Agent Skills and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) are complementary, not redundant. Skills package internal, repeatable workflows for 'doing the thing,' while MCP provides the open standard for connecting to external systems like databases and APIs for 'reaching the thing.'
Agent Skills only load a skill's full instructions after user confirmation. This multi-phase flow avoids bloating the context window with unused tools, saving on token costs and improving performance compared to a single large system prompt.
The key product innovation of Agent Skills is changing the user's perception of AI. Instead of just a tool that answers questions, AI becomes a practical executor of defined workflows, making it feel less like a chat interface and more like powerful, responsive software.