--- title: Skills Over MCP Charter description: Charter for the MCP Skills Over MCP Working Group. --- ## Group Type **Working Group** ## Mission Statement The Skills Over MCP Working Group defines how "agent skills" — rich, structured instructions for agent workflows — are discovered, distributed, and consumed through MCP. Native skills support in host applications demonstrates strong demand, and the group emerged from discussion on [SEP-2076 — Agent Skills as a First-Class MCP Primitive](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/2076), which raised open questions about whether existing MCP primitives suffice or what conventions to standardize. The WG produces specification extensions, reference implementations, and coordination artifacts because solutions touch the protocol spec, registry schema, SDK implementations, and client behavior. [SEP-2640 — Skills Extension](/seps/2640-skills-extension) is Final. The WG maintains the official [Skills extension](/extensions/skills/overview) (`io.modelcontextprotocol/skills`) in [modelcontextprotocol/ext-skills](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ext-skills). Current work focuses on implementation support, interoperability, and evolution of the published extension. ## Scope ### In Scope - **Specification Work**: Maintain and evolve the Skills extension, with changes tracked in the [decision log](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ext-skills/blob/main/docs/decisions.md); propose related core protocol changes through the SEP process - **Reference Implementations**: SDK components and reference servers demonstrating skill discovery and consumption patterns - **Cross-Cutting Concerns**: Coordination with Registry WG (skills discovery/distribution, registry schema changes), Agents WG (skill activation, server metadata consumption), [Progressive Disclosure WG](/community/working-groups/progressive-disclosure) (progressive disclosure patterns), and external projects including the [Agent Skills](https://agentskills.io/) spec (content format and well-known URI discovery), FastMCP, and PydanticAI - **Documentation**: Specification sections and guidance covering skill authoring, discovery, and consumption ### Out of Scope - **Registry schema decisions**: Schema ownership belongs to the Registry WG; this WG contributes requirements but does not own the schema - **Client implementation mandates**: We can document patterns but not require specific client behavior - **Plugin/bundle packaging**: Installable bundles (skills + servers + subagents + configuration as a single artifact) — surfaced by use cases but belongs to a broader packaging effort ### Related Groups - **Agents WG** — How agents consume server metadata, skill activation - **Registry WG** — Skills discovery/distribution, registry schema changes - **[Progressive Disclosure WG](/community/working-groups/progressive-disclosure)** — Progressive disclosure patterns ## Leadership | Role | Name | Organization | GitHub | Term | | ---- | --------------- | --------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ------- | | Lead | Ola Hungerford | Nordstrom / MCP Maintainer | [@olaservo](https://github.com/olaservo) | Initial | | Lead | Peter Alexander | Anthropic / Core Maintainer | [@pja-ant](https://github.com/pja-ant) | Initial | | Lead | Sambhav Kothari | Bloomberg / MCP Maintainer | [@sambhav](https://github.com/sambhav) | Initial | ## Authority & Decision Rights | Decision Type | Authority Level | | ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | | Meeting logistics & scheduling | WG Leads (autonomous) | | Proposal prioritization within WG | WG Leads (autonomous) | | SEP triage & closure (in scope) | WG Leads (autonomous, with documented rationale) | | Technical design within scope | WG consensus | | Spec changes (additive) | WG consensus → Core Maintainer approval | | Spec changes (breaking/fundamental) | WG consensus → Core Maintainer approval + wider review | | Scope expansion | Core Maintainer approval required | | WG Member approval | WG Member sponsors | ## Membership | Name | Organization | GitHub | Discord | Level | | ------------------------ | ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | ------- | ----------- | | Ola Hungerford | Nordstrom / MCP Maintainer | [@olaservo](https://github.com/olaservo) | | Lead | | Peter Alexander | Anthropic / Core Maintainer | [@pja-ant](https://github.com/pja-ant) | | Lead | | Sambhav Kothari | Bloomberg / MCP Maintainer | [@sambhav](https://github.com/sambhav) | | Lead | | Yu Yi | Google | [@erain](https://github.com/erain) | | Participant | | Sunish Sheth | Databricks | [@sunishsheth2009](https://github.com/sunishsheth2009) | | Participant | | Keith A Groves | Hyix | [@keithagroves](https://github.com/keithagroves) | | Participant | | Peder Holdgaard Pedersen | Saxo Bank / MCP Maintainer | [@pederhp](https://github.com/pederhp) | | Participant | | Sam Morrow | GitHub | [@SamMorrowDrums](https://github.com/SamMorrowDrums) | | Participant | | Jacob MacDonald | Google | [@jakemac53](https://github.com/jakemac53) | | Participant | | Jonathan Hefner | Independent / MCP Maintainer | [@jonathanhefner](https://github.com/jonathanhefner) | | Participant | | Luca Chang | AWS / MCP Maintainer | [@LucaButBoring](https://github.com/LucaButBoring) | | Participant | | Bob Dickinson | TeamSpark.ai / MCP Maintainer | [@BobDickinson](https://github.com/BobDickinson) | | Participant | | Radoslav Dimitrov | Stacklok / MCP Maintainer | [@rdimitrov](https://github.com/rdimitrov) | | Participant | | Juan Antonio Osorio | Stacklok | [@JAORMX](https://github.com/JAORMX) | | Participant | | Kaxil Naik | Astronomer / Apache Airflow PMC | [@kaxil](https://github.com/kaxil) | | Participant | | Cliff Hall | Futurescale | [@cliffhall](https://github.com/cliffhall) | | Participant | | Haoyu Wang | Google | [@helloeve](https://github.com/helloeve) | | Participant | | Nate Barbettini | Arcade.dev | [@nbarbettini](https://github.com/nbarbettini) | | Participant | ## Operations | Meeting | Frequency | Duration | Purpose | | --------------- | ----------------- | ---------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Working Session | Weekly (Tuesdays) | 60 minutes | Technical discussion, pattern evaluation, proposal review; open to all participants | Default start time is 9:00 AM Pacific. Sessions may occasionally be scheduled earlier to better accommodate non-US time zones. Meetings are published at [meet.modelcontextprotocol.io](https://meet.modelcontextprotocol.io). Agendas are posted in advance per MCP meeting policy. Meeting notes are published to [Meeting Notes — Skills Over MCP WG](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/discussions/categories/meeting-notes-skills-over-mcp-wg). Discord: [#skills-over-mcp-wg](https://discord.com/channels/1358869848138059966/1464745826629976084) ## Resources - [Skills extension overview](/extensions/skills/overview) and [Final SEP-2640](/seps/2640-skills-extension) - Specification and WG documents: [modelcontextprotocol/ext-skills](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ext-skills) - [Implementations](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ext-skills/blob/main/docs/implementations.md) and [client support](/extensions/client-matrix) - [Decision log](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ext-skills/blob/main/docs/decisions.md) and [archived design work](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ext-skills/tree/main/docs/archive) ## Deliverables & Success Metrics ### Completed Milestones - [SEP-2640](/seps/2640-skills-extension) is **Final**, merged on September 13, 2026. - The official specification is published in [ext-skills](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ext-skills/blob/main/specification/stable/skills.mdx), with a [website overview](/extensions/skills/overview). - [Skills conformance scenarios](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/conformance/pull/330) were merged on September 11, 2026. ### Current Work Track proposals, implementation work, and coordination in [ext-skills issues](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ext-skills/issues), with links to SDK or client issues where the implementation lives. Owners, progress, and priorities are maintained there rather than in this charter. ### Success Criteria - **Specification**: A published Resources-based Skills extension — achieved with Final SEP-2640. - **Implementation**: SDK and host implementations that pass the applicable conformance scenarios. - **Interoperability**: Independent MCP servers and clients that discover and load skills consistently. ## Changelog | Date | Change | | ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 2026-09-15 | Added @nbarbettini (Arcade.dev) as Participant | | 2026-04-25 | Linked SEP-2640 in Active Work Items; added @helloeve (Google) as Participant | | 2026-04-16 | Converted from Interest Group to Working Group | | 2026-04-14 | Initial charter (formalized from [experimental-ext-skills](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/experimental-ext-skills) repo README, which served as the de facto charter before the charter process was established via [SEP-2149](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/2149)) | | 2026-02-01 | IG formed; experimental repo created |