Codex Skills and MCP Servers
Compare source-verified agent skills and MCP servers with documented Codex compatibility, setup, and maintenance signals.
Selection guidance
Use these checks before opening source files, installing a skill, or connecting an MCP server.
How to choose
Start with the work you want Codex to perform, then prefer the smallest reusable skill or MCP integration that exposes the required capability. Review source identity, installation steps, and recent maintenance before adding it to a repository or shared environment.
Compatibility checks
Confirm whether the resource targets Codex CLI, the Codex app, or a broader client protocol. Check required runtimes, install location, environment variables, and whether configuration is local, user-wide, or repository-scoped.
Security considerations
Treat skills as executable instructions and MCP servers as external capability surfaces. Review network, filesystem, credential, write, and destructive-action signals before granting access to private code or infrastructure.
Guides for setup and real workflows
Source-cited guides explain the format, configuration boundary, security checks, and repeatable ways to apply these resources.
What SKILL.md is
Understand the open Agent Skills format, required frontmatter, progressive loading, optional scripts and references, and the checks to make before using a skill.
Read guideAgent skills setupInstall agent skills
Install portable Agent Skills in Codex or Claude Code, choose project versus user scope, verify discovery, and update or remove a skill without losing reviewability.
Read guideArchitecture guideMCP vs. agent skills
Choose between MCP servers and Agent Skills by separating live capabilities and authorization from reusable instructions, workflow policy, templates, and examples.
Read guideEngineering workflowAgent skills for code review
Design or evaluate a code-review skill that reconstructs intent, inspects the complete diff, prioritizes concrete defects, verifies tests, and leaves merge authority with the team.
Read guideProduct workflowAgent skills for product managers
Turn recurring product work into reviewable Agent Skills with explicit evidence, decision rights, templates, uncertainty handling, and human approval around roadmap commitments.
Read guide