Claude Skills are awesome, maybe a bigger deal than MCP
by Simon Willison
A respected engineer's take on why Skills may outrun the MCP hype.
Overview
Published October 16, 2025 by Simon Willison, this influential post argues that Claude Skills — a Markdown file telling the model how to do something, optionally accompanied by extra documents and pre-written scripts — may be a bigger deal than MCP. Willison highlights the token efficiency of progressive disclosure, where each skill takes only a few dozen extra tokens for its metadata and the full details load only when a relevant task appears. He frames Skills' key strength as simplicity: rather than MCP's extensive protocol, Skills outsource the hard parts to the LLM harness and its computer environment, observing that 'almost everything I might achieve with an MCP can be handled by a CLI tool instead.' He predicts a 'Cambrian explosion' of Skills that will make the MCP rush look pedestrian, and notes the dependency on a code-execution environment is the biggest difference from earlier extension attempts. It's a concise, credible independent explainer.
At a Glance
- Topic
- Skills
- Level
- All Levels
- Format
- Guide
- Cost
- Free
- Duration
- ~8 min read
- Provider
- Simon Willison
- Hands-on
- No
- Certificate
- None
What You’ll Learn
- ✓Why an experienced engineer rates Skills' simplicity so highly
- ✓How Skills compare to MCP and ChatGPT plugins
- ✓Why progressive disclosure's token efficiency matters in practice
- ✓The role of the code-execution environment as Skills' key dependency
Highlights
- •Independent, non-vendor perspective
- •Widely cited across the developer community
- •Clear, opinionated MCP-vs-Skills framing
Who It’s For
Best For
- ✓Engineers weighing Skills against MCP
- ✓Readers wanting a fast, credible mental model
Prerequisites
- •Passing familiarity with MCP
- •Basic understanding of LLM tooling
FAQ
What is Claude Skills are awesome, maybe a bigger deal than MCP?
Simon Willison's widely-cited analysis of Claude Skills, arguing their simplicity and token efficiency make them potentially a bigger deal than MCP. Best for engineers who want an independent, opinionated framing to complement the official docs.
Is Claude Skills are awesome, maybe a bigger deal than MCP free?
Claude Skills are awesome, maybe a bigger deal than MCP is free to access.
What level is Claude Skills are awesome, maybe a bigger deal than MCP for?
Claude Skills are awesome, maybe a bigger deal than MCP is aimed at a all levels audience. Recommended background: Passing familiarity with MCP, Basic understanding of LLM tooling.
How long does Claude Skills are awesome, maybe a bigger deal than MCP take?
Expect roughly ~8 min read. Most learners work through it at their own pace.
What will I learn from Claude Skills are awesome, maybe a bigger deal than MCP?
You'll learn: Why an experienced engineer rates Skills' simplicity so highly; How Skills compare to MCP and ChatGPT plugins; Why progressive disclosure's token efficiency matters in practice; The role of the code-execution environment as Skills' key dependency.