CI/CD skills installed and scored out of 50. A 1,004-line Docker hardening playbook leads at 45/50; four more cover pipelines and rollout.
Best Claude Code Skills for CSS and UI Design [2026]
We scored 15 CSS and design skills out of 50. @wshobson/responsive-design leads at 44/50 on container queries, fluid typography and CSS Grid.
Best Claude Code Skills for Data Analysis [2026]
10 data analysis skills installed and scored out of 50. Three tie at 42/50: a 428-line dashboard playbook, a 14-row chart guide, a 3-script CSV toolkit.
Best Claude Code Skills for Rust and Go [2026]
Five of 11 Rust and Go skills we installed are worth using. Apollo's 2,430-line Rust handbook scores 45/50 — full scored comparison and sources.
Best Claude Code Skills for AI/ML Development [2026]
11 AI/ML skills installed and scored out of 50. @wshobson/rag-implementation leads at 44/50 with five advanced retrieval patterns, including hybrid search.
Best Claude Code Skills for Cloud Infrastructure [2026]
We read 10 cloud infrastructure skills and scored five out of 50. Terraform state migration and Cloudflare's 12 Workers anti-patterns tie at 43/50.
Best Claude Code Skills for Next.js Development [2026]
The 5 best Next.js skills for Claude Code, Cursor and Windsurf, scored out of 50. Top pick: @vercel-labs/next-best-practices at 45/50.
Best Claude Code Skills for Git Workflows [2026]
We scored 8 git workflow skills out of 50. Five deliver: rebase playbooks, safety-gated branch cleanup, changelog pipelines. Winner: git-advanced-workflows.
Best Claude Code Skills for API Development [2026]
13 API skills installed and scored out of 50. The top five ship 25 files across 7 frameworks, RFC 9457 agent-facing errors, and Apollo's schema rules.
Best Claude Code Skills for Security Auditing [2026]
18 security auditing skills installed and scored out of 50. The top five ship 146 vulnerability vectors, 11 language footgun guides and live dependency checks.
Best Claude Code Skills for SQL and Databases [2026]
13 SQL and database skills installed and scored out of 50. The top five ship 33 prioritized Postgres rules, EXPLAIN analysis and zero-downtime migrations.
Best Claude Code Skills for TypeScript [2026]
Five of 12 TypeScript skills made the cut. @mcollina/typescript-magician leads at 45/50 with 14 rule files. Here is what the other seven got wrong.
Best Claude Code Skills for Documentation [2026]
We read 11 documentation skills and scored five out of 50. Anthropic's doc co-authoring and React's 885-line reference style guide tie at 43/50.
Best Claude Code Skills for Performance Optimization [2026]
We scored 11 performance skills out of 50. Vercel's 64-rule react-best-practices wins at 47/50; Callstack's 6,388-line React Native guide takes 45/50.
Best Claude Code Skills for Refactoring [2026]
We scored 14 refactoring skills out of 50. GitHub's 10-smell refactor skill wins at 43/50; Dify's complexity-scoring React skill takes 42/50.
Best Claude Code Skills for Code Review [2026]
We installed and scored 23 code review skills out of 50. @sanyuan0704/code-review-expert leads at 42/50 with a 7-step workflow and P0-P3 severity.
Best Claude Code Skills for React [2026]
Five of 17 React skills scored 42/50 or better. @vercel-labs/next-best-practices leads at 46/50 with 20 reference files. Here is what each one fixes.
Best Claude Code Skills for Testing and QA [2026]
Five of 18 testing skills scored 40/50 or better. A 61-file Playwright library leads at 46/50. What each one enforces and which framework it fits.
Best Claude Code Skills for Python Developers [2026]
We installed and scored 20 Python skills. These 5 deliver — from 736 lines of async patterns to Sentry's zero-false-positive Django auditor.
Show, Don't Just Ship: Why Every Skill Needs a Demo
A demo is a replayable agent session pinned to one skill version. 2,625 exist across 30,433 SkillSafe skills. How to record, upload and pin one.
Self-Improving Skills: How SkillSafe Skills Get Better With Use
Skills can rewrite themselves from real usage: a forked sub-agent runs, the main agent observes, edits the file, and saves a new immutable version.
Introducing SkillSafe: Why AI Coding Skills Need a Verified Registry
Koi Security found 341 malicious skills in 2,857 listings. SkillSafe scans before sharing, re-scans on install, and blocks archives that changed in between.