Agent Skills vs MCP: What’s the difference?

The podcast explores agent skills and Model Context Protocol (MCP), examining their similarities, differences, and optimal use cases. It highlights how AI model performance is improving, but emphasizes that effective application depends on providing the right tools and context. MCP, an open standard for connecting AI applications to various tools, is discussed using the analogy of a USB-C port. However, MCP's token-heavy communication can lead to context rot, which agent skills can mitigate by loading context and code only when needed. Agent skills, involving folders with instructions accessed by the agent, offer a way to manage context, with the agent loading additional files or executing scripts as required. The discussion differentiates MCP as providing tool access and skills as providing instructions, exemplified by connecting Claude to Notion via MCP and using skills for specific Notion tasks like analyzing user interviews.