Interview Bank

Agent Skills in 7 Days: Turn Experience Into Reusable Capability

D6 Organizing and Distributing: Plugins and Marketplaces, Versioning and Team Sharing, and the Division of Labor Between Function Calling, MCP, and Skills

• How do function calling, MCP and Agent Skills relate, and when do you use which?函数调用、MCP 和 Skills 三者的关系是什么？什么时候用哪个？

  Common in ChinaCommon overseasIntermediate#agent-skills#mcp#tool-calling#architecture

  How to reason about it · think before answering

  1. The most common question in this course. The classic mistake is framing the three as competitors and saying skills are lighter than MCP, when they do not solve the same problem.
  2. Lead with the one-line division: MCP handles wiring, Skills handle experience, and function calling is the shortest wire of all.
  3. Then name the gaps. Function calling and MCP supply capability: the model cannot reach your database or file a ticket until you give it a tool. Skills supply experience: the model can already write a commit message, it just does not know your format.
  4. Give the two most informative contrasts. Context cost: tool definitions are resent every turn, while a skill costs only its name and description per turn with the body loaded on demand. Degradation: tools and protocols are binary, but a skill that fails to install is still readable Markdown, which is exactly why the format spread across dozens of clients. It requires the host to read files, not to implement a protocol.
  5. For selection give a runnable decision path. First separate missing capability from missing method. For capability, choose by reuse surface: one application means function calling, several agents justify an MCP server. For method, choose by determinism: instructions go in the skill body, byte-identical results go in a bundled script.
  6. Close on composition. The normal case stacks them: an MCP server exposes the ticket system as a tool, and a skill body says to pull this week's tickets with that tool and then group them by a template. Tools give hands, skills give procedure.
  7. Expected follow-up: when should you not use MCP? When only one application needs it and there are just two or three actions. Standing up a server is over-engineering.

  分析过程 · 先想清楚再作答

  1. 这是本课最高频的一题。答错的典型是把三者摆成竞争关系，说「Skills 比 MCP 更轻量所以更好」——它们解决的根本不是同一个问题。
  2. 先给一句能背下来的分工：**MCP 管接线，Skills 管经验**，而函数调用是接线之前那根最短的线。
  3. 再落到缺口上。函数调用与 MCP 补的是**能力**：模型本来读不到你的数据库、发不出工单，给它工具它就能了。Skills 补的是**经验**：模型本来就会写提交信息，只是不知道你们这儿的格式。能力的缺口用工具补，经验的缺口用技能补。
  4. 然后给两条对比里最有信息量的差异。第一，上下文成本：工具定义每一轮都要重发，而 skill 每轮只有名字与描述，正文按需加载。第二，装不上时的降级：工具与协议是二值的，接不上就没有；**一个 skill 装不上仍然是一份人能读的 Markdown**，这正是它能在几十家客户端铺开的原因——它不要求宿主实现协议，只要求宿主会读文件。
  5. 选型给一条能当场走的流程：先分缺能力还是缺做法。缺能力时按复用面选，只有这一个应用要用就写函数调用，多个 Agent 都要用才值得做成 MCP 服务端。缺做法时按确定性选，靠指令说清楚就写进 skill 正文，结果必须逐字一致就配脚本。
  6. 最后一定要说配合。三者常态是叠着用：MCP 服务端把工单系统接进来成为工具，skill 的正文里写「先用工单查询工具拉出本周工单，再按这份模板归类」。**工具给它手，skill 给它章法。**
  7. 可预期的追问是「那什么时候不该用 MCP」。答案是只有一个应用要用、动作又只有两三个的时候——为它起一个服务端是过度设计，直接写函数调用更短。

  Key points

  • MCP is wiring, Skills are experience, function calling is the shortest wire.
  • Capability gaps need tools or a protocol; experience gaps need skills. They do not compete.
  • Tool definitions cost every turn; a skill costs only name and description until activated.
  • A skill that fails to install is still readable Markdown, which is why it spread across clients.
  • Choose by capability versus method: capability by reuse surface, method by determinism, and expect to combine all three.

  答题要点

  • 分工是 MCP 管接线、Skills 管经验，函数调用是接线之前最短的线。
  • 能力的缺口用工具或协议补，经验的缺口用技能补，三者不是竞争关系。
  • 工具定义每轮重发，skill 每轮只有名字与描述，正文按需加载。
  • skill 装不上仍是一份人能读的 Markdown，这是它跨客户端铺开的根本原因。
  • 选型先分缺能力还是缺做法：能力按复用面选，做法按确定性选；常态是三者叠着用。